Movies like Madadayo (1993)
The best movies like Madadayo (1993) are No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007) and The Taste of Tea (2004). If Madadayo 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 ratedTokyo Story (1953)8.2/10 from 1,286 votes
- NewestUmami (2023)Released 2023
- In JapaneseNo Regrets for Our Youth (1946)Also in Japanese
No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
After her anti-fascist professor father is dismissed, Yukie navigates love, political repression, and wartime upheaval—ultimately forging her own path in pre- and post-WWII Japan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlways: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007)
A year has passed in postwar Tokyo, and struggling writer Chagawa enters the Akutagawa Prize competition in hopes of securing a better future for the boy in his care, while the Suzuki family unexpectedly take in a new relative who looks down on their humble way of life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
The 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: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKikujiro (1999)
Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro is the unlikely companion for Masao who is determined to see the mother he has never met. The two begin a series of adventures which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and unique characters along the way.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlways: Sunset on Third Street '64 (2012)
As the Tokyo Olympics usher in a wave of rapid modernisation, the residents of Third Street face new beginnings as Mutsuko becomes involved with a seemingly perfect young doctor who may not be all he appears, while Chagawa struggles with his stalled writing career and what it truly means to be a father to the boy he has raised as his own.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Always - Sunset on Third Street (2005)
In 1958 postwar Tokyo, the residents of a humble Third Street neighbourhood struggle, dream, and grow together as rapid modernisation transforms their lives beneath the shadow of the newly rising Tokyo Tower.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRhapsody in August (1991)
An elderly Nagasaki hibakusha spends a summer caring for her four grandchildren, whose curiosity about the 1945 bombing stirs buried memories and moral questions. When an American nephew from Hawaii visits, the family confronts grief, guilt, and the possibility of reconciliation across generations.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCafé Lumière (2004)
In a distinctly contemporary Tokyo that looks backwards to the city’s disappearing past, Yoko is a writer investigating the life of a modernist composer of the 1930s. She is pregnant by a man she does not want to marry and has found a kindred spirit in a used bookstore owner who aids her research.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985)
An autobiographical film based on Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's memories of his youth growing up in Taiwan after emigrating from mainland China.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Family Game (1983)
A sendup of the stereotypical Japanese family: dad is a salaryman jerk, unable to relate to anyone; mom is a hopeless housewife; the older son is a moderate academic success; but the younger son is a rebellious goof-off for whom a tutor must be hired. The tutor proceeds to blow the entire family apart.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
License to Live (1999)
Having fallen into a coma following a car accident at 14, Yutaka wakes ten years later and realizes that his family is no longer intact: father, mother and sister live at different places, so he decides to reopen the farm that his family once ran.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Yumeji (1991)
Following the life of Japanese artist and poet Yumeji Takehisa through the imagining of an encounter with a beautiful widow with a dark past.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Ritual (2000)
A disillusioned filmmaker has an encounter with a young woman who has a ritual of repeating "Tomorrow is my birthday" everyday. He tries to communicate with her through his video camera.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisUmami (2023)
Following a near-death experience France's leading chef throws himself into a quest seeking the flavor that has confounded his life since he was defeated by a Japanese chef's bowl of noodles as a young man.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Late 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Funeral (1984)
When Wabisuke's father-in-law unexpectedly dies, the family goes through a series of random events and occurrences as the funeral unfolds over three days in their home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
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: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDodes'ka-den (1970)
On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindnesses. Kurosawa crafts a ragged mosaic of hardship, fantasy, and flickers of grace that keep people moving forward.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDiary of a Shinjuku Thief (1969)
In Tokyo's Shinjuku district, the lives of a young man prone to theft, a young woman he meets at a bookstore, and a kabuki actor intersect.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
The Ballad of Narayama (1983)
In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mountain. But first she must make sure that her eldest son Tatsuhei finds a wife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThree Resurrected Drunkards (1968)
Three students spend their holidays at the seaside where they are mistaken for Koreans, a minority which is looked down on in Japan. The action develops into a crime story.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
A Scene at the Sea (1991)
A deaf garbage collector happens upon a broken and discarded surfboard. The discovery plants in him dreams of becoming a surf champion. Encouraged by his also deaf girlfriend, he persists against all odds.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPassing Fancy (1933)
In Depression-era Tokyo, a struggling middle-aged single father with a young son comes across a homeless young lady and convinces a bar owner to take her in.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Maborosi (1995)
A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeath by Hanging (1968)
A Korean man is sentenced to death in Japan but somehow survives his execution, sending the authorities into a panic about what to do next.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Pornographers (1966)
A former Buddhist monk turned erotic filmmaker, Subuyan lives with hairdresser Haru and her two teenage children. Shooting two skin flicks per day, he somehow manages to stay out of the clutches of the yakuza, but real trouble starts when Haru discovers him lusting after her daughter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Makioka Sisters (1983)
This sensuously beautiful film chronicles the activities of four sisters who gather in Kyoto every year to view the cherry blossoms. It paints a vivid portrait of the pre-war lifestyle of the wealthy Makioka family from Osaka, and draws a parallel between their activities and the seasonal variations in Japan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Madadayo?
The closest matches to Madadayo are No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007) and The Taste of Tea (2004). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Madadayo?
People who watched Madadayo most often go on to No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007) and The Taste of Tea (2004).
What is the highest-rated movie like Madadayo?
Tokyo Story (1953), rated 8.2/10 by 1,286 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Madadayo?
Umami (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Madadayo?
Yes: No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007) and The Taste of Tea (2004).
How are movies similar to Madadayo chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Madadayo, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.