Movies like El Japón / Aqua Vitae!! (2019)
The best movies like El Japón / Aqua Vitae!! (2019) are The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1952), Inu-Oh (2022) and Fate/Grand Order the Movie: Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot 1 Wandering; Agateram (2020). If El Japón / Aqua Vitae!! hooked you with its history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins (2012)7.5/10 from 964 votes
- NewestThe Rose of Versailles (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseThe Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1952)Also in Japanese
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1952)
A fugitive lord and his six retainers disguise themselves as monks to bluff their way through a hostile checkpoint.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInu-Oh (2022)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFate/Grand Order the Movie: Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot 1 Wandering; Agateram (2020)
The wandering knight, Bedivere, reaches the end of his journey. It is A.D. 1273 in Jerusalem. The Holy Land has been transformed into a massive desert and its people have been forced out of their homes as three major powers wage war with each other in this wasteland. The Knights of the Round Table come together to protect the Holy City and their Lion King. With the whole of his kingdom summoned into a strange land, Ozymandias, the Sun King, quietly plots against the tyranny of this bizarre realm. The mountain people, protectors of those who were stripped of their land, await their chance at rebellion. In order to fulfill his mission, Bedivere heads for the Holy City where the Lion King rules. There he meets humanity’s final Master, Ritsuka Fujimaru, who has come to Jerusalem, accompanied by his Demi-Servant, Mash Kyrielight, in their quest to restore human history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBuddha 2: The Endless Journey (2014)
2500 years ago, in India, Siddhartha was born as a prince of the Shakya clan, but he gives up his position as a prince to see the world. He meets a strange boy named Assaji, who can predict the future, a monk with only one eye and Depa. Siddhartha continues traveling. Siddhartha is overwhelmed by the sufferings he witnesses around him. Meanwhile, Prince Ruri of Kosara begins his attack on the Shakya clan. Second Buddha movie from Tezuka Productions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFate/Grand Order the Movie: Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot 2 Paladin; Agateram (2021)
The second part in a two-part anime film project adapting the "Sixth Singularity - Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot" story from the game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisICHI (2008)
Ichi is a blind entertainer that travels the countryside with her traditional Japanese guitar and walking stick. She’s in search for the kind man that brought her up as a child, but because of her beauty she encounters problems every step of the way. Fortunately for Ichi, she is also a gifted swordswoman and carries a lethal blade within her walking stick.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSamurai Marathon (2019)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMunich - The Edge of War (2021)
At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSamurai Assassin (1965)
Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEight Men Out (1988)
Buck Weaver and Hap Felsch are young idealistic players on the Chicago White Sox, a pennant-winning team owned by Charles Comiskey - a penny-pinching, hands-on manager who underpays his players and treats them with disdain. And when gamblers and hustlers discover that Comiskey's demoralized players are ripe for a money-making scheme, one by one the team members agree to throw the World Series. But when the White Sox are defeated, a couple of sports writers smell a fix and a national scandal explodes, ripping the cover off America's favorite pastime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDésirée (1954)
In Marseilles, France in 1794, Desiree Clary, a young millinery clerk, becomes infatuated with Napoleon Bonaparte, but winds up wedding General Jean-Baptiste Berandotte, an aid to Napoleon who later joins the forces that bring about the Emperor's downfall. Josephine Beauharnais, a worldly courtesan marries Napoleon and becomes Empress of France, but is then cast aside by her spouse when she proves unable to produce an heir to the throne.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins (2012)
In 1868, after the Bakumatsu war ends, the ex-assassin Kenshin Himura traverses Japan with an inverted sword, to defend the needy without killing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJulia (1977)
At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChûshingura (1962)
After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGojoe: Spirit War Chronicle (2001)
Benkei, a master fighter and killer, vows never to take another life after his conversion to Buddhism. His faith in pacifism, however, is shaken and ultimately broken by the attacks from a trio of fighters known only as the demons. Taking up his sword once more, he sets out to end their murderous terror.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShattered Glass (2003)
Stephen Glass is a staff writer for the respected current events and policy magazine The New Republic and a freelance feature writer for publications such as Rolling Stone, Harper's and George. By the mid-90s, Glass' articles had turned him into one of the most sought-after young journalists in Washington, but a bizarre chain of events - chronicled in Buzz Bissinger's September 1998 Vanity Fair article - suddenly stopped his career in its tracks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSakuran (2006)
