Movies like Brave Hearts: Umizaru (2012)
The best movies like Brave Hearts: Umizaru (2012) are In Full Bloom (2019), Welcome to Sudden Death (2020) and Knuckle Girl (2023). If Brave Hearts: Umizaru hooked you with its action and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBeast (2026)7.5/10 from 227 votes
- NewestBeast (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseKnuckle Girl (2023)Also in Japanese
In Full Bloom (2019)
Set shortly after the end of World War II, a philosophical boxing drama of two fighters from opposite worlds (USA and Japan) who are pulled together for a questionable fight arranged by their unscrupulous managers and the Yakuza.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWelcome to Sudden Death (2020)
Jesse Freeman is a former special forces officer and explosives expert now working a regular job as a security guard in a state-of-the-art basketball arena. Trouble erupts when a tech-savvy cadre of terrorists kidnap the team's owner and Jesse's daughter during opening night. Facing a ticking clock and impossible odds, it's up to Jesse to not only save them but also a full house of fans in this highly charged action thriller.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKnuckle Girl (2023)
Following the story of Ran, who confronts a mysterious organization by participating in a no-rules deathmatch after discovering her missing younger sister Yuzuki is involved in a crime. With danger at every corner, Ran must trade in her boxing gloves for brass knuckles. Will she save her sister?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out (2003)
After a failed bank robbery, two heavily armed men hold the Los Angeles Police Department at bay for 44 minutes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeast (2026)
MMA legend Patton James, now a commercial fisherman, is pulled back into the cage when his brother is in danger. Reuniting with his old coach Sammy, he commits to one final fight in one championship against the brutal champion Xavier Grau.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOnly the Strong (1993)
Former Green Beret Louis Stevens returns to his hometown of Miami after completing military service in Brazil, only to learn that his old high school has become a haven for gangs and drug dealers. After Stevens uses his capoeira skills to kick several drug dealers off of the school property, Kerrigan, one of Stevens' old teachers, sees the impact that Stevens has on the students. Kerrigan gives him the task of teaching Capoeira to a handful of the worst at-risk students at the school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRev (2020)
A young thief with a history of grand theft auto becomes an informant and helps police bring down a criminal enterprise involved in the smuggling of hundreds of exotic super cars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirt (2018)
In search of a lifeline for his struggling off road racing team, a man takes on a young car thief looking for a second chance, but as their worlds collide, they must struggle to forge a successful alliance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMexicali (2026)
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYakuza Graveyard (1976)
A police investigator cracks down on yakuza business, but once he realizes the police are in negotiations with certain factions, he sides with his own syndicate of choice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe City of Lost Souls (2000)
Brazilian-Japanese gangster Mario rescues his Chinese girlfriend Kei as she's about to be deported from Japan. Desperate to escape, he hides in Tokyo's booming Japanese-Portuguese community and seeks passage from the country from a Russian mobster. To meet his price, they hold up a bigtime drug deal between the Chinese Mafia and the local Yakuza.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shepherd (2023)
On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home becomes lost while flying over water and needs a miracle to land safely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoyokin (1969)
A guilt-haunted samurai warrior attempts to stop a massacre taking place.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFemale Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song (1973)
Nami is once again on the run from the law but is saved by an old classmate who works at a strip club. Through a subsequent conversation they discover they both have a score to settle with a particular crooked cop. However, Nami has doubts about ever trusting a man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisK-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces (2008)
In an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened, the Japanese capital of Teito is home to both an ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called “The Kaijin (Fiend) with 20 Faces” (K-20 for short) begins to use his mysterious abilities to steal from the rich and give to the poor. One day a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is framed for K-20’s crimes and becomes determined to clear his name. He teams up with K-20’s next target, a wealthy duchess named Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and her detective fiancé (Toru Nakamura), to take K-20 down once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInterceptor (2022)
A U.S. Army Captain uses her years of tactical training to save humanity from sixteen nuclear missiles launched at the U.S. as a violent attack threatens her remote missile interceptor station.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStowaway (2022)
