Movies like The Forest of Wool and Steel (2018)
The best movies like The Forest of Wool and Steel (2018) are Strobe Edge (2015), From Me to You (2010) and Sky of Love (2007). If The Forest of Wool and Steel hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl (2019)8.2/10 from 624 votes
- NewestThe Roses (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseStrobe Edge (2015)Also in Japanese
Strobe Edge (2015)
Ninako Kinoshita has never been in love until an encounter with the school's most popular boy, Ren Ichinose, leads the two to befriending each other. Ren's patient and kind personality is a far cry from his unapproachable idol status at school, and soon Ninako falls in love with him. However, she must cope with the fact that he already has a long-time girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrom Me to You (2010)
Sawako Kuronuma looks miserable on the outside, but is actually a positive-minded girl, who looks up to Shota Kazehaya, a sociable and friendly boy. Perceiving Sawako's good intentions, he secretly has feelings for her. Sawako meets Kazehaya and makes her first friends, Chizuru and Ayane but in comes Kurumi proclaiming her love for him... Will Sawako and Kazehaya ever find out about each other's feelings?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSky of Love (2007)
Mika is a fresh high school student who starts texting a mysterious boy. She is shocked when he reveals who he is - Hiro, a delinquent attending her school. What she doesn't know is that Hiro isn't as bad as he seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoney (2018)
Kogure Nao is a shy and cute high school student. One day, Onise Taiga asks her "would you like to date with me on the promise that we will get married?" Nao is unable to turn down his proposal because she is scared of him. Taiga has red hair and piercing eyes. His appearance gives off the impression that he is a bad boy, but he is actually considerate to others and good at cooking. After getting to know Taiga, Nao begins to have feelings for him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClannad: The Motion Picture (2007)
Plagued by a seemingly endless stream of haunting dreams, Tomoya drifts through life with an almost overwhelming sense of anger and emptiness. Then, one fateful day, he meets the mysterious and beautiful Nagisa, and his world begins to change. While helping Nagisa revive the defunct Drama Club at their high school, Tomoya discovers that she has the same dreams. Their story starts beneath the cherry blossoms, but where will fate lead them?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEven If This Love Disappears Tonight (2022)
A high school girl wakes up each day with no memory of the day before. When she agrees to date a shy classmate, Toru, he begins to fall for her—despite her rule against falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl (2019)
In Fujisawa, Sakuta Azusagawa is in his second year of high school. Blissful days with his girlfriend and upperclassman, Mai Sakurajima, are interrupted by the appearance of his first crush, Shoko Makinohara.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Anthem of the Heart (2015)
A young girl had her voice magically taken away so that she would never hurt people with it, but her outlook changes when she encounters music and friendship. Will Naruse be able to convey the anthem of her heart?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYour Lie in April (2016)
Arima Kousei won numerous piano competitions while under the strict watch of his mother. He was known as the human metronome during that time. Since the death of his mother, Kousei has been unable to hear the sound of his piano. He then meets Miyazono Kaori through childhood friend Sawabe Tsubaki. Kaori plays the violin and has a free sprit. Since meeting her, Kousei is able to face the piano again. Meanwhile, Kaori holds a secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClose Range Love (2014)
A smart high school student falls in love with her English teacher after she receives one-on-one tutoring from him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisParadise Kiss (2011)
Hyasaka Yukari only wants one thing: to enter the college that her mom wants. One day, she meets an extravagant group that loves fashion. They were searching for a model and Yukari fits their ideal model. From now Yukari will know the world of fashion and modeling, and what she really wants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGO (2001)
Sugihara, a Japanese-born, third-generation Korean teenager struggles to find a place in a society that will not accept him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIt Feels So Good (2019)
When it rains it pours. Kenji divorced his wife, lost his job and his old squeeze Naoko is getting married back home in the north of Japan, specifically in Akita. He returns there in order to attend her wedding. Naoko surprises him by proposing that they have sex again. The one night stand is the new beginning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFruits Basket -prelude- (2022)
Kyoko, who couldn't believe anything in the world and lived a desolate life, meets Katsuya Honda, who has been assigned as an educational trainee. She is at the mercy of Katsuya, who is rude and has a strong habit, and she is gradually attracted to her. However, she is disowned by her parents in the wake of an incident with her bad fellow. It's a punishment that I've been doing as much as I like. Katsuya appears in front of Kyoko who thinks so...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Best of Me (2014)
A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies 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 · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDogwood Tree (2010)
A young girl tries to maintain a long-distance relationship with an aspiring fisherman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWolf Girl and Black Prince (2016)
Erika Shinohara is a first year of high school student. While talking to friends, she makes up a story about her "boyfriend." In reality, Erika Shinohara doesn't have a boyfriend. Erika's friends soon begin to doubt her story and Erika is also running out of lies. Erika then sees a pretty boy on the street and takes his picture discreetly. She later shows his picture to her friends as her boyfriend. The boy in the picture is Kyouya Sata and happens to attend the same school as Erika. She tells Kyouya about her situation and asks him to be her pretend boyfriend. Even though Kyouya has a pretty appearance, he has a dark side.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOur Secret Diary (2023)
