Movies like The Dog of Flanders (1997)
The best movies like The Dog of Flanders (1997) are From Up on Poppy Hill (2011), Only Yesterday (1991) and Ocean Waves (1993). If The Dog of Flanders 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 ratedA Silent Voice: The Movie (2016)8.4/10 from 4,774 votes
- NewestTotto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window (2023)Released 2023
- In JapaneseFrom Up on Poppy Hill (2011)Also in Japanese
From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
Yokohama, 1963. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics—and the mood is one of both optimism and conflict as the young generation struggles to throw off the shackles of a troubled past. Against this backdrop of hope and change, a friendship begins to blossom between high school students Umi and Shun—but a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOnly Yesterday (1991)
In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOcean Waves (1993)
At Kichijōji Station, Tokyo, Taku Morisaki glimpses a familiar woman on the platform opposite boarding a train. Later, her photo falls from a shelf as he exits his apartment before flying to Kōchi Prefecture. Picking it up, he looks at it briefly before leaving. As the aeroplane takes off, he narrates the events that brought her into his life...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this5 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 & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wind Rises (2013)
A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhisper of the Heart (1995)
Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: "Seiji Amasawa."
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWhen Marnie Was There (2014)
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPenguin's Memory: A Tale of Happiness (1985)
Mike is a penguin soldier who returns home after being injured during combat. Estranged from his family and friends, he leaves his hometown and starts to roam adrift through the country.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
The 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 thisIn This Corner of the World (2016)
Japan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at home. Inhabited by an ancestral wisdom, Suzu impregnates the simple gestures of everyday life with poetry and beauty. The many hardships, the loss of loved ones, the frequent air raids of the enemy, nothing alters her enthusiasm…
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Princess and the Pilot (2011)
The war between the Levamme Empire and the Amatsukami Imperium has been raging for years. In the midst of this struggle, the prince of the Levamme Empire declares his love for Juana del Moral and vows to end the war in one year, as part of his marriage proposal. When the Amatsukami catch wind of this, they assault the del Moral residence, targeting Juana's life. As a last-ditch effort to bring the prince his bride, the San Maltilia Airforce employs a mercenary of mixed blood—a bestado—to fly Juana to the prince in secret.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMillennium Actress (2002)
Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone forever, the filmmaker could not have imagined that it would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life... but also his own.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
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: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
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: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies 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: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTotto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window (2023)
This engaging series of childhood recollections tells of an unconventional school in Tokyo during World War II that combined learning with fun, freedom, and love. The school had old railroad cars for classrooms and was run by an extraordinary man – its founder and headmaster, Sōsaku Kobayashi – who deeply valued children's independence, and who was a firm believer in freedom of expression and activity.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Tibetan Dog (2011)
After his mother dies, Jiantan has to leave Xi'an to live with his father on the Tibetan steppe, where he meets a golden dog that helps him cope with the new challenges ahead.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
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
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 thisThe Wild Swans (1977)
A young girl must spend six years making sweatshirts out of poison ivy in order to save her six brothers which have been turned into swans by an evil sorceress.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & animation
Anne of Green Gables: Road to Green Gables (1990)
In this movie that summarizes the first six episodes of Anne of Green Gables, we follow the story of Anne, an orphan full of imagination. When she arrives at her new home, she learns that sometimes you have to be a sensible person, while her unique character changes, or at least attracts, the people around her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & animation
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013)
Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStormy Night (2005)
After hiding together in an abandoned barn one stormy night, wolf Gabu and goat Mei pledge to be secret friends, despite being natural enemies. They must overcome hardship and persecution in hopes of finding another forest where they can be together in peace.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSummer Days with Coo (2007)
A small, lone Kappa miraculously survives over 200 years into modern day Japan, when he is found by young Koichi. Coo, who is secretly adopted by Koichi's family, searches with his new human friend for unpopulated places in hopes of finding any remaining of his kind.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & 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 animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOrigin: Spirits of the Past (2006)
It is 300 years into the future. Earth's environment had been devastated by mankind's own foolish plans and humankind is beleaguered by the sentient forests which they have awoken. The world balance is tipped when a young boy named Agito stumbles across a machine that glowed in a strange blue hue inside a forbidden sanctuary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJosee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020)
With dreams of diving abroad, Tsuneo gets a job assisting Josee, an artist whose imagination takes her far beyond her wheelchair. But when the tide turns against them, they push each other to places they never thought possible, and inspire a love fit for a storybook.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thismaboroshi (2023)
A factory explosion plunges a small town into a timeless freeze, leaving teenage Masamune and his pals to grapple with a quickly collapsing reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Dog of Flanders?
The closest matches to The Dog of Flanders are From Up on Poppy Hill (2011), Only Yesterday (1991) and Ocean Waves (1993). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Dog of Flanders?
People who watched The Dog of Flanders most often go on to From Up on Poppy Hill (2011), Only Yesterday (1991) and Ocean Waves (1993).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Dog of Flanders?
A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016), rated 8.4/10 by 4,774 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Dog of Flanders?
Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Dog of Flanders?
Yes: From Up on Poppy Hill (2011), Only Yesterday (1991) and Ocean Waves (1993).
How are movies similar to The Dog of Flanders chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Dog of Flanders, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.