Movies like Taro Wanted to Become Water (2021)
The best movies like Taro Wanted to Become Water (2021) are The Case of Hana & Alice (2015), Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021) and Crayon Shinchan the Movie: Action Kamen VS Leotard Devil (1993). If Taro Wanted to Become Water hooked you with its animation and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedToy Story (1995)8.0/10 from 20,828 votes
- NewestDoraemon the Movie: Nobita's Art World Tales (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseThe Case of Hana & Alice (2015)Also in Japanese
The Case of Hana & Alice (2015)
After transferring to Ishinomori Middle School, Tetsuko "Alice" Arisugawa overhears her classmates discussing a strange rumor. The previous occupant of her seat, a nondescript "Judas," is missing and presumed murdered. Amidst dealing with her mother's undesired meddling in her affairs and warding off her classmates' bullying, the troubled Alice starts to investigate the mystery surrounding Judas' disappearance. The trail of clues leads her to the house of her next-door neighbor, the quirky and reclusive Hana Arai.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDiary of a Wimpy Kid (2021)
Greg Heffley is a scrawny but ambitious kid with an active imagination and big plans to be rich and famous – he just has to survive middle school first.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrayon Shinchan the Movie: Action Kamen VS Leotard Devil (1993)
Everyone's favorite TV superhero Action Mask shows up in Kasukabe, and he's trying to get something from Shin-chan -- but what could it be?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRanma 1/2: Team Ranma vs. the Legendary Phoenix (1994)
Kuno purchases a strange egg, believing that the mysterious powers of the legendary Phoenix will help him defeat Ranma. But when the egg hatches on his head, the bird goes out of control and wreaks havoc all over Tokyo. Ranma and the gang must use any means necessary to get the Phoenix to leave Kuno's head and fly away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCaptain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)
Based on the bestselling book series, this outrageous comedy tells the story of George and Harold, two overly imaginative pranksters who hypnotize their principal into thinking he’s an enthusiastic, yet dimwitted, superhero named Captain Underpants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ugly Duckling (1939)
An outcast duckling's search for a family to accept him leads to constant rejection before learning his true identity as a swan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHetalia: Axis Powers: Paint It, White! (2010)
The Pictorians have arrived from deep in space. They also have dangly glow-balls on their heads, which is kinda cool, but still. The freaky aliens are using use their crazy rainbow-beam-thingy to paint everything on Earth the same color: white! See, now the title of the movie makes more sense, right? Anyway, if the Pictorians are to be stopped, the Allied guys and the Axis boys - plus some new characters, too - must set aside their differences, unite against their common foe, and hopefully get together for a sweaty workout to make sure they're super-ready to save the world!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrayon Shinchan the Movie: Pursuit of the Balls of Darkness (1997)
The Noharas get caught between two rival clans when Himawari swallows a pretty bead that turns out to be a mysterious ball with hidden powers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisToy Story (1995)
Led by Woody, Andy's toys live happily in his room until Andy's birthday brings Buzz Lightyear onto the scene. Afraid of losing his place in Andy's heart, Woody plots against Buzz. But when circumstances separate Buzz and Woody from their owner, the duo eventually learns to put aside their differences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisGnome Alone (2017)
When Chloe discovers that her new home's garden gnomes are not what they seem, she must decide between the pursuit of a desired high school life and taking up the fight against the Troggs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSnoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin (2024)
Franklin is new to town and hoping to make friends, but his usual tactics don't work on the Peanuts gang. When the Soap Box Derby arrives, he's sure it's a chance to impress new pals and teams up with the only other unpartnered kid: Charlie Brown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrayon Shinchan the Movie: The Legend Called: Dance! Amigo! (2006)
Something sinister's afoot in Kasukabe. Shin-chan doesn't know what it is, but he's pretty sure it involves samba-dancing doppelgängers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNext Gen (2018)
