[2] Tora-san's Island Encounter is the thirty-sixth entry in the popular, long-running Otoko wa Tsurai yo series.

In doing so he encounters a school-reunion group who are traveling to meet their elementary school teacher, which is a reference to the film Twenty-Four Eyes by Keisuke Kinoshita.

[3][4] Nominations for Tora-san's Island Encounter at the Japan Academy Prize included Best Actor (Kiyoshi Atsumi), Best Director (Yoji Yamada), Best Music Score (Naozumi Yamamoto), Best Sound (Isao Suzuki and Takashi Matsumoto), Best Supporting Actress (Jun Miho), and Best Art Direction (Mitsuo Degawa).

[6] Stuart Galbraith IV judges the film an entertaining, but not outstanding entry in the Otoko wa Tsurai yo series, especially if one understands the references to Kinoshita's Twenty-Four Eyes.

[4] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "one of the best" stating in his 1986 review that "Yamada achieves inTora's Island Adventure evocative moments the equal of those all-too-rare features he gets to make outside his 17-year-old series.