Movies like Renai Shousetsu (2004)
The best movies like Renai Shousetsu (2004) are Ride Your Wave (2019), Dolls (2002) and River's Edge (2018). If Renai Shousetsu hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDrawing Closer (2024)8.4/10 from 240 votes
- NewestDrawing Closer (2024)Released 2024
- In JapaneseRide Your Wave (2019)Also in Japanese
Ride Your Wave (2019)
Hinako is a surf-loving college student who has just moved to a small seaside town. When a sudden fire breaks out at her apartment building, she is rescued by Minato, a handsome firefighter, and the two soon fall in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDolls (2002)
Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRiver's Edge (2018)
High schooler Haruna befriends loner Yamada, then is drawn into the tangled relationship between him, a model and the girl who loves him unreasonably.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNorwegian Wood (2010)
Toru recalls his life in the 1960s, when his friend Kizuki killed himself and he grew close to Naoko, Kizuki's girlfriend, and another woman, the outgoing, lively Midori.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaborosi (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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRestless (2011)
Two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDrawing Closer (2024)
With only a year left to live, 17-year-old Akito finds new meaning in life by bringing joy to a terminally ill girl who has just six months remaining.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDrowning Love (2016)
Natsume Mochizuki works as a teen model in Tokyo, but she learns that she has to move to her father's hometown of Ukigumo. She is in a desperate situation because she can't do the things she wants to do in Ukigumo. One day, she meets Koichiro Hasegawa. He is the successor of the Hasegawa family. His family is wealthy and is respected in the area. Natsume Mochizuki and Koichiro Hasegawa become attracted to each other, but something changes their fate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother (2012)
After a chain of deaths at a junior high school, new transfer student Koichi Sakakibara turns to a mysterious girl who holds the key to the dark mystery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Rainy Days (2009)
A cold and calculating high school student falls in love for the first time with a professor, but he's dying of brain cancer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStill the Water (2014)
On the Japanese island of Amami, despite lacking parental guidance, Kaito and his girlfriend Kyoko try to find their place in the world. While Kaito suffers from the absence of his father, who moved to Tokyo after his birth, Kyoko must come to grips with her mother’s terminal illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Want to Eat Your Pancreas (2018)
After his classmate and crush is diagnosed with a pancreatic disease, an average high schooler sets out to make the most of her final days.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Silent Voice: The Movie (2016)
Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shouko and Shouya do not speak to each other again... until an older, wiser Shouya, tormented by his past behaviour, decides he must see Shouko once more. He wants to atone for his sins, but is it already too late...?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBlue Spring Ride (2014)
In middle school, Futaba Yoshioka was madly in love with Tanaka Kou but he moves away with his mother. She is reunited with him later in life but he is not the same person anymore.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrange: Future (2016)
Twenty-six-year-old Hiroto Suwa; his wife, Naho; and their old high school classmates—Takako Chino, Azusa Murasaka, and Saku Hagita—visit Mt. Koubou to view the cherry blossoms together. While watching the setting sun, they reminisce about Kakeru Naruse, their friend who died 10 years ago. Mourning for him, they decide to visit Kakeru's old home, where they learn the secret of his death from his grandmother.
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 thisHeavenly Forest (2006)
Amateur photographer Makoto and the homely but endearing Shizuru meet during their university entrance ceremony and become instant friends. Shy by nature, Makoto finds himself opening up around Shizuru, who is secretly in love with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGiven (2020)
Haruki secretly had feelings for Akihiko for years, but Akihiko was still in a relationship with his roommate, the violinist Ugetsu Murata. Haruki, Akihiko, and Ugetsu's love clashes and starts to move forward.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisGiovanni's Island (2014)
In the aftermath of the most devastating conflict mankind had ever experienced, the tiny island of Shikotan became part of the Sakhalin Oblast... and on the unhealed border in this remote corner of the world, friendship among children from two different countries timidly blossomed, striving to overcome language barriers and the waves of history. Inspired by true events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMind Game (2004)
Nishi is a loser who has a crush on his childhood girlfriend. After an encounter with the Japanese mafia, he journeys to heaven and back, and ends up trapped in an even more unlikely place.
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 Renai Shousetsu?
The closest matches to Renai Shousetsu are Ride Your Wave (2019), Dolls (2002) and River's Edge (2018). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Renai Shousetsu?
Start with Ride Your Wave (2019), the closest match to Renai Shousetsu.
What is the highest-rated movie like Renai Shousetsu?
Drawing Closer (2024), rated 8.4/10 by 240 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Renai Shousetsu?
Drawing Closer (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Renai Shousetsu?
Yes: Ride Your Wave (2019), Dolls (2002) and River's Edge (2018).
How are movies similar to Renai Shousetsu chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Renai Shousetsu, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.