Movies like Summer Ghost (2021)
The best movies like Summer Ghost (2021) are Twilight (2019), Someone's Gaze (2013) and Fumiko's Confession (2009). If Summer Ghost 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 ratedHotarubi no Mori e (2011)8.3/10 from 1,266 votes
- NewestThe Keeper of the Camphor Tree (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseTwilight (2019)Also in Japanese
Twilight (2019)
Hakubo tells the story of two young people who live in rural Fukushima: Sachi Koyama, a girl who excels at playing the violin, and Yuusuke Kijinami, a boy who loves to paint. After an awkward, chance encounter, the two meet and begin to fall in love, but Yuusuke is still living in the shadow of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Someone's Gaze (2013)
Aya Okamura has been working for two years and has begun living on her own for a job opportunity. With her mother working overseas as a doctor, her father is now living alone with the family's longtime pet cat Mii-san. One night, Aya returns from a long day at work, and as she rests on her bed, she reminiscences about the times the family had together. She remembers the sadness she felt when her mom went overseas, and the solace she felt when her father brought home Mii-san to give her comfort. Then, she receives a phone call.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFumiko's Confession (2009)
Fumiko, a schoolgirl who just confessed her love. However, she gets turned down because the boy wants to concentrate on baseball training. Crying and running downhill through the town, she gains more and more speed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Colorful (2010)
Upon reaching the train station to death, a dejected soul is informed that he is lucky and will have another chance at life. He is placed in the body of a 14-year-old boy named Kobayashi Makoto, who has just committed suicide. Watched over by a neutral spirit named Purapura, the soul must figure out what his greatest sin and mistake in his former life was, before his time limit in Makoto's body runs out. He also has a number of other lesser duties he must complete, such as understanding what led Makoto to commit suicide in the first place and learning how to enjoy his second chance at life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMushi-Shi: The Next Chapter - Drops of Bells (2015)
On a warm summer day, a boy heard the sound of bells ringing, as if in celebration, in the mountain near his home. Several years later in that same mountain, the mushishi Ginko stumbles upon a young girl in a mountain with branches and leaves growing out of her body. He later realises that she is the lord of that mountain but finds it strange that a human like her was chosen as the lord. He meets her older brother who has continued to search for her ever since she disappeared while accompanying him on a stormy day. The story is about Ginko’s peculiar journey amidst the occult to unravel the mystery behind the enigmatic girl called Kaya and the mountain that has become her home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
When 17-year-old Makoto Konno gains the ability to 'leap' backwards through time, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. However, she soon realises that changing the past isn't as simple as it seems, and eventually, will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future of herself and her friends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both fantasy & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChild of Kamiari Month (2021)
A year after losing her mother, a young girl learns that she must journey across Japan to the annual gathering of gods in the sacred land of Izumo.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOkko's Inn (2018)
12-year-old Oriko Seki, who lost her parents in a car accident, ended up living in her grandmother's Onsen Ryokan "Haru no Ya." With the ghost "Uribou" cohabitating with her and all the other odds, she ended up training to be a young female innkeeper. At first, she didn't like the training, but gradually felt her admiration for her title and began to train seriously. Thus, the growth of the young warrior Oriko begins.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHer Blue Sky (2019)
High school student Aoi Aioi lives with her elder sister, Akane, after a tragic accident took their parents away 13 years ago. Because Akane has since been taking care of her single-handedly, Aoi wants to move to Tokyo after her graduation to relieve her sister's burden and pursue a musical career, inspired by Akane's ex-boyfriend Shinnosuke "Shinno" Kanamuro. Shinno was part of a band until he left for Tokyo to become a professional guitarist after the sisters' parents passed away, and he was never to be seen again.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Keeper of the Camphor Tree (2026)
Reito Naoi, a young man fired unfairly from his day job, finds himself hitting rock bottom when he's arrested after a desperate attempt to get back on his feet. With nothing left to him, he surrendered himself to fate, giving up on any hopes for the future, and lost the will to make his own choices in life. But one day, a chance encounter threw him a lifeline that could change his fate forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
SHIROBAKO the Movie (2020)
Four years after the events of SHIROBAKO the series, Musashino Animation has gone through unprecedented changes and things are looking bleak for the studio. One day, Aoi Miyamori is offered a role managing a new theatrical animation project. With only a few months left before the deadline, can MusAni complete the project in its current state? It’s up to Aoi to work alongside both familiar faces and new to finish the project in time!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Puparia (2021)
Something is about to change drastically, and the only thing to do is to witness it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (2018)
Fleeing the war, the immortal Maquia, graced with eternal youth, finds a baby abandoned in the forest and decides to raise it as her own child, sparking a moving story between a mortal and a being who does not age.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Girl from the Other Side (2023)
