Movies like Okiku and the World (2023)
The best movies like Okiku and the World (2023) are Wood Job! (2014), Good Morning (1959) and Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947). If Okiku and the World hooked you with its drama and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Lion King (1994)8.3/10 from 20,402 votes
- NewestMatèl (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseWood Job! (2014)Also in Japanese
Wood Job! (2014)
After failing his university entrance exam, Yuki Hirano sets his eyes on the role of a forestry trainee. Setting off for training he doubts his decision many times, but eventually after passing the training course, he is sent to Kamusari Village for a year of work experience - where he becomes assimilated with the beauty of nature and the warm-hearted people of the village.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGood Morning (1959)
Two boys beg their parents for a television set, nagging them until all patience is lost. The parents order the boys to be quiet and the boys do exactly that--refusing to utter a word. The boys' silence ultimately puts the whole neighborhood into turmoil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRecord of a Tenement Gentleman (1947)
A hard-hearted old woman in a bombed-out Tokyo neighborhood reluctantly takes in an abandoned boy, leading to a heartwarming bond between them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEquinox Flower (1958)
Wataru's outwardly liberal views on marriage are severely tested when his daughter declares her love for a coworker and is adamant to live her own way, instead of agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outwitted by his female relatives, Hirayama stubbornly refuses to admit defeat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSanjuro (1962)
In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMadadayo (1993)
In postwar Tokyo, beloved writer-professor Hyakken Uchida retires and is buoyed through hardship by the fierce devotion of his former students, who honor him each year with a raucous “Not yet!” birthday toast. Told in warm, gently comic vignettes, Kurosawa’s farewell celebrates aging, friendship, and the sustaining ritual of teacher and pupils refusing to say goodbye.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHana (2006)
In a poor district of Edo lives a young samurai named Soza. He has been sent by his clan to avenge the death of his father. He isn't an accomplished swordsman however, and he prefers sharing the life of the residents, teaching the kids how to write etc. When he finally finds the man he is looking for, he will have to decide whether he follows the way of the samurai or chooses peace and reconciliation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Taste of Tea (2004)
A spell of time in the life of the five-piece Haruno family in rural Tochigi Prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Sachiko is concerned with why she seems to be followed by a giant version of herself. As the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlying Colors (2015)
A high school girl, Sayaka Kudō was the bottom of the class. After a year, she improved her deviation value from 30 to 70, then passed Keio University that is considered one of the most difficult to enter in Japan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Autumn Afternoon (1962)
Widower Shuhei Hirayama's caretaker is his 24-year-old daughter, Michiko. Gradually, he comes to realize that Michiko should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)
The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet rustic man is tested by a marital crisis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrom Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
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 the shackles of a troubled past. Against this backdrop of hope and change, a friendship begins to blossom between high school students Umi and Shun—but a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAristocrats (2021)
Hanako is looking for stability with her man. She gets dumped instead. She begins dating. Miki studied and worked hard to get to where she is and is holding down a job. They are introduced through an intermediary man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrayon Shinchan the Movie: The Storm Called: The Adult Empire Strikes Back (2001)
Shin-chan must rescue the adults of Kasukabe when they mysteriously abandon their responsibilities to relive their youth at the new 20th-century expo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMy Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMai Mai Miracle (2009)
Inspired by her grandfather's stories, young Shinko embarks on wild flights of fancy about the history of the little town she lives in. But dreams can't fend off the realities of growing up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTokyo Story (1953)
The 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 have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLate Spring (1949)
Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Insect Woman (1963)
A woman, Tome, is born to a lower class family in Japan in 1918. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKids Return (1996)
Shinji 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 is a tough place.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBy the Wayside (2012)
Four friends (a background actor, a documentarian, a homeless musician, and a virgin) descend into a life-awakening 24 hours that involve excess drinking, prostitutes, a sage-like lounge singer and psychedelic drugs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Bring Me the Head of Shichiemon! (1993)
During the Sengoku period, an army relentlessly lays siege to a castle, but they will need the head of the opposing lord to declare victory.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Those Were the Days (1996)
Those Were the Days is a Hong Kong Drama starring Eric Tsang
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Rakugo Story (2011)
Haruki Masato is a shy youth who gets swept away when he happens upon a rakugo performance. He knocks on the door of rakugo master Imadoka Shoroku in Tokyo’s old downtown and somehow gets taken on as a disciple, and embarks on a path to become a rakugo comedian under the name of Imadoka Koharu.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Summer Things (2002)
Two couple of friends, one very rich, the other almost homeless, decide to go on Holiday. Julie, a single mother, joins them too. Once at seaside, it starts a complicate love cross among them that will involve also a transsexual, a jealous brother, a Latin Lover and another nervous stressed couple. Not to mention about the daughter of one of them that is secretly in Chicago with one of her father's employees... At the end of the summer, all of them will join the same party...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Lion King (1994)
Young lion prince Simba, eager to one day become king of the Pride Lands, grows up under the watchful eye of his father Mufasa; all the while his villainous uncle Scar conspires to take the throne for himself. Amid betrayal and tragedy, Simba must confront his past and find his rightful place in the Circle of Life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHiroshima (1953)
Historical fiction about the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on 6 August 1945, and its effects on various civilians, especially children, of that city.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
Summoned by his dying father, Miyagi returns to his homeland of Okinawa, with Daniel, after a 40-year exile. There he must confront Yukie, the love of his youth, and Sato, his former best friend turned vengeful rival. Sato is bent on a fight to the death, even if it means the destruction of their village. Daniel finds his own love in Yukia's niece, Kumiko, and his own enemy in Sato's nephew, the vicious Chozen. Now, far away from the tournaments, cheering crowds and safety of home, Daniel will face his greatest challenge ever when the cost of honor is life itself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSon In The Barbershop (2015)
A teenager overhears a phone call and inserts himself into the father-son story behind it. As this strange 'conversation' develops, two separately wounded lives slowly wind into a double helix of pain, regret, and filial love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Matèl (2025)
A young man living a monotonous life finds his boredom interrupted when he encounters a group of boys while working at a pedalo rental place.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Okiku and the World?
The closest matches to Okiku and the World are Wood Job! (2014), Good Morning (1959) and Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Okiku and the World?
Start with Wood Job! (2014), the closest match to Okiku and the World.
What is the highest-rated movie like Okiku and the World?
The Lion King (1994), rated 8.3/10 by 20,402 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Okiku and the World?
Matèl (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Okiku and the World?
Yes: Wood Job! (2014), Good Morning (1959) and Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947).
How are movies similar to Okiku and the World chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Okiku and the World, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.