Nozomi Kuroda is in the 2nd grade of high school. One day, she finds a letter in a classroom desk. The letter has only the word "like" written on it. The person who wrote the letter is Jun Setoyama. He happens to be the most popular boy at the high school. Nozomi Kuroda feels embarrassed, but she eventually leaves a reply in a shoe closet at school. This is how their secret exchange diary begins. Nozomi Kuroda soon learns that the intended recipient for the first letter was her best friend. Nevertheless, Nozomi Kuroda is attracted to Jun Setoyama, who expresses his thoughts and feelings unlike her. She's unable to tell him the truth that the person exchanging messages is her and not her best friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid (2023)
Finally, the day of Mai's high school graduation has arrived. While Sakuta eagerly waits for his girlfriend, an elementary schooler who looks exactly like her appears before him. Suspicious, and for all the wrong reasons... Meanwhile, Sakuta and Kaede's father suddenly calls, saying that their mother wants to see her daughter. She was hospitalized because Kaede's condition had been too much for her to bear, so what could she possibly want now?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPreludes to Ecstasy (1961)
Sten Lehtoja, a married, middle-aged businessman, picks up a young hitchhiker, Elsie, while driving to his summer home. Elsie spends the night and becomes his mistress. Later during the summer, Elsie also begins an affair with Reino, the teenage son of a local storekeeper. Sten offers to divorce his wife, and Elsie, attracted by the prospect of a secure social position, agrees to marry him when the divorce becomes final. One night when the couple are in bed, Reino climbs a ladder and attempts to force his way into their room; he falls and breaks his neck, and to avoid scandal Sten hides the body. But the strain of guilt ruins the romance, and Elsie contacts the police, who arrest her lover.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Bihter: A Forbidden Passion (2023)
Bihter, who is desperate for love, sees Adnan, a wealthy and respected older guy, as a way out of the stereotype that society and her materialistic mother have given her. But she soon discovers that she is not satisfied with his attention and has other needs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisDebbie Macomber's A Mrs. Miracle Christmas (2021)
When a family faces loneliness and loss of faith, Mrs. Miracle swoops in to renew their Christmas Spirit, and they experience a holiday of heavenly proportions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
The Roses (2025)
Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo: successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing – as Theo's career nosedives while Ivy's own ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Year of the Wolf (2007)
Sari is a young, beautiful and intelligent girl who is busy studying at university,but she suffers from epilepsy and has to face death on a daily basis. Mikko is hersomewhat older university teacher, who is tired of life, and who one day decides toabandon his wife, children and idea of a perfect life. Both characters have been tooscared to live their lives to the brim for too long. But they meet, and in spite oftheir prejudices and reserved natures, they manage to create a dramatic and movingmodern romance which confronts numerous taboos. While the imagery explores theboundary between life and death in a most poetic way, the odd couple's romance istold with both bite and humour. Society - be it in the shape of angry ex-wives,overprotective parents, conservative aunts or embittered colleagues - is doing whatit can to put a spanner in the works."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009)
Paris 1913. Coco Chanel is infatuated with the rich and handsome Boy Capel, but she is also compelled by her work. Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is about to be performed. The revolutionary dissonances of Igor's work parallel Coco's radical ideas. She wants to democratize women's fashion; he wants to redefine musical taste. Coco attends the scandalous first performance of The Rite in a chic white dress. The music and ballet are criticized as too modern, too foreign. Coco is moved but Igor is inconsolable.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemembrance (1996)
To overcome the emotional scars of her own past, Vanessa Fullerton recounts her mother Serena's extraordinary life - and tragic death. Serena marries a dashing U.S. colonel, relinquishing her family's fortune. When her husband dies, an impoverished Serena struggles to care for her young daughter until noted photographer Vasili catapults Serena to fame. But Vasili hides a dangerous secret, a secret that leaves a painful legacy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Charly (2002)
Sam Roberts thinks he has all the answers: the purpose of life, the meaning of love, the plan for a perfect future. Until Charly walks into his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Welcome to the Quiet Room (2007)
28 year old freelance writer Sakura Asuka wakes up tied in a white room. The white room is a protected room located in an isolated ward of a psychiatric hospital. Sakura first became unconscious because of heavy alcohol use and a druge overdose. She’s confined in the single room because of her high risk of committing suicide. Sakura tried to talk to the nurses and doctors but they didn’t listen to her. Under the circumstances another patient Miki, who suffers from an eating disorder, leads her to understand the unknown world. But, Sakura is looking for the way to get back to the real world as soon as possible.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
My Teacher's Wife (1999)
Todd Boomer is a college student aspiring to get into University. His chances are looking poor when his maths teacher, fails him in every maths test. Help arrives in the guise of the gorgeous Vicki, a mathematical genius who decides to tutor Todd. As the relationship develops,Todd finds himself in an affair with Vicki unknowing of her marriage to his math teacher.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Forest of Wool and Steel?
The closest matches to The Forest of Wool and Steel are Strobe Edge (2015), From Me to You (2010) and Sky of Love (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Forest of Wool and Steel?
Start with Strobe Edge (2015), the closest match to The Forest of Wool and Steel.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Forest of Wool and Steel?
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 624 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Forest of Wool and Steel?
The Roses (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Forest of Wool and Steel?
Yes: Strobe Edge (2015), From Me to You (2010) and Sky of Love (2007).
How are movies similar to The Forest of Wool and Steel chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Forest of Wool and Steel, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.