Movies like Sanctuary (1996)
The best movies like Sanctuary (1996) are Lupin the 3rd: Goemon's Blood Spray (2017), Batman: Year One (2011) and Detective Conan: Captured in Her Eyes (2000). If Sanctuary hooked you with its animation and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSpirited Away (2001)8.5/10 from 19,197 votes
- NewestScarlet (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseLupin the 3rd: Goemon's Blood Spray (2017)Also in Japanese
Lupin the 3rd: Goemon's Blood Spray (2017)
A yakuza boss hires Goemon Ishikawa, a modern day samurai, to protect him aboard his cruise ship casino. Everything goes sideways when the famous thief, Lupin the Third, tries to rob the vessel. Lupin's being hunted by a powerful and mysterious man: the so called “Ghost of Bermuda.” With Goemon's employer dead in the ensuing chaos, his honor is at stake, and the only way to preserve it is with blood. But this opponent is like no other, and to make things right, Goemon may need to sharpen not only his sword, but himself as well!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBatman: Year One (2011)
A wealthy playboy named Bruce Wayne and a Chicago cop named Jim Gordon both return to Gotham City where their lives unexpectedly intersect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDetective Conan: Captured in Her Eyes (2000)
Police officers around Tokyo are being murdered by an unknown assailant. When Ran witnesses an attempt on the life of one of her friends in the police, she loses her memory. Now, Conan and Inspector Megure must find the murderer while Ran attempts to regain her lost memories.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScarlet (2025)
After failing to avenge her father's murder, Princess Scarlet, wakes up in the "Land of the Dead." In this world filled with madness, if she does not achieve her revenge against her nemesis and reach the "No End Place," she will become "Void" and cease to exist. Can Scarlet find a way to live at the end of her endless journey?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno (2015)
Conan tries to track down Kaito Kid, who supposedly steals a replica of one of Van Gogh's Sunflowers paintings during an auction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBleach the Movie: Fade to Black (2008)
A strange disturbance in the World of the Living sends Ichigo and Kon to the Soul Society, where the Seireitei has been devastated by an explosion of reishi and Rukia is missing. Stranger still, none of the Soul Reapers remember Ichigo, and they think he’s the one responsible for the destruction. Now on the run, Ichigo is forced into a lonely battle in order to find Rukia and stop the real culprits!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPsycho-Pass 3: First Inspector (2020)
Inspector Kei Mikhail Ignatov finds himself involved with an organization named Bifrost with the possibility of freeing his wife if he betrays Unit One. Koichi Azusawa coordinates an assault on the Public Safety Bureau tower using his hacker Obata, locking down the building and kidnapping Inspector Arata Shindo. Azusawa demands that governor Karina Komiya resign from her position.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDetective Conan: The Time Bombed Skyscraper (1997)
Once brilliant teenage detective Shinichi Kudo was given a poison that reverted him to a 4-year-old. He's adopted the pseudonym Conan Edogawa so no one (save for an eccentric inventor) will know. Now he's got to solve a series of bombings before his loved ones become victims. Who is this madman and why is he doing this? Only the young genius can save the day but will even he be up to the task?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDetective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback (2025)
As police inspector Yamato Kansuke pursues a certain man in the snowy mountains of Nagano, a shadow suddenly appears in his field of vision. While he's distracted, a rifle bullet fired by someone grazes his left eye and causes an avalanche accompanied by a roar. Ten months later, Kansuke, having miraculously survived the avalanche, receives a report that a researcher at the Nobeyama National Astronomical Observatory has been attacked.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAppleseed (1988)
In the futuristic city of Olympus, built on the ashes of the third world war, a police officer and her cyborg partner fight terrorism.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBLAME! (2017)
In the distant technological future, civilization has reached its ultimate Net-based form. An "infection" in the past caused the automated systems to spiral out of order, resulting in a multi-leveled city structure that replicates itself infinitely in all directions. Now humanity has lost access to the city's controls, and is hunted down and purged by the defense system known as the Safeguard. In a tiny corner of the city, a little enclave known as the Electro-Fishers is facing eventual extinction, trapped between the threat of the Safeguard and dwindling food supplies. A girl named Zuru goes on a journey to find food for her village, only to inadvertently cause doom when an observation tower senses her and summons a Safeguard pack to eliminate the threat. With her companions dead and all escape routes blocked, the only thing that can save her now is the sudden arrival of Killy the Wanderer, on his quest for the Net Terminal Genes, the key to restoring order to the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Wind Named Amnesia (1990)
A wind has swept the Earth taking all the memories from everyone. No one knows who they are, how to speak, or how to use the tools of modern civilization. Two years later, a young man who has been re-educated travels across America on a mysterious journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFate/Grand Order the Movie: Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot 1 Wandering; Agateram (2020)
The wandering knight, Bedivere, reaches the end of his journey. It is A.D. 1273 in Jerusalem. The Holy Land has been transformed into a massive desert and its people have been forced out of their homes as three major powers wage war with each other in this wasteland. The Knights of the Round Table come together to protect the Holy City and their Lion King. With the whole of his kingdom summoned into a strange land, Ozymandias, the Sun King, quietly plots against the tyranny of this bizarre realm. The mountain people, protectors of those who were stripped of their land, await their chance at rebellion. In order to fulfill his mission, Bedivere heads for the Holy City where the Lion King rules. There he meets humanity’s final Master, Ritsuka Fujimaru, who has come to Jerusalem, accompanied by his Demi-Servant, Mash Kyrielight, in their quest to restore human history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDetective Conan: Dimensional Sniper (2014)
A rash of sniper attacks leaves the streets of Tokyo empty and the public terrified to go outside. It’s up to Conan and his friends to find the culprit, but the case goes deeper than it seems. Military cover-ups, conspiracies and murder abound in this fast-paced, thrilling mystery!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKabaneri of the Iron Fortress: Life That Burns (2017)
In the midst of an industrial revolution, the people of Hinomoto fight hordes of undead creatures, known as Kabane, using powerful armored trains. (Compilation film of the second half of the original TV series.)
