Movies Like Takeshi: Childhood Days
If you liked Takeshi: Childhood Days (1990), a drama movie directed by Masahiro Shinoda, 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
Kids Return (1996)
★ 6.9/10Also dramaShinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world…
- 2
Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)
★ 7.7/10Also dramaFrom 1928 to 1946, the lives of 12 young people and their school teacher in a poor Japanese village are profoundly affected by historical events and personal circumstances.
- 3
Blue Spring (2001)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaSoon after being named the new leader of his high school's gang system, Kujo grows bored with the violence and hatred that surround him. He wants desperately to abandon his post… but his once-enviable position of power…
- 4
Battle Royale (2000)
★ 7.3/10Also dramaIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
- 5
River's Edge (2018)
★ 6.1/10Also dramaHigh schooler Haruna befriends loner Yamada, then is drawn into the tangled relationship between him, a model and the girl who loves him unreasonably.
- 6
Himizu (2012)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaTwo 14-year-olds from troubled, abusive homes come together sharing misery and pain. In the aftermath of an earthquake, the classmates learn how to survive while relying on one another for emotional and physical support.
- 7
Taboo (1999)
★ 6.6/10Also dramaSet during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering on a…
- 8
Monster (2023)
★ 7.9/10Also dramaAfter an outburst at school involving her son, a concerned single mother demands answers, triggering a sequence of deepening suspicion and turmoil.
- 9
Look Back (2024)
★ 8.2/10Also dramaPopular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a…
- 10
From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
★ 7.5/10Also dramaYokohama, 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…
- 11
Samurai Rebellion (1967)
★ 8.2/10Also dramaThe 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.
- 12
Blood and Bones (2004)
★ 6.6/10Also dramaIn 1923, teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in…
- 13
Grave of the Fireflies (2005)
★ 7.9/10Also dramaHisako loses her home in Tokyo to Allied bombing. With her husband fighting somewhere in Asia, she and her two children evacuate to a suburb of Kobe, where they share a house with Hisako's cousin, Kyoko. Kobe is bombed…
- 14
All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)
★ 7.5/10Also dramaCharts the troubled teenage years of students Yūichi Hasumi and Shūsuke Hoshino, exploring the shifting and complex power dynamics of their relationship against the backdrop of Yūichi's love for the dreamy and abstract…
- 15
Empire of the Sun (1987)
★ 7.5/10Also dramaJamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the…
- 16
The Kirishima Thing (2012)
★ 6.9/10Also dramaA story about the disappearance of Kirishima, a star athlete of the volleyball club, and how his disappearance affects every person in school.
- 17
Black Rain (1989)
★ 7.6/10Also dramaShigematsu Shizuma, who lives with his family in a village near Fukuyama, was in Hiroshima with his wife and niece just after the devastating atomic bombing, a tragedy that cruelly took the lives of thousands of people…
- 18
Small, Slow But Steady (2022)
★ 6.8/10Also dramaKeiko surprises everyone when she overcomes adversity to win her first two boxing fights. But when an unexpected incident threatens the closure of her gym, she is pushed further than she thought possible.
- 19
Repast (1951)
★ 7.6/10Also dramaIn post-WWII Osaka, a middle-aged woman is forced to examine her dreary life and marriage when her husband's young and flirtatious cousin arrives for a brief stay to escape an arranged marriage.
- 20
Tokyo Story (1953)
★ 8.2/10Also dramaThe elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't…