Movies like Someone's Gaze (2013)
The best movies like Someone's Gaze (2013) are 5 Centimeters per Second (2007), Aria the OVA: Arietta (2007) and Summer Ghost (2021). If Someone's Gaze hooked you with its animation and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMaquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (2018)8.1/10 from 749 votes
- NewestGoodbye, Don Glees! (2022)Released 2022
- In Japanese5 Centimeters per Second (2007)Also in Japanese
5 Centimeters per Second (2007)
Three moments in Takaki's life: his relationship with Akari and their forced separation; his friendship with Kanae, who is secretly in love with him; the demands and disappointments of adulthood, an unhappy life in a cold city.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAria the OVA: Arietta (2007)
Akari finds herself nervous coaching a new undine as a Prima, until she awakens to find that it is just a dream. To soothe her worries, Alicia recalls stories of her beginnings as a Prima, as well as the memories she made.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & science fiction
Summer Ghost (2021)
An urban legend says that lighting fireworks at an abandoned airfield will beckon the "summer ghost," a spirit that can answer any question. Three teenagers, Tomoya, Aoi, and Ryo, each have their own reason to show up one day. When a ghost named Ayane appears, she reveals she is only visible to those "who are about to touch their death." Compelled by the ghost and her message, Tomoya begins regularly visiting the airfield to uncover the true purpose of her visits.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Want to Deliver Your Voice (2017)
The story focuses on high school girl Nagisa Yukiai who lives in a seaside town. She has believed her grandmother's story that spirits dwell in words and they are called "kotodama" (word spirit). One day, she strays into a mini FM station that has not been used for years. As an impulse of the moment, she tries to talk like a DJ using the facility. But her voice accidentally broadcasted reaches someone she has never expected.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Mai 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: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShe and Her Cat (1999)
She and Her Cat details the life of a cat, entirely from the cat's perspective, as it passes time with its owner, a young woman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Garden of Words (2013)
Takao, who is training to become a shoemaker, skipped school and is sketching shoes in a Japanese-style garden. He meets a mysterious woman, Yukino, who is older than him. Then, without arranging the times, the two start to see each other again and again, but only on rainy days. They deepen their relationship and open up to each other. But the end of the rainy season soon approaches.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisColorful (2010)
Upon reaching the train station to death, a dejected soul is informed that he is lucky and will have another chance at life. He is placed in the body of a 14-year-old boy named Kobayashi Makoto, who has just committed suicide. Watched over by a neutral spirit named Purapura, the soul must figure out what his greatest sin and mistake in his former life was, before his time limit in Makoto's body runs out. He also has a number of other lesser duties he must complete, such as understanding what led Makoto to commit suicide in the first place and learning how to enjoy his second chance at life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Day I Bought a Star (2006)
A young boy is tired of the city and escapes into the country. Two strangers trade him a strange seed. The boy accepts and the seed sprouts into a miniature planet, which continues to grow.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & science fiction
Puparia (2021)
Something is about to change drastically, and the only thing to do is to witness it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHouse Hunting (2006)
A girl goes exploring to find a new house. Along the way, she encounters many of Japan's guardian spirits.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
SHIROBAKO the Movie (2020)
Four years after the events of SHIROBAKO the series, Musashino Animation has gone through unprecedented changes and things are looking bleak for the studio. One day, Aoi Miyamori is offered a role managing a new theatrical animation project. With only a few months left before the deadline, can MusAni complete the project in its current state? It’s up to Aoi to work alongside both familiar faces and new to finish the project in time!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (2018)
Fleeing the war, the immortal Maquia, graced with eternal youth, finds a baby abandoned in the forest and decides to raise it as her own child, sparking a moving story between a mortal and a being who does not age.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe House of the Lost on the Cape (2021)
A strange old woman allows a teenage runaway and a young orphan to stay in an abandoned house that overlooks the sea. However, when a menacing entity threatens their new home, they must band together and face their fears to save it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Twilight (2019)
Hakubo tells the story of two young people who live in rural Fukushima: Sachi Koyama, a girl who excels at playing the violin, and Yuusuke Kijinami, a boy who loves to paint. After an awkward, chance encounter, the two meet and begin to fall in love, but Yuusuke is still living in the shadow of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Boro the Caterpillar (2018)
Just before dawn, Boro the Caterpillar hatched from an egg among patches of scrub grass. Looking around for the first time, he noticed the brilliance of the morning sun and a deliciousness in the air. Boro lowered himself down to the ground from the groundsel, and stepped out into the world of caterpillars and caterpillars' enemies.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Half-Broken Music Box (2010)
In 2039, helper androids are widespread as general purpose electronics. Keiichirou lost his family in a traffic accident and retired from his band. One day, he finds an old model android in a garbage dump. He takes her home and names her "Flower".