Once upon a time, in a far, faraway place, there were two lands. The world was divided into an inner land and an outer land. People feared the outer land, inhabited by eerie beings, the carriers of curse. One day, on the border to the inner land inhabited by humans, one such being finds a girl on heaps of abandoned dead bodies. The girl says her name is Shiva and shows affection to the "being" who found her, calling him "Teacher." This is a story of two people—one human, one inhuman—who linger in the hazy twilight that separates night from day.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHotarubi no Mori e (2011)
One hot summer day a little girl gets lost in an enchanted forest of the mountain god where spirits reside. A young boy appears before her, but she cannot touch him for fear of making him disappear. And so a wondrous adventure awaits...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisGold Kingdom and Water Kingdom (2023)
Once upon a time, there were two neighboring countries that did not get along. They bickered over trivial things day in and day out. Finally, they went to war over the issue of cleaning up dog feces. God intervened in a hurry and said to the chiefs of the two countries. Country A gives its most beautiful girl to Country B as a bride and Country B gives its wisest young man to Country A as a bridegroom. Then, the princess of country A, Saara, happens to meet a young man from country B...!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & fantasy
Natsume's Book of Friends: The Waking Rock and the Strange Visitor (2021)
The film will be made up of two stories: "Ishi Okoshi" and "Ayashiki Raihousha." In "Ishi Okoshi," Natsume meets a small youkai called Mitsumi in a forest. Mitsumi is entrusted to wake up the divine youkai "Iwatetsu" from its deep slumber. Mitsumi weighs on Natsume's mind, so he sets out to help Mitsumi with his task. In "Ayashiki Raihousha," a mysterious visitor appears in front of Tanuma. Nearly every day, the visitor visits Tanuma, talks to him a little, and then leaves. Natsume, who knows the visitor is a youkai, worries for Tanuma, but Tanuma enjoys these exchanges with the youkai. The youkai means no harm, but Tanuma's health slowly starts to deteriorate.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
I Want to Deliver Your Voice (2017)
The story focuses on high school girl Nagisa Yukiai who lives in a seaside town. She has believed her grandmother's story that spirits dwell in words and they are called "kotodama" (word spirit). One day, she strays into a mini FM station that has not been used for years. As an impulse of the moment, she tries to talk like a DJ using the facility. But her voice accidentally broadcasted reaches someone she has never expected.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Weathering with You (2019)
The summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo, and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually gloomy and rainy every day, as if taking its cue from his life. After many days of solitude, he finally finds work as a freelance writer for a mysterious occult magazine. Then, one day, Hodaka meets Hina on a busy street corner. This bright and strong-willed girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies 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: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisShe and Her Cat (1999)
She and Her Cat details the life of a cat, entirely from the cat's perspective, as it passes time with its owner, a young woman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKino's Journey: Country of Illness -For You- (2007)
Kino, a traveler who journeys the world with his talking motorcycle, Hermes, arrives in a country where people live inside massive domes. There, she meets a girl named Inertia, who asks him to deliver a letter to her pen pal—a boy who lives outside the dome.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Patema Inverted (2013)
A young girl, from a civilization that resides in deep underground tunnels, finds herself trapped in an inverted world and teams up with a resident to escape and return home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTamako Love Story (2014)
Devoted to her family’s rice-cake–making business and the high school baton club, Tamako is a little slow when it comes to love. She’s oblivious to her childhood friend Mochizo’s affections, even though all their friends know. With graduation closing in and Mochizo leaving for Tokyo, will Tamako realise her feelings and tell him in time?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFireworks (2017)
Moshimo, Japan. The annual fireworks festival is about to take place and a group of schoolboys, arguing over whether they are round or flat when viewed from different angles, set out to find it out.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Fans watch both · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl from the Other Side (2019)
Touch not the Outsiders, lest ye become an Outsider. But when two creatures belonging to opposite kinds - a lost little girl from the Inside and a demonic beast-looking Outsider - initiate an impossible coexistence on the same side of the forest, their bond seems to transcend their incompatible natures and the unnamed curse that has divided the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like this.hack//Quantum (2010)
Tobias, Mary, and Sakuya are way into the The World. Together, they form an inseparable group, grinding toward the break of day and running dungeons in search of the artifacts of adventure. But when the trio becomes lost in this virtual labyrinth, a chance encounter with the mysterious entity known only as Hermit will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both mystery & animation
Lonely 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 this
Like Summer Ghost and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Summer Ghost?
The closest matches to Summer Ghost are Twilight (2019), Someone's Gaze (2013) and Fumiko's Confession (2009). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Summer Ghost?
People who watched Summer Ghost most often go on to Twilight (2019), Someone's Gaze (2013) and Fumiko's Confession (2009).
What is the highest-rated movie like Summer Ghost?
Hotarubi no Mori e (2011), rated 8.3/10 by 1,266 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Summer Ghost?
The Keeper of the Camphor Tree (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Summer Ghost?
Yes: Twilight (2019), Someone's Gaze (2013) and Fumiko's Confession (2009).
How are movies similar to Summer Ghost chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Summer Ghost, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.