Movies like The Piano Forest (2007)
The best movies like The Piano Forest (2007) are Blue Giant (2023), The Colors Within (2024) and Liz and the Blue Bird (2018). If The Piano Forest hooked you with its music and animation, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLook Back (2024)8.2/10 from 718 votes
- NewestYou, Fireworks, and Our Promise (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseBlue Giant (2023)Also in Japanese
Blue Giant (2023)
High school student Dai Miyamoto has his life is turned upside down the day he discovers jazz. Picking up a saxophone and leaving his sleepy hometown for the bustling nightclubs of Tokyo, Dai will find that the life of a professional musician isn’t for the faint of heart, as he must confront what it truly means to be great.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Colors Within (2024)
Totsuko is a high school student with the ability to see the 'colors' of others. Colors of bliss, excitement, and serenity, plus a color she treasures as her favorite. Kimi, a classmate at her school, gives off the most beautiful color of all. Although she doesn't play an instrument, Totsuko forms a band with Kimi and Rui, a quiet music enthusiast they meet at a used bookstore in a far corner of town. As they practice at an old church on a remote island, music brings them together, forming friendships and stirring affections.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLiz and the Blue Bird (2018)
In their last year of high school, two girls in the brass band club perform a song inspired by a fairy tale that parallels their friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCOLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing (2025)
Ichika is a high school musician who can enter a mysterious place called “SEKAI,” where she and her friends express their innermost emotions through music alongside Hatsune Miku. One day after giving a live performance, Ichika meets a new Miku that she has never seen before. No matter how hard this new Miku tries to sing, she struggles connecting with the hearts of her listeners. Miku must rely on the help of others to find a way to sing again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & music
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBarbie: Princess Adventure (2020)
With new friends in a new kingdom, Barbie learns what it means to be herself when she trades places with a royal lookalike in this musical adventure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSing a Bit of Harmony (2021)
Satomi is fine being alone until an AI named Shion joins her class with a song and a promise to make her happy. While Shion’s musical numbers and princess gowns don’t quite pass as human, her antics bring Satomi closer to four other classmates. Together, they make memories worth saving, but even our most precious data can be erased.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBECK (2010)
Yukio is your average high school student who spends his days going to class and avoiding bullies. That is until he meets Ryusuke, a guitar prodigy. Together with Taira, Chiba, and Saku they form the rock band BECK. As their popularity increases so does the danger as Ryusuke's past catches up with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarbie: Big City, Big Dreams (2021)
Barbie meets another Barbie Roberts, forming a close friendship, nicknaming each other Malibu and Brooklyn when they both attend the Handlers, Performing Art School in NYC, over the summer, competing for a spot at the spotlight solo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLonely Castle in the Mirror (2022)
Shy outcast Kokoro has been avoiding school for weeks when she discovers a portal in her bedroom mirror. She reaches through and finds herself transported to an enchanting castle where she is joined by six other students. When a girl in a wolf mask explains that they have been invited to play a game, the teens must work together to uncover the mysterious connection that unites them. However, anyone who breaks the rules will be eaten by a wolf.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLu Over the Wall (2017)
In a small fishing village, a gloomy middle school student named Kai meets a mermaid named Lu.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSound! Euphonium the Movie - Our Promise: A Brand New Day (2019)
The next piece begins! Kumiko is now in her second year at Kitauji High School, and with a new year comes new problems. As if making it to Nationals wasn't hard enough, Kumiko is tasked with mentoring the concert band's troublesome first years – each with their own distinct personality and problems to solve. With Kumiko busy juggling both the concert band and her new role as senpai, how does her relationship with Shuuichi fit into the picture?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
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 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Imaginary (2023)
Amanda and her imaginary friend Rudger go on thrilling make-believe adventures. But when Rudger finds himself alone, he faces a mysterious threat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisLook Back (2024)
Popular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a competitive fervor in Fujino. What starts as jealousy transforms when Fujino realizes their shared passion for drawing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMake Mine Music (1946)
In the tradition of Fantasia, Make Mine Music is a glorious collection of musically charged animated shorts featuring such fun-filled favorites as "Peter and the Wolf", narrated by the beloved voice behind Winnie the Pooh. In addition you'll enjoy such classic cartoon hits as "Casey at the Bat," "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" and "Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & music