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Kino's Journey: Country of Illness -For You- (2007)
Kino, a traveler who journeys the world with his talking motorcycle, Hermes, arrives in a country where people live inside massive domes. There, she meets a girl named Inertia, who asks him to deliver a letter to her pen pal—a boy who lives outside the dome.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko (2021)
Brash single mother Nikuko is well-known for her bold spirit, much to the embarrassment of Kikuko, her pensive yet imaginative daughter. In contrast to her mother, Kikuko wants nothing more than to fit in as she navigates the everyday social dramas of middle school. Life in the harbor is peaceful until a shocking revelation from the past threatens to uproot the pair's tender relationship.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Whale Hunt (2001)
Kujiratori tells the story of school children pretending they are building a boat. As imagination replaces reality, they find themselves on the ocean, hunting for a whale. A big, gentle whale appears, accompanies them back to land and plays with them. Then the fantasy ends and the children are back in their class room.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Rain Town (2011)
In this town, since who knows when, rain has never stopped. Residents moved out to suburbs and high ground around. People’s memories are now deeply submerged. But into this forgotten rainy town sometimes, someone wanders.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Koro's Big Day Out (2002)
The film is about Koro the puppy, who runs away from his mistress, experiences some adventures around town and who is finally happily returned home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Imaginary Flying Machines (2002)
Kuso no Sora Tobu Kikaitachi (Imaginary Flying Machines) is a 2002 Japanese animated short film produced by Studio Ghibli for their near exclusive use in the Ghibli Museum. It features director Hayao Miyazaki as the narrator, in the form of a humanoid pig, reminiscent of Porco from Porco Rosso, telling the story of flight and the many machines imagined to achieve it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Major: The Ball of Friendship (2008)
Goro briefly returns to Japan after a triumphant campaign in the US. He is heading towards Fukuoka where he played baseball when he was a fifth grader. Having just moved into a new town, this is where Goro faced a critical point in his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
When 17-year-old Makoto Konno gains the ability to 'leap' backwards through time, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. However, she soon realises that changing the past isn't as simple as it seems, and eventually, will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future of herself and her friends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPatema Inverted (2013)
A young girl, from a civilization that resides in deep underground tunnels, finds herself trapped in an inverted world and teams up with a resident to escape and return home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Love (2006)
In nineteenth-century Russia, a teenage boy in search of love is drawn to two very different women.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMon Mon the Water Spider (2006)
The short film's main character is a diving bell spider who seems to have fallen in love with a water strider. Although she is scared of him at first, the water strider soon gets used to the presence of the spider.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Goodbye, Don Glees! (2022)
Teen misfits Roma, Toto, and Drop call themselves the “Don Glees,” an informal name for their backyard adventures. One day, when the trio gets blamed for a nearby forest fire, they set off into the woods to prove their innocence. As disaster strikes their expedition, tensions flare between the friends as they realize that growing up has taken them on wildly different paths in life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Someone's Gaze?
The closest matches to Someone's Gaze are 5 Centimeters per Second (2007), Aria the OVA: Arietta (2007) and Summer Ghost (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Someone's Gaze?
People who watched Someone's Gaze most often go on to 5 Centimeters per Second (2007), Aria the OVA: Arietta (2007) and Summer Ghost (2021).
What is the highest-rated movie like Someone's Gaze?
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (2018), rated 8.1/10 by 749 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Someone's Gaze?
Goodbye, Don Glees! (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Someone's Gaze?
Yes: 5 Centimeters per Second (2007), Aria the OVA: Arietta (2007) and Summer Ghost (2021).
How are movies similar to Someone's Gaze chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Someone's Gaze, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.