A friendship with a top-secret robot turns a lonely girl's life into a thrilling adventure as they take on bullies, evil bots and a scheming madman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPanic in the Mailroom (2013)
Two Minions are busy at work in the mailroom. One of them, bored, decides to throw a box of expired PX-41 samples into its designated chute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPuss Gets the Boot (1940)
Jasper is given an ultimatum by his master: break one more thing and you're out. Rodent Jerry does his best to make sure that his tormentor "gets the boot".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRegular Show: The Movie (2015)
After a high school lab experiment goes horribly wrong, Mordecai and Rigby must go back in time to battle an evil volleyball coach in order to save the universe — and their friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDoraemon the Movie: Nobita's Art World Tales (2025)
Nobita and Doraemon enter the world in a European Renaissance painting, but run into trouble as they hop from piece to piece in search of a malevolent time traveler who wishes to recreate the extinct pigment of "Artoria Blue".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDoraemon: Nobita and the Birth of Japan (2016)
Doraemon and his friends travel to ancient Japan where they meet Kukuru. When Kukuru tells them that his tribe has been enslaved by Gigazombie, Doraemon decides to help him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPersona3 THE MOVIE #1 Spring of Birth (2013)
In the spring, male student Makoto Yuki transfers to Gekkoukan High School. However, as he heads to his new dormitory, listening to the music on his headphones, he is stopped. More precisely, time has stopped, and the people who were around him turn into coffins. Makoto learns that this period of time hidden between the minute of midnight is called the Dark Hour, a time when monsters called Shadows appear. Suddenly made the leader of his fellow classmates Yukari and Junpei by his upperclassmen Mitsuru and Akihiko, Makoto must learn empathy, his connection to his comrades, and the meaning of death. With the power of his Evoker aimed at his head he awakens a Persona and fights against the Shadows threatening to attack his world from the mysterious tower of Tartarus.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDoraemon: Nobita's New Great Adventure Into the Underworld - The Seven Magic Users (2007)
Nobita wishes the world into a magic-reliant one with Doraemon's Moshimo-Box, and, along with his friends, must stop an asteroid from hitting the planet with help from a sorcerer-in-training.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPete's Dragon (1977)
Pete, a young orphan, runs away to a Maine fishing town with his best friend a lovable, sometimes invisible dragon named Elliott! When they are taken in by a kind lighthouse keeper, Nora, and her father, Elliott's prank playing lands them in big trouble. Then, when crooked salesmen try to capture Elliott for their own gain, Pete must attempt a daring rescue.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMighty Express: Mighty Trains Race (2022)
Trouble on the tracks! Freight Nate gets tricked into participating in a high-speed race — with all the Mighty Express cargo cars at stake!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)
This wacky prequel to the 1994 blockbuster goes back to the lame-brained Harry and Lloyd's days as classmates at a Rhode Island high school, where the unprincipled principal puts the pair in remedial courses as part of a scheme to fleece the school.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhite Men Can't Jump (1992)
Two street basketball hustlers try to con each other, then team up for a bigger score.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlickering Lights (2000)
Four small gangsters from Copenhagen trick a gangster boss: they take over 4,000,000 kroner which they were supposed to bring him. Trying to escape to Barcelona they are forced to stop in the countryside, in an old, wrecked house, hiding there for several weeks. Slowly, one after another, they realize, that they would like to stay there, start a new life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNot in Textbooks 5 (2019)
A school romantic comedy about the cohabitation life of a popular high school girl in a class and a Japanese language teacher who is swayed by her in the fifth in the series "Not in Textbooks!". Aya Shirakaba, a high school girl who attends Otome High School, and homeroom teacher Arihiko Tairaku lived together at the command of the leader of Yakuza, the father of Aya. One weekend, Tairaku invites a longing colleague, Yayoi Satsuki, to date, which was also Aya's birthday. Aya learns that Tairaku is going to date May. Ayaka Morikawa, who plays Aya Shirakaba, and Ryouma Baba, who plays Arihiko Tairaku, continue to star in the series, while Moemi Katayama and Anