Movies Like Ama Reef

If you liked Ama Reef (1958), a movie directed by Kenjirō Morinaga, 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
Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon (2025)
★ 8/10
In a Kaiju-filled Japan, Kafka Hibino works in monster disposal. After reuniting with his childhood friend Mina Ashiro, a rising star in the anti-Kaiju Defense Force, he decides to pursue his abandoned dream of joining…
2
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.
3
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.
4
Rumble (2021)
★ 6.7/10
In a world where monster wrestling is a global sport and monsters are superstar athletes, teenage Winnie seeks to follow in her father’s footsteps by coaching a loveable underdog monster into a champion.
5
Premonition (2004)
★ 6.4/10
While stopped at a roadside phone booth for transmitting his work through the Internet to the university, Professor Hideki Satomi finds a scrap of newspaper with the picture of his five-year-old daughter Nana in the…
6
Detective Conan: The Private Eyes' Requiem (2006)
★ 7.2/10
Synopsis Kogoro and Conan came to Yokohama according to a request from a mysterious man. But that was a trap of this man. Ran and the Detective Boys will be taken as hostages. If they don't solve the request of the man…
7
Always - Sunset on Third Street (2005)
★ 7.7/10
In 1958 postwar Tokyo, the residents of a humble Third Street neighbourhood struggle, dream, and grow together as rapid modernisation transforms their lives beneath the shadow of the newly rising Tokyo Tower.
8
Crayon Shin-chan: Jungle That Invites Storm (2000)
★ 7.6/10
The Noharas go on an Action Mask-themed cruise, where all the grown-ups get kidnapped by a gang of monkeys. It's up to the kids to rescue them!
9
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.
10
Detective Conan: Magician of the Silver Sky (2004)
★ 7.1/10
Once again, Kaitou Kid crosses swords with Conan Edogawa in this annual installment of the Detective Conan movie franchise. After receiving a letter from the thief, famous actress Juri Maki seeks the help of private…
11
Detective Conan: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital (2003)
★ 7.1/10
Mouri Kogoro is called to a special case in the ancient capital of Kyoto. There, Conan meets Heiji and they team up once again to solve the case, recover the stolen Healing Buddha statue, and even discover the identity…
12
Naruto: The Lost Story - Mission: Protect the Waterfall Village! (2003)
★ 7.1/10
Naruto and his friends must get back a jug of stolen holy water from a band of higher class ninjas.
13
Crayon Shin-chan: The Hidden Treasure of the Buri Buri Kingdom (1994)
★ 7/10
The Noharas win a vacation to the Kingdom of Buri Buri -- but the whole thing was just a clever ploy by an evil organization to kidnap Shin-chan!
14
Doraemon: Nobita and the Legend of the Sun King (2000)
★ 7/10
Doraemon and its friends open a hole in the time and they're travel to the Country of Mayana, a lost Mayan civilization in the jungle.
15
Hula Girls (2006)
★ 6.8/10
Young women in a small Japanese town look to revive their home's declining fortunes by building a Hawaiian village tourist attraction.
16
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Sibling's Bond (2019)
★ 7.9/10
movie anime adaptation of Koyoharu Gotoge's Kimetsu no Yaiba by Ufotable. The movie consists of the first 5 episodes of the TV anime adaptation. A two-week theatrical release on 11 theaters began on March 29, 2019, a…
17
JUJUTSU KAISEN: Execution (2025)
★ 6.1/10
A veil abruptly descends over the busy Shibuya area amid the bustling Halloween crowds, trapping countless civilians inside. Satoru Gojo, the strongest jujutsu sorcerer, steps into the chaos. But lying in wait are…
18
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…
19
Isle of Dogs (2018)
★ 7.8/10
In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island used as a garbage dump. The outcasts must soon embark on an epic journey when a 12-year-old boy arrives on the…
20
Drifting Home (2022)
★ 7.4/10
One fateful summer, a group of elementary school kids set adrift on an abandoned apartment building must look within themselves to find a way back home.