Movies Like Kae, Act Like A Girl

If you liked Kae, Act Like A Girl (1996), a movie directed by Mako Idemitsu, 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
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…
2
Love & Pop (1998)
★ 7.7/10
Tokyo schoolgirl Hiromi and her friends engage in a practice known as enjo kosai, or "compensated dating", where older men pay young girls for dates. Hiromi plunges deeper into this world to raise money for an…
3
One Million Yen Girl (2008)
★ 7.2/10
A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.
4
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…
5
47 Ronin (2013)
★ 6.2/10
Kai—an outcast—joins Oishi, the leader of 47 outcast samurai. Together they seek vengeance upon the treacherous overlord who killed their master and banished their kind. To restore honour to their homeland, the…
6
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…
7
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
★ 7.9/10
In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The…
8
Love Exposure (2008)
★ 7.9/10
The story of a teenage boy called Yu, who falls for Yoko, a girl he runs into while operating for the sake of sin as an upskirt photographer in an offshoot of the porn industry. His attempts to woo her are complicated…
9
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
★ 7.6/10
In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
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
Turning Red (2022)
★ 7.3/10
Thirteen-year-old Mei is experiencing the awkwardness of being a teenager with a twist – when she gets too excited, she transforms into a giant red panda.
12
Paprika (2006)
★ 7.8/10
Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a research psychologist who uses a device called the DC Mini to enter her patients' dreams, wherein she adopts the alter-ego "Paprika". When the device is stolen, she must stop rogue elements from…
13
Kite (1998)
★ 6.6/10
Sawa, orphaned as a child by murderous thugs, now targets the scourge of society as a trained killer for a mercenary syndicate. Coquettish and capable of unimaginable violence, she's grown into the perfect weapon — but…
14
Sucker Punch (2011)
★ 6.2/10
A young woman, institutionalized by her abusive stepfather, retreats into a vivid fantasy world where she envisions a plan to escape. Gathering a group of fellow inmates, she embarks on a quest to collect five mystical…
15
One Piece Heroines (2026)
★ 7/10
After failing to stop the thieves due to ill-fitting shoes, Nami storms into the shop where she bought them for a refund. However, the head designer offers to make her a new pair from scratch on one condition: she must…
16
Midori (1992)
★ 6/10
After losing her parents, young flower selling Midori is put up by a fairground group. She is abused and forced to slavery, until the arrival of an enigmatic magician of short stature, who gives her hope for a better…
17
Ladies First (2026)
★ 6/10
An arrogant but charismatic ladies' man finds his life of money, power and casual flings upended when he wakes up in a parallel world dominated by women.
18
The Wonderland (2019)
★ 6.4/10
The story follows Akane, a girl with no self-confidence. On the day before her birthday, she meets a mysterious alchemist, Hippocrates, and his student, Pipo, who both tell her they're on a mission to save the world…
19
Fist of the North Star: Legend of Raoh - Chapter of Fierce Fighting (2007)
★ 6.5/10
A film adaptation of the Last Nanto General story arc from the manga, depicting the final battle between Kenshiro and Raoh that led to Kenshiro becoming the successor of Hokuto Shinken. Some events from the manga /…
20
See Me After Class (2012)
★ 7.2/10
Due to an error the male student Kagami Yuuki is registered for a room in the girls dormitory of his new co-ed high school. Since no male rooms are available he is left with no other option than to sleep in the girls…