Kiyoha rises from the lowly courtesan ranks to the high class position of Oiran in the steamy red-light district of Yoshiwara. She is determined to stand on her own two feet and live life as she pleased.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMumon: The Land of Stealth (2017)
Raised suckling poison arrows among the sparring Iga ninja factions, Mumon is a carefree 16th-century mercenary. When the ninja council makes a power play to defeat the young Nobukatsu Oda struggling to step into his father’s warlord shoes as they expand rule across the country, Mumon jumps into the fray to satisfy his new bride Okuni’s demand that he make good on his promises of wealth. Yet Mumon soon finds what is worth fighting for beyond money or nation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRadium Girls (2020)
Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rose of Versailles (2025)
In an age of revolution, Marie Antoinette and her protector Oscar François de Jarjayes face tough choices as women growing into their distinct roles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSanctuary (2014)
2015 Takarazuka Revue production of "Sanctuary," a dramatization of the early days of marriage between King Henri VI of France and Margot de Valois, filmed for television.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Saint-Exupéry -The Pilot Who Became "The Little Prince"- (2012)
Takarazuka Revue Flower Troupe 2012 original musical based on the life and works of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Elisabeth: The Rondo of Love & Death (2005)
Takarazuka Moon Troupe 2005 production of the Viennese musical Elisabeth
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Elisabeth: The Rondo of Love & Death (2014)
Takarazuka Revue Flower Troupe 2014 production of the Austrian musical 'Elisabeth'
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Elisabeth (1996)
Takarazuka Revue Snow Troupe 1996 production of the Viennese musical 'Elisabeth'. This was the Revue Company's first 'Elisabeth' production.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Prince of Roses -The Man Led by the Crown- (2021)
The War of the Roses (1455-1485), a turning point in the history of England, where the Lancasters and the House of York divided the domestic princes and knights between them in a power struggle. Henry Tudor (later Henry VII), a Lancaster through his mother's line, finally wins. This begins the Tudor dynasty and lays the foundation for modern England. Henry VII, who lived between the times of Richard III and Henry VIII, has been regarded as a mysterious person. As a member of the Lancaster family (the red roses), he was drawn into conflict with Edward IV and Richard III of the York family (the white roses). This work depicts a man thinking of his mother and the expectations of his friends throughout his life, as he aimed for peace in England and the throne.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Azure Moment (2017)
Some people call him an immortal superhuman, while others call him an extraordinary conjurer. An alchemist who has crossed space and time, a matchless prophet, and an unidentifiable adventurer—even today many mysteries remain throughout European history of the Count of St. Germain.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Jirokichi of the Wind ―Night's Flight Over Edo― (2015)
At the end of the Edo Period, there was a legendary chivalrous thief who stole from rich merchants and self-serving samurai and gave to the virtuous people of the town. His name was Nezumi-kozo (Rat Boy) Jirokichi. This musical is about how he competed with and was friends with the hero of so many period dramas (Touyama Kinshiro), and about the loves they surrounded themselves with in the new and progressive Japan. A Takarazuka take on the tale of Nezumi-kozo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
The Rose of Versailles -Oscar and Andre- (2013)
Takarazuka Moon Troupe 2013 version of The Rose of Versailles: Oscar and Andre
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Man of Starlight / Joyful!!II (2007)
A revival of a Japanese masterpiece that premiered in 1976 with the Snow Troupe, starring Natsuko Teime, and was replayed in 2007, starring Natsuki Mizu, who also starred in the Snow Troupe. Among the many stories related to the Shinsengumi, the episode centering on Okita Souji mixes truth and truth, refreshingly and sadly reciting his short but turbulent youth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like El Japón / Aqua Vitae!!?
The closest matches to El Japón / Aqua Vitae!! are The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1952), Inu-Oh (2022) and Fate/Grand Order the Movie: Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot 1 Wandering; Agateram (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after El Japón / Aqua Vitae!!?
Start with The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1952), the closest match to El Japón / Aqua Vitae!!.
What is the highest-rated movie like El Japón / Aqua Vitae!!?
Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins (2012), rated 7.5/10 by 964 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like El Japón / Aqua Vitae!!?
The Rose of Versailles (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like El Japón / Aqua Vitae!!?
Yes: The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1952), Inu-Oh (2022) and Fate/Grand Order the Movie: Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot 1 Wandering; Agateram (2020).
How are movies similar to El Japón / Aqua Vitae!! chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside El Japón / Aqua Vitae!!, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.