Movies like Yodaka's Star (2012)
The best movies like Yodaka's Star (2012) are Jersey Girl (2004), An Autumn Afternoon (1962) and Wolf Children (2012). If Yodaka's Star hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Yodaka's Star
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWolf Children (2012)8.2/10 from 2,575 votes
- NewestThe Weight (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseAn Autumn Afternoon (1962)Also in Japanese
Jersey Girl (2004)
Ollie Trinke is a young, suave music publicist who seems to have it all, with a new wife and a baby on the way. But life deals him a bum hand when he's suddenly faced with single fatherhood, a defunct career and having to move in with his father. To bounce back, it takes a new love and the courage instilled in him by his daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Autumn Afternoon (1962)
Widower Shuhei Hirayama's caretaker is his 24-year-old daughter, Michiko. Gradually, he comes to realize that Michiko should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWolf Children (2012)
After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident, a woman must find a way to raise the son and daughter that she had with him. However, their inheritance of their father's traits prove to be a challenge for her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Only Son (1936)
A rural widow sends her only son to Tokyo to receive a better education. Years later, she visits him and finds he has become a night school teacher struggling to support his wife and son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEquinox Flower (1958)
Wataru's outwardly liberal views on marriage are severely tested when his daughter declares her love for a coworker and is adamant to live her own way, instead of agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outwitted by his female relatives, Hirayama stubbornly refuses to admit defeat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKabei: Our Mother (2008)
Set in Tokyo in 1940, the peaceful life of the Nogami Family suddenly changes when the father, Shigeru, is arrested and accused of being a Communist. His wife Kayo works frantically from morning to night to maintain the household and bring up her two daughters with the support of Shigeru's sister Hisako and Shigeru's ex-student Yamazaki, but her husband does not return. WWII breaks out and casts dark shadows on the entire country, but Kayo still tries to keep her cheerful determination, and sustain the family with her love. This is an emotional drama of a mother and an eternal message for peace.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLate Spring (1949)
Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Boy and the Beast (2015)
Kyuta, a boy living in Shibuya, and Kumatetsu, a lonesome beast from Jutengai, an imaginary world. One day, Kyuta forays into the imaginary world and, as he's looking for his way back, meets Kumatetsu who becomes his spirit guide. That encounter leads them to many adventures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBlood and Bones (2004)
In 1923, teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTokyo Story (1953)
The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHesher (2010)
A young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. Then he meets Hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRinging Bell (1978)
Chirin is an innocent though adventurous young lamb whose carefree life on the farm comes to an abrupt end when a wolf murders his mother. Confused and angry, Chirin pursues the wolf into the mountains, seeking revenge. The laws of nature are brutal, however, and hatred alone won't be enough to avenge the loss of his mother. Only the strong survive in the wild, and obtaining that strength may change Chirin forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWe Made a Beautiful Bouquet (2021)
Two people meet each other after missing the last train home, leading to a beautiful relationship over five years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Weight (2026)
When Samuel is torn from his daughter and sent to a brutal prison, Warden Clancy offers him a high-stakes proposition: smuggle gold out of a remote mine with a dangerous crew of prisoners and he’ll win his freedom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWild Hearts Can't Be Broken (1991)
A runaway orphan, young Sonora, persists in a menial job mucking stables in Doc Carver's travelling stunt show. Her great wish is to become a death-defying "diving girl," but Doc refuses her pleas. Undaunted, Sonora's gutsy resolve finally convinces him to give her a break. On the brink of stardom, however, a cruel twist of fate threatens to destroy her dream.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhale Rider (2003)
A contemporary story of love, rejection, and triumph as a young Māori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHer Love Boils Bathwater (2016)
After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, Futaba resolves to spend her remaining time reuniting her broken family, reopening the long-closed bathhouse, and helping her shy daughter Azumi learn to stand on her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMoving (1993)
Physically separated from her father and at odds with her distraught mother, a girl must negotiate her own passage to maturity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEpic (2013)
A teenager finds herself transported to a deep forest setting where a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil is taking place. She bands together with a rag-tag group of characters in order to save their world—and ours.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn My Father's Den (2004)
War journalist Paul Prior returns to his New Zealand hometown after his father’s death, rekindling strained relationships with his brother and memories of a troubled past. He befriends Celia, a curious and aspiring writer, who shares a fascination with his world. When Celia mysteriously disappears, Paul becomes the prime suspect, forcing him to confront buried secrets and uncover the dark truths of his family and community.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Yodaka's Star?
The closest matches to Yodaka's Star are Jersey Girl (2004), An Autumn Afternoon (1962) and Wolf Children (2012). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Yodaka's Star?
Start with Jersey Girl (2004), the closest match to Yodaka's Star.
What is the highest-rated movie like Yodaka's Star?
Wolf Children (2012), rated 8.2/10 by 2,575 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Yodaka's Star?
The Weight (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Yodaka's Star?
Yes: An Autumn Afternoon (1962), Wolf Children (2012) and The Only Son (1936).
How are movies similar to Yodaka's Star chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Yodaka's Star, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.