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSteins;Gate: The Movie - Load Region of Déjà Vu (2013)
One year after the events of the anime, Rintarou begins to feel the repercussions of extensive time travel, and eventually completely fades from reality. Kurisu, being the only companion to remember him, now must find a way to bring him back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBatman: Bad Blood (2016)
When Batman goes missing, it takes the entire Bat "family" - including Batwoman and Batwing - to keep the peace in Gotham and unravel the mystery behind the Dark Knight's disappearance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDetective Conan: The Raven Chaser (2009)
A new member from the Black Organization that shrunk Shinichi's body manages to find out about Shinichi's transformation into Conan. This discovery starts to put those around him in danger as Gin and the other Black Organization members start to take action.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlackFox (2019)
Rikka is a ninja descendant. Her grandfather Hyoe is the last chief of their ninja clan and her father is a cyborg researcher. Both are killed when a weapons' company raids his lab to use his research. Rikka sets out to avenge their deaths.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Parts You Lose (2019)
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil's Deal (2023)
Hae-woong an assembly member candidate, is taken out of the running because he became a thorn in the side of a local bigwig, Soon-tae. Hounded by loan sharks, due to defaulting a campaign loan, he decides to get his hands dirty.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Touch 5: Cross Road (2001)
Trying to find his own game of baseball, and not that of his brothers, Tatsuya moves to America and pitches for a poor, struggling minor league baseball team called the Emeralds. Meanwhile, Minami is still in Japan, trying to find her own path after quitting gymnastics. Inspired by a photograph of her final performance, she becomes the photographers assistant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & drama
Doggie March (1963)
It tells the story of Rock, a puppy whose mother is killed by a tiger and a fox. To fulfill his revenge, will achieve together a large number of animals. An animated collaboration between Osamu Tezuka and Toei Animation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & drama
Brother (2000)
A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWarriors of the Wind (1984)
After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley engage in an epic struggle to restore the bond between humanity and Earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisKill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
An assassin is shot by her ruthless employer, Bill, and other members of their assassination circle – but she lives to plot her vengeance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSpirited Away (2001)
A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAkira (1988)
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCrayon Shinchan the Movie: Invasion!! Alien Shiriri (2017)
When the mysterious Shiriri turns his parents into children, Shin-chan must trek across Japan to help return them to adult form.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Call (1931)
The Secret Call is adapted from The Woman, a play by William C. DeMille (brother of Cecil B.) Peggy Shannon plays Wanda Kelly, the daughter of a disgraced politician. Reduced to working as a switchboard operator, Wanda is privy to the many secrets and indiscretions of the clients of a big-city hotel. She also finds romance in the form of handsome Tom Blake (Richard Arlen). The huge cast of characters comes in handy for the film's multitude of subplots, none of which ever get their wires crossed. Peggy Shannon acquits herself nicely in her first major role, but by the end of the decade her career was in decline.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Sanctuary and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sanctuary?
The closest matches to Sanctuary are Lupin the 3rd: Goemon's Blood Spray (2017), Batman: Year One (2011) and Detective Conan: Captured in Her Eyes (2000). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sanctuary?
Start with Lupin the 3rd: Goemon's Blood Spray (2017), the closest match to Sanctuary.
What is the highest-rated movie like Sanctuary?
Spirited Away (2001), rated 8.5/10 by 19,197 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sanctuary?
Scarlet (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Sanctuary?
Yes: Lupin the 3rd: Goemon's Blood Spray (2017), Detective Conan: Captured in Her Eyes (2000) and Scarlet (2025).
How are movies similar to Sanctuary chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sanctuary, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.