Movies Like Taking a Success Course

If you liked Taking a Success Course (1961), a movie directed by Masanori Kakei, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Millennium Actress (2002)
★ 7.9/10
Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone…
2
Tokyo Decadence (1992)
★ 6/10
A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that…
3
The Wind Rises (2013)
★ 7.8/10
A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.
4
Samurai Rebellion (1967)
★ 8.2/10
The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.
5
Imprint (2006)
★ 6.8/10
An American journalist travels through 19th-century Japan to find the prostitute he fell in love with but instead learns of the physical and existential horror that befell her after he left.
6
High and Low (1963)
★ 8.4/10
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
7
When Marnie Was There (2014)
★ 7.9/10
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may…
8
Sakuran (2006)
★ 6.5/10
Kiyoha rises from the lowly courtesan ranks to the high class position of Oiran in the steamy red-light district of Yoshiwara. She is determined to stand on her own two feet and live life as she pleased.
9
From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
★ 7.5/10
Yokohama, 1963. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics—and the mood is one of both optimism and conflict as the young generation struggles to throw off…
10
Golden Kamuy (2024)
★ 7/10
On the Hokkaido frontier, a war veteran and Ainu girl race against misfits and military renegades to find treasure mapped out on tattooed outlaws.
11
Tomie: Rebirth (2001)
★ 7.2/10
Young art student Hideo paints an unnerving portrait of Tomie, who whispers that she loves him. Inexplicably, he reacts by stabbing her to death with a painting trowel. Two friends, Takumi and Shunichi, arrive on the…
12
Inuyasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler (2003)
★ 7.7/10
Inuyasha and his brother, Sesshomaru, each inherited a sword from their father after his death. However, their father had a third sword, named Sounga, that he sealed away. Seven hundreds years after his death, Sounga…
13
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
★ 7.8/10
Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects…
14
Lupin the 3rd: Goemon's Blood Spray (2017)
★ 7.8/10
A yakuza boss hires Goemon Ishikawa, a modern day samurai, to protect him aboard his cruise ship casino. Everything goes sideways when the famous thief, Lupin the Third, tries to rob the vessel. Lupin's being hunted by…
15
Crayon Shin-chan: Super-Dimension! The Storm Called My Bride (2010)
★ 7.6/10
Shin-chan is approached by his time-traveling future bride-to-be Tamiko, who asks him to help save his adult self from the ruler of Neo Tokio.
16
Hachiko (1987)
★ 7.8/10
The tragic, true story about Hachikō, an Akita dog who was loyal to his master, Professor Ueno, even after Ueno's death.
17
Attack on Titan II: End of the World (2015)
★ 6.3/10
Eren Yeager leaves to restore a break in the wall destroyed by a Titan. He comes under attack by the Titans and is cornered. Shikishima comes to his aid. The titans never stops attacking. Eren is now injured and tries…
18
Wrath of Daimajin (1966)
★ 6.3/10
In a mountainous region of Japan, Lord Arakawa kidnaps the men of nearby villages to use as slave labor, producing gunpowder from his sulfur pits. A band of young boys decide to rescue their enslaved fathers on their…
19
Sex and Fury (1973)
★ 6.2/10
Sex & Fury chronicles Ocho's exploits as she searches for her father's killers, each identified by unique tattoos on their backs (a deer, a boar, and a butterfly). Along the way, she also crosses paths with Shunosuke…
20
Antiporno (2017)
★ 6.6/10
Kyôko, a traumatized young Japanese girl, finds herself struggling with her self-confidence in her adult life. Growing up in a family without her mother and her sister, she constantly questions the rationale of sex and…