Movies like Pretty Bonsai (2024)
The best movies like Pretty Bonsai (2024) are Look Back (2024), Teasing Master Takagi-san: The Movie (2022) and Hanasaku Iroha the Movie: Home Sweet Home (2013). If Pretty Bonsai hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLook Back (2024)8.2/10 from 718 votes
- NewestLook Back (2024)Released 2024
- In JapaneseLook Back (2024)Also in Japanese
Look Back (2024)
Popular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a competitive fervor in Fujino. What starts as jealousy transforms when Fujino realizes their shared passion for drawing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTeasing Master Takagi-san: The Movie (2022)
Takagi and Nishikata’s final summer in junior high is about to begin, and it’s already off to a heartwarming start! When the pair find an abandoned kitten, they decide to work together and take care of Hana, their adorable new companion until they can locate its missing mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHanasaku Iroha the Movie: Home Sweet Home (2013)
While sorting through a mess of books in the staff room, Ohana happens upon one of Denroku's log books from long ago. Within it, it recounts a story of Ohana's mom when she was the same age as her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI've Always Liked You (2016)
Love is blooming at Sakuragaoka High School. Natsuki Enomoto has finally mustered the courage to confess to her childhood friend, Yuu Setoguchi. However, in the final moments of her confession, an embarrassed Natsuki passes it off as a "practice confession." Oblivious to her true feelings and struggling with his own, Yuu promises to support Natsuki in her quest for love. While Natsuki deals with her failed confession, fellow classmate Koyuki Ayase struggles with his own feelings for Natsuki. Despite his timidness, he is determined to win over her heart. This movie follows Natsuki as she dreams of one day ending her practices and genuinely confessing to Yuu. Meanwhile, close friends also find themselves entangled in their own webs of unrequited love and unspoken affections.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Moment You Fall in Love (2016)
Following Natsuki Enomoto's confession rehearsals with Yuu Setoguchi, their younger siblings Kotarou and Hina struggle to confess their own love. Despite a disastrous first meeting in middle school with her upperclassman Koyuki Ayase, Hina’s heart is captured by his warm smile. Initially confused by these newfound feelings, Hina soon realizes that she has fallen in love for the very first time. Chasing after her brother Yuu and her crush Koyuki, Hina also enrolls in Sakuragaoka High School; but the threads of love are far-reaching, and they entangle Hina and her friends. Boisterous but sensitive, Hina hopes to confess her feelings to the tender-hearted Koyuki. Meanwhile, Kotarou, oblivious to his own feelings for her, is determined to always keep Hina smiling. This movie follows Hina, Kotarou, and Koyuki in high school. Their youthful love forges new relationships, but also threatens to break others.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Twilight Samurai (2002)
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 seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhisper of the Heart (1995)
Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: "Seiji Amasawa."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEdo Porn (1981)
The world-famous woodblock artist Hokusai (1760-1849), a widower in need of a steady income, lives with his daughter Oei in the house of his friend Bakin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisShinobi: Heart Under Blade (2005)
Even though Gennosuke and Oboro are from rival ninja villages, they are secretly in love. At an annual conference with the Lord, it is dictated that a competition--a fight to the death--will take place between the five best shinobi from each village. Gennosuke and Oboro's love is made even more impossible when they each got picked as the leader of the five to represent their respective villages.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Broken Mariko (2022)
Shiino one day finds out that her best friend Mariko has committed suicide. After snatching Mariko's urn from her abusive father, Shiino heads to Marigaoka Cape, a place Mariko always wanted to go.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAsakusa Kid (2021)
Before he hit it big, Takeshi Kitano got his start apprenticing with comedy legend Fukami of Asakusa. But as his star rises, his mentor's declines.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTamako Love Story (2014)
Devoted to her family’s rice-cake–making business and the high school baton club, Tamako is a little slow when it comes to love. She’s oblivious to her childhood friend Mochizo’s affections, even though all their friends know. With graduation closing in and Mochizo leaving for Tokyo, will Tamako realise her feelings and tell him in time?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Kirishima Thing (2012)
A story about the disappearance of Kirishima, a star athlete of the volleyball club, and how his disappearance affects every person in school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLiverleaf (2018)
The story follows Nozaki Haruka, a middle school student who transfers to a new school in a small town because of her father's work. Unfortunately, she becomes a victim of horrific bullying, but since the school will be closing in 2 months after graduation, no one is willing to help her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKamikaze Girls (2004)
Momoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSasaki and Miyano: Graduation (2023)
As Sasaki prepares for his college entrance exams, Miyano tries to make the most of their limited time together while grappling with his own emotions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrange (2015)
A girl mysteriously receives advice from her future self and as a result her group of friends, along with a newly arrived, troubled classmate, learn how to be better friends and a better community.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrom Me to You (2010)
Sawako Kuronuma looks miserable on the outside, but is actually a positive-minded girl, who looks up to Shota Kazehaya, a sociable and friendly boy. Perceiving Sawako's good intentions, he secretly has feelings for her. Sawako meets Kazehaya and makes her first friends, Chizuru and Ayane but in comes Kurumi proclaiming her love for him... Will Sawako and Kazehaya ever find out about each other's feelings?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWood 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
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Pretty Bonsai?
The closest matches to Pretty Bonsai are Look Back (2024), Teasing Master Takagi-san: The Movie (2022) and Hanasaku Iroha the Movie: Home Sweet Home (2013). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Pretty Bonsai?
Start with Look Back (2024), the closest match to Pretty Bonsai.
What is the highest-rated movie like Pretty Bonsai?
Look Back (2024), rated 8.2/10 by 718 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Pretty Bonsai?
Look Back (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Pretty Bonsai?
Yes: Look Back (2024), Teasing Master Takagi-san: The Movie (2022) and Hanasaku Iroha the Movie: Home Sweet Home (2013).
How are movies similar to Pretty Bonsai chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Pretty Bonsai, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.