A tenacious party girl fights to survive after three thieves commandeer her luxury yacht. Unable to escape and trapped on the yacht at high seas, the prey becomes the hunter as she turns the tables on the intruders and takes matters into her own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLet's Get Harry (1986)
Harry Burck has been kidnapped by South American terrorists, and when the US Government refuses to intervene, Harry's friends decide to take matters into their own hands!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNaruto the Movie: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom (2006)
Naruto Uzumaki, Kakashi Hatake, Sakura Haruno, and Rock Lee are assigned to protect the prince of the Land of the Moon, Michiru, during his world trip; other escorts had been hired, but quit due to being treated poorly. The Land of the Moon is a very wealthy nation, so Michiru tends to buy whatever he wants, and has a very materialistic worldview. His Hikaru, also acts in much the same manner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe System (2022)
When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGintama 2: Rules Are Made to Be Broken (2018)
The Yorozuya gang returns to protect the country's shogun when the Shinsengumi police force finds itself in a crisis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEvery Day a Good Day (2018)
A university student attends a Japanese tea ceremony near her house with her cousin. There she has the Japanese tea ceremony in her life and it's there for her during moments when she is sad or happy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe End of the Pale Hour (2021)
A young man falls in love with a woman he meets at a party, but when she leaves him, he must face some uncomfortable truths.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dare to Stop Us (2018)
In Spring 1969, 21-year-old Megumi Yoshizumi goes to Wakamatsu Production. The company makes films popular with young people. Pink film director Koji Wakamatsu gathers there with young talented people who are all fascinated with movie making. When they are not making movies, they spend their time smoking, drinking alcohol, scouting for actresses and looking for material for their next film. When filming begins, everybody immerses themselves into the production and will do everything on the filming set from running, shouting to acting.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Assassination Classroom (2015)
A mysterious creature destroys part of the moon and then warns that, if it is not destroyed before March of the following year, Earth will be next. It also demands to become the homeroom teacher of Class E, a third-year class at Kunugigaoka High School.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlood Friends (2022)
The story is set at the blood donation club in Kurusu Private High School. There are four girls who are fascinated by the pleasure of having their blood drawn – Maki (Erika Karata), Jinko (Ichika Osaki), Nami (Mikoto Hibi), and Kaoru (Nazuki Amano). One day, Maki meets Mai (Nina Makino), a beautiful girl dressed in black, in the blood donation room. Mai fainted after her rampage against the nurses, and Maki unintentionally carries her into the blood donation club room. Mai then reveals a shocking fact – She is a dropout vampire who could not attack humans! Struck by Mai's fragile expression, Maki and other members decide to feed her with their own blood instead of donating blood…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Flying 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: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRebirth (2011)
After the collapse of their relationship, Kiwako abducts the 6-month old child of a man she was having an affair with. Raising the child as her own, it is four years before the authorities catch up with her and the young child.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Homunculus (2021)
A homeless man meets a medical school student who pays him to volunteer for a surgical procedure known as trepanation, drilling a hole in his skull, which ends up giving him the ability to communicate with the dark side of people’s subconscious minds.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove At Least (2018)
For Yasuko every day is a challenge. Due to her mental illness and hypersomnia, simple things like household chores and holding a job seem impossible. Added to the mix is an indifferent, almost distant boyfriend and an ex-girlfriend with plans to win him back.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Brave Hearts: Umizaru?
The closest matches to Brave Hearts: Umizaru are In Full Bloom (2019), Welcome to Sudden Death (2020) and Knuckle Girl (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Brave Hearts: Umizaru?
Start with In Full Bloom (2019), the closest match to Brave Hearts: Umizaru.
What is the highest-rated movie like Brave Hearts: Umizaru?
Beast (2026), rated 7.5/10 by 227 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Brave Hearts: Umizaru?
Beast (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Brave Hearts: Umizaru?
Yes: Knuckle Girl (2023), Yakuza Graveyard (1976) and The City of Lost Souls (2000).
How are movies similar to Brave Hearts: Umizaru chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Brave Hearts: Umizaru, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.