Movies like Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku (1989)
The best movies like Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku (1989) are Hounddog (2008), I Believe in Unicorns (2015) and Tokyo Decadence (1992). If Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013)8.1/10 from 2,080 votes
- NewestGame of Hearts (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseTokyo Decadence (1992)Also in Japanese
Hounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Believe in Unicorns (2015)
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTokyo Decadence (1992)
A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that her lover has married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne Million Yen Girl (2008)
A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Short History of the Long Road (2019)
Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuburbia (1984)
When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMai 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAntiporno (2017)
Kyôko, a traumatized young Japanese girl, finds herself struggling with her self-confidence in her adult life. Growing up in a family without her mother and her sister, she constantly questions the rationale of sex and the notion of liberty in modern Japanese society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIron Jawed Angels (2004)
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBLAME! (2017)
In the distant technological future, civilization has reached its ultimate Net-based form. An "infection" in the past caused the automated systems to spiral out of order, resulting in a multi-leveled city structure that replicates itself infinitely in all directions. Now humanity has lost access to the city's controls, and is hunted down and purged by the defense system known as the Safeguard. In a tiny corner of the city, a little enclave known as the Electro-Fishers is facing eventual extinction, trapped between the threat of the Safeguard and dwindling food supplies. A girl named Zuru goes on a journey to find food for her village, only to inadvertently cause doom when an observation tower senses her and summons a Safeguard pack to eliminate the threat. With her companions dead and all escape routes blocked, the only thing that can save her now is the sudden arrival of Killy the Wanderer, on his quest for the Net Terminal Genes, the key to restoring order to the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSplit (2016)
When Inanna, a young actress, becomes obsessed with a mask maker, she sacrifices parts of her life in order to win his love. At the same time she enters a mythic journey in the theater that blurs her performance, her dreams and her real life and results in a provocative and powerful confrontation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisScarecrow (1973)
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGame of Hearts (2025)
A tough guy is rare, and Robbie, the local heartthrob, is no exception. When he gets entangled with the girlfriend of a shady private investigator, he enters a world of excess and mystery. In the gritty nightlife of Los Angeles, these charming men will compete in nightclubs and bedrooms, leading one lucky woman to decide who wins in the Game of Hearts.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Erotic In-Laws (2019)
A man who loves pictures of Japanese women falls in love with one of the girls in his photos. He heads to Japan to find her and happens to stumble across her in the street. They begin to date and eventually he meets her mother, who is shocked to see the Korean man looks like her late husband in his youth. The widow is attracted to him, but he is attracted to her, too.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Let's Go To Rose Motel (2013)
Seong-soo hasn't had any physical contact with his girlfriend yet after 6 months of being together so he's always excited to see her. One day, Seong-soo succeeds in getting Min-ae into Rose Motel. When he is about to shower, Seong-soo discovers a small hole in the wall leading to the next room and watches the couple next door having intercourse. Seong-soo continues to watch out of curiosity but realizes he just watched celebrity Sara giving sexual favors to a big shot politician...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Noraebang: Hot Women 2 (2019)
The special secret to a successful noraebang is revealed! The noraebang where Hee-jin works is for customers who want a call-girl. When they start turning around and leaving, Hee-jin decides to become a call-girl herself and even brings her friend Seong-hee in. Rumors of Hee-jin and Seong-hee's beauty and service quickly spread and more customers come. When they've made enough money, Hee-jin and Seong-hee decide to open their own noraebang and display a hidden special service.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Seduction of the White Angel (1972)
A young woman is troubled by vivid sexual dreams triggered by her experiences as a trainee nurse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Just Once Before l Die (2025)
After giving up on her company, Min-jeong is living as a wreck in her house. After being given a terminal diagnosis, Min-jeong is told to break up with the man she loves without saying a word. With money running low and an unfulfilled hunger no matter how much she eats, Min-jeong calls her ex-boyfriend Yoon-jae. Min-jeong wants Yoon-jae to regret breaking up with her, but Yoon-jae fights with Min-jeong's stubbornness and leaves. After that, Min-jeong goes to find the men she loved...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kelly's First Nudist Retreat (2003)
Kelly fantasizes about steamy sexual escapades, but can never find the courage to fulfill them. Finally, through a nudist retreat, Kelly realizes exactly what she needs to do to be cured.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
At the End of Love (1996)
Keiichi is a serious office worker. His only hobby was cross-dressing, but he stopped doing that after getting married. He thought that was fine. I was happy. However, one day, he meets a beautiful young man at a gay bar where his boss forcefully takes him. After having a fateful and dazzling sex with the young man, he finally abandons his family and work and falls into a sensual daily life with the young man. However, those days of pleasure came to an abrupt end...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dandy with Twisted Fingers (1992)
We are a group of thieves called Gokurakudan. A thief is different from your average thief. It frustrates the bullish and helps the bearish. However, the only drawback is that all the members are gay, and they have a strong weakness for good men. Some cracks began to appear in our iron bond...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Obscene Mountain Lodge: Suspicious Medicine Seller (2023)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku?
The closest matches to Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku are Hounddog (2008), I Believe in Unicorns (2015) and Tokyo Decadence (1992). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku?
Start with Hounddog (2008), the closest match to Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku.
What is the highest-rated movie like Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku?
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013), rated 8.1/10 by 2,080 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku?
Game of Hearts (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku?
Yes: Tokyo Decadence (1992), One Million Yen Girl (2008) and Mai Mai Miracle (2009).
How are movies similar to Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Wakazuma: Ushiro Kara Hiraku, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.