SnoozefestMovies like thisBLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI- (2024)
When apathetic gamer Nagi agrees to join his rich classmate Mikage in soccer, their partnership leads to the famous Blue Lock program — and to changes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSummer Ghost (2021)
An urban legend says that lighting fireworks at an abandoned airfield will beckon the "summer ghost," a spirit that can answer any question. Three teenagers, Tomoya, Aoi, and Ryo, each have their own reason to show up one day. When a ghost named Ayane appears, she reveals she is only visible to those "who are about to touch their death." Compelled by the ghost and her message, Tomoya begins regularly visiting the airfield to uncover the true purpose of her visits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStand by Me Doraemon (2014)
Sewashi and Doraemon find themselves way back in time and meet Nobita. It is up to Doraemon to take care of Nobita or else he will not return to the present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYou, Fireworks, and Our Promise (2026)
The coming-of-age romance is set during the Nagaoka Festival Grand Fireworks Show, one of Japan's three major fireworks shows that draws several hundred thousand visitors to Niigata Prefecture every year. What connects Makoto (a Tokyo high school boy without social skills or self-confidence) and Aki (a popular high school girl and class president with beauty and talent) is a drawing of a fireworks display. At the mercy of the drawing's mystery and fate itself, the two have to make a choice in a limited amount of time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & drama
House of Ricordi (1954)
The film covers a hundred years in the lives of the Ricordi family, the Milan publishing house of the title, and the various composers and other historic personalities, whose careers intersected with the growth of the Ricordi house. It beautifully draws the parallel between the great music of the composers, the historic and social upheavals of their times, as well as the "smaller stories" of the successive generations of Ricordi.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music
All Stars (1997)
Seven young men who played soccer together since their early youth grow apart and are forced to think about the nature of their friendship. In a comic way and a very Dutch setting, All Stars is about pregnant girlfriends and homosexuality, career plans and the power of parents.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Space Camper Chicchi (2022)
Chicchi, an ordinary office lady who works in Commercial Sector II of the solar system, heads to a space camp for a vacation. However, she crash-lands on a planet that is a "graveyard" for scrapped ships.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Battle Royale (2000)
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Photograph (1987)
A young Greek man goes to Paris seeking help from a solitary and almost misanthropic distant relative who works as a furrier. With him, he takes nothing from his homeland but a photograph of a woman that he finds on the pavement. A misunderstanding regarding the photograph sets off a series of dramatic misunderstandings which trap him in a vicious circle of lies and fantasies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Maria Watches Over Us (2010)
Yumi Fukuzawa is an ordinary first year student at Lillian Girls' Academy. By chance Yumi meets second year student Sachiko Ogasawara, who is a candidate to become a Red Rose. Sachiko later offers her rosary to Yumi Fukuzawa which signifies she will become an older sister to Yumi. Meanwhile, Yumi, who already looks up to popular Sachiko, is perplexed why she is picked. A festival named "Cinderella" then approaches, which is run by the Yamayuri Council. Conflicts between the older and younger sisters soon begins ...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Vaibhavam (2025)
Vaibhav, a righteous young man with entrepreneurial dreams, finds himself entwined in a profound mosaic of love, family, and friendships.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Brahms: Complete Symphonies (2014)
After the great success of his Beethoven cycle, Christian Thielemann now turns with his new orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, to the symphonic work of Johannes Brahms. Bonus features include: an extensive 52 minute interview with Christian Thielemann on Brahms' Symphonies and provides and in-depth look into his interpretation of Brahms.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
My Girl (1991)
Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just to impress him. Thomas J., her best friend, is "allergic to everything", and sticks with Vada despite her hangups. When Vada's father hires Shelly, and begins to fall for her, things take a turn to the worse...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like The Piano Forest and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Piano Forest?
The closest matches to The Piano Forest are Blue Giant (2023), The Colors Within (2024) and Liz and the Blue Bird (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Piano Forest?
Start with Blue Giant (2023), the closest match to The Piano Forest.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Piano Forest?
Look Back (2024), rated 8.2/10 by 718 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Piano Forest?
You, Fireworks, and Our Promise (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Piano Forest?
Yes: Blue Giant (2023), The Colors Within (2024) and Liz and the Blue Bird (2018).
How are movies similar to The Piano Forest chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Piano Forest, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.