Movies like Kobe Zaiju: The Movie (2015)
The best movies like Kobe Zaiju: The Movie (2015) are Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020), Millennium Actress (2002) and My Rainy Days (2009). If Kobe Zaiju: The Movie hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedJosee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020)8.2/10 from 646 votes
- NewestKaiju No. 8: Mission Recon (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseJosee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020)Also in Japanese
Josee, 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
Absolute CinemaMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisKaiju No. 8: Mission Recon (2025)
In a Kaiju-filled Japan, Kafka Hibino works in monster disposal. After reuniting with his childhood friend Mina Ashiro, a rising star in the anti-Kaiju Defense Force, he decides to pursue his abandoned dream of joining the Force, when he suddenly transforms into the powerful "Kaiju No. 8." An action-packed recap of the first season of Kaiju No. 8 and a new original episode, Hoshina's Day Off.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHe Was a Quiet Man (2007)
An unhinged office worker who planned to go on a shooting spree at his workplace struggles with his newfound status as a hero after he ends up stopping a shooting spree instead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoujin Z (1991)
Mr. Takazawa, an elderly invalid who is cared for at his home by Haruko, a young nursing student, is chosen by the Japanese Ministry of Public Welfare to test the Z-001, a computerized hospital bed with robotic features that allegedly displays more efficiency and skills than any human nurse, but Haruko mistrusts a machine unable to consider human feelings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEscaflowne: The Movie (2000)
Gaea is a mythical realm ruled by sword and sorcery and immersed in blood and violence. Thrust into a conflict she doesn't quite understand, Hitomi Kanzaki helps aid the young Prince Van as they embark upon a journey to fight the Black Dragon Clan. The battle over a legendary suit of dragon armor, Escaflowne, has begun.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaudie (2016)
Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis falls in love with a fishmonger while working for him as a live-in housekeeper.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAge of Consent (1969)
An elderly artist thinks he has become too stale and is past his prime. His friend (and agent) persuades him to go to an offshore island to try once more. On the island he re-discovers his muse in the form of a young girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFamily Romance, LLC (2019)
Love is a business at Family Romance, a company that rents human stand-ins for any occasion. Founder Yuichi Ishii helps make his clients’ dreams come true. But when the mother of 12-year-old Mahiro hires Ishii to impersonate her missing father, the line between acting and reality threatens to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRip Girls (2000)
A teen-age girl and her father come to an island on Hawaii, they find a closer relationship to each other and think about changing the island. During her adventures, Sydney finds friends, a new hobby with her fantastic photography, and the truth about her mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTomie: Rebirth (2001)
Young art student Hideo paints an unnerving portrait of Tomie, who whispers that she loves him. Inexplicably, he reacts by stabbing her to death with a painting trowel. Two friends, Takumi and Shunichi, arrive on the scene and help him dispose of the body. To cheer him up, the boys take the unwitting murderer to the nearest bar for a party... but a mysterious girl named Tomie shows up, bearing a few odd physical resemblances to the dead girl in the ground.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove Like the Falling Petals (2022)
Haruto Asakura falls in love with hairdresser Misaki Ariake and asks her out. Watching Misaki Ariake work hard to achieve what she wants, Haruto Asakura, who almost gave up his dream to become a photographer, begins to pursue his dream again, but Misaki Ariake is diagnosed with a disease that ages her 10x faster than normal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTo Me, the One Who Loved You (2022)
Koyomi Hidaka and Shiori Sato meet at his father’s research center and begin to fall in love, but so do their parents, who eventually marry. To avoid becoming stepsiblings, they decide to run away to a parallel universe. Traveling between dimensions is common in their world, but not without repercussions. Does a universe exist for the young couple, and what will it cost them to find it?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Longest Ride (2015)
The lives of a young couple intertwine with a much older man as he reflects back on a lost love while he's trapped in an automobile crash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSmall, Slow But Steady (2022)
Keiko surprises everyone when she overcomes adversity to win her first two boxing fights. But when an unexpected incident threatens the closure of her gym, she is pushed further than she thought possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuzume (2022)
Suzume, 17, lost her mother as a little girl. On her way to school, she meets a mysterious young man. But her curiosity unleashes a calamity that endangers the entire population of Japan, and so Suzume embarks on a journey to set things right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBubble (2022)
In an abandoned Tokyo overrun by bubbles and gravitational abnormalities, one gifted young man has a fateful meeting with a mysterious girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Asadas! (2020)
Masashi is a photographer. He has his parents and an older brother Yukihiro. Through the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Masashi begins to take staged photos of his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like Kobe Zaiju: The Movie and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Kobe Zaiju: The Movie?
The closest matches to Kobe Zaiju: The Movie are Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020), Millennium Actress (2002) and My Rainy Days (2009). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Kobe Zaiju: The Movie?
Start with Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020), the closest match to Kobe Zaiju: The Movie.
What is the highest-rated movie like Kobe Zaiju: The Movie?
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020), rated 8.2/10 by 646 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Kobe Zaiju: The Movie?
Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Kobe Zaiju: The Movie?
Yes: Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020), Millennium Actress (2002) and My Rainy Days (2009).
How are movies similar to Kobe Zaiju: The Movie chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Kobe Zaiju: The Movie, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.