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Movies Like THE LEGEND & BUTTERFLY

If you liked THE LEGEND & BUTTERFLY (2023), a history and drama movie directed by Keishi Otomo, 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. 1The Twilight Samurai

    The Twilight Samurai (2002)

    ★ 7.8/10Also drama and romance

    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…

  2. 2Love and Honor

    Love and Honor (2006)

    ★ 7.4/10Also drama and romance

    A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.

  3. 3Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning

    Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (2021)

    ★ 7.7/10Also drama and romance

    Before he was a protector, Kenshin was a fearsome assassin known as Battosai. But when he meets gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, a beautiful young woman who carries a huge burden in her heart, his life will change forever.

  4. 4Taboo

    Taboo (1999)

    ★ 6.6/10Also drama and history

    Set 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…

  5. 5It Feels So Good

    It Feels So Good (2019)

    ★ 6.6/10Also drama and romance

    When it rains it pours. Kenji divorced his wife, lost his job and his old squeeze Naoko is getting married back home in the north of Japan, specifically in Akita. He returns there in order to attend her wedding. Naoko…

  6. 6Harakiri

    Harakiri (1962)

    ★ 8.5/10Also drama and history

    Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce…

  7. 7In the Realm of the Senses

    In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

    ★ 6.6/10Also drama and romance

    A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.

  8. 8Rurouni Kenshin: The Final

    Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021)

    ★ 7.7/10Also history and drama

    In 1879, Kenshin and his allies face their strongest enemy yet: his former brother-in-law Enishi Yukishiro and his minions, who've vowed their revenge.

  9. 9The Hidden Blade

    The Hidden Blade (2004)

    ★ 7.4/10Also drama and romance

    Set in 19th Century Japan a young samurai who finds himself in love with a farm girl leaves his home to begin a new life. He has to take stock of his new life when he is put to the test and ordered to kill a traitor…

  10. 10The Pillow Book

    The Pillow Book (1995)

    ★ 6.3/10Also drama and romance

    Nagiko has a fetish for calligraphy on the human body and meets her ideal soulmate Jerome, an English translator sent to Japan. However, once Nagiko's father's gay publisher rejoins the scene, the story is overtaken by…

  11. 11Samurai Marathon

    Samurai Marathon (2019)

    ★ 6/10Also drama and history

    When feudal lord Itakura Katsuakira decides to prepare his samurai troops for the onslaught of modernization by having them compete in a marathon, his independent-minded daughter Yuki secretly joins the race.

  12. 12The Edge of Love

    The Edge of Love (2008)

    ★ 6.2/10Also drama and history

    When the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his flirtatious wife Caitlin sweep into war-torn London, the last thing they expect is to bump into Dylan's childhood sweetheart Vera. Despite her joy at seeing Dylan after so many…

  13. 13The Last of the Mohicans

    The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

    ★ 7.4/10Also history and drama

    In war-torn colonial America, in the midst of a bloody battle between British, the French and Native American allies, the aristocratic daughter of a British Colonel and her party are captured by a group of Huron…

  14. 14Inu-Oh

    Inu-Oh (2022)

    ★ 7.5/10Also drama and history

    A cursed dancer and a blind musician — both ostracized by society — become business partners and inseparable friends as their larger-than-life concerts propel them to stardom in 14th century Japan.

  15. 15The Promise

    The Promise (2016)

    ★ 6.8/10Also history and romance

    Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, a love triangle develops between Mikael, a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated artist Ana, and Chris, a renowned American journalist based in Paris.

  16. 16Allied

    Allied (2016)

    ★ 6.8/10Also drama and romance

    In 1942, an intelligence officer in North Africa encounters a female French Resistance fighter on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war.

  17. 17The Stranger by the Shore

    The Stranger by the Shore (2020)

    ★ 7.9/10Also romance and drama

    Abandoned after coming out, Shun befriends Mio just before he has to move. Years later, Mio returns with a confession. How will Shun feel?

  18. 18Cold Mountain

    Cold Mountain (2003)

    ★ 6.9/10Also history and romance

    In this classic story of love and devotion set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, a wounded Confederate soldier named W.P. Inman deserts his unit and travels across the South, aiming to return to his young…

  19. 19Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai

    Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011)

    ★ 7.2/10Also drama and history

    A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.

  20. 20The French Lieutenant's Woman

    The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama and romance

    In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters, Sarah and Charles. Both actors are involved in serious…

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