Movies like Kae, Act Like A Girl (1996)
The best movies like Kae, Act Like A Girl (1996) are Love & Pop (1998), Tomie: Rebirth (2001) and One Million Yen Girl (2008). If Kae, Act Like A Girl hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLove Exposure (2008)7.9/10 from 556 votes
- NewestKaiju No. 8: Mission Recon (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseLove & Pop (1998)Also in Japanese
Love & Pop (1998)
Tokyo schoolgirl Hiromi and her friends engage in a practice known as enjo kosai, or "compensated dating", where older men pay young girls for dates. Hiromi plunges deeper into this world to raise money for an expensive ring.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like this47 Ronin (2013)
Kai—an outcast—joins Oishi, the leader of 47 outcast samurai. Together they seek vengeance upon the treacherous overlord who killed their master and banished their kind. To restore honour to their homeland, the warriors embark upon a quest that challenges them with a series of trials that would destroy ordinary warriors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 Garden of Sinners: Future Gospel (2013)
A side story of the original Kara no Kyōkai - the Garden of sinners movie series divided into 2 parts. In the first part, Shizune Seo, who finds her life too predictable due to her precognition, and Mitsuru Kamekura, who uses his precognition to be a professional bomber, meet Mikiya and Shiki, respectively, and their futures begin to change. In the second part, 10 years after the original series, Shiki and Mikiya's daughter, Mana Ryōgi, spends a day with Mitsuru.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove Exposure (2008)
The story of a teenage boy called Yu, who falls for Yoko, a girl he runs into while operating for the sake of sin as an upskirt photographer in an offshoot of the porn industry. His attempts to woo her are complicated by a spot of cross-dressing - which convinces Yoko that she is lesbian - dalliances with kung-fu and crime, and a constant struggle with the guilt that's a legacy of his Catholic upbringing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHK: Forbidden Super Hero (2013)
High school student Kyosuke Shikijo is the most talented member of the school's martial arts of the fist club. His late father was detective and Kyosuke share his father's strong sense of justice. Kyosuke also has a secret. Kyosuke likes to wear female underwear and transforms himself into the alter ego "Hentai Kamen," wearing female underwear and gaining superhuman powers. This unusual interest also comes from his parents, with his father a masochist and his mother a sadist. By chance, Kyosuke gets the underwear of female high school student Aiko Himeno. With her underwear, he gains various pervert techniques and attempts to protect Aiko from a dirty and heinous teacher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wonderland (2019)
The story follows Akane, a girl with no self-confidence. On the day before her birthday, she meets a mysterious alchemist, Hippocrates, and his student, Pipo, who both tell her they're on a mission to save the world. Together, they set out from the basement for "Wonderland," and Akane finds herself labelled Wonderland's savior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGolden Kamuy (2024)
On the Hokkaido frontier, a war veteran and Ainu girl race against misfits and military renegades to find treasure mapped out on tattooed outlaws.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPariah (2011)
A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMemoirs of a Geisha (2005)
In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGhost in the Shell (1995)
In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHeaven's Lost Property Final – The Movie: Eternally My Master (2014)
Ikaros is an Angeloid and falls out of the sky. Tomoki Sakurai is a boy who believes the most important thing is to live a peaceful life. The two live tougher. Tomoki Sakurai has never seen Ikaros smile. Tomoki Sakurai sees Nymph and Astraea laugh after they got free from the master’s rule. He hopes Ikaros can laugh like an ordinary girl. This movie wraps up the story of Tomoki Sakurai and his relationship with the Angeloid from the sky, Ikaros.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKite (1998)
Sawa, orphaned as a child by murderous thugs, now targets the scourge of society as a trained killer for a mercenary syndicate. Coquettish and capable of unimaginable violence, she's grown into the perfect weapon — but doubt takes hold in Sawa's mind when her fellow assassin, Oburi, decides he wants out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Certain Magical Index: The Miracle of Endymion (2013)
On the day Touma Kamijou and Index see Academy City's space elevator, Endymion in the distance, they meet a Level 0 girl with an amazing singing voice, Arisa Meigo. As the three enjoy their time together after school, magic-user Stiyl Magnus suddenly attacks them. His target: Arisa. Why would a girl from the science side be targeted by someone from the magic side, Touma wonders. In the chaos of Stiyl's attack, he tells Touma, Index and Arisa that she might cause a war between the magic side and the science side.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTurning Red (2022)
Thirteen-year-old Mei is experiencing the awkwardness of being a teenager with a twist – when she gets too excited, she transforms into a giant red panda.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPaprika (2006)
Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a research psychologist who uses a device called the DC Mini to enter her patients' dreams, wherein she adopts the alter-ego "Paprika". When the device is stolen, she must stop rogue elements from merging the dream and waking worlds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSucker Punch (2011)
A young woman, institutionalized by her abusive stepfather, retreats into a vivid fantasy world where she envisions a plan to escape. Gathering a group of fellow inmates, she embarks on a quest to collect five mystical items, blurring the lines between reality and imagination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Kae, Act Like A Girl and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Kae, Act Like A Girl?
The closest matches to Kae, Act Like A Girl are Love & Pop (1998), Tomie: Rebirth (2001) and One Million Yen Girl (2008). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Kae, Act Like A Girl?
Start with Love & Pop (1998), the closest match to Kae, Act Like A Girl.
What is the highest-rated movie like Kae, Act Like A Girl?
Love Exposure (2008), rated 7.9/10 by 556 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Kae, Act Like A Girl?
Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Kae, Act Like A Girl?
Yes: Love & Pop (1998), Tomie: Rebirth (2001) and One Million Yen Girl (2008).
How are movies similar to Kae, Act Like A Girl chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Kae, Act Like A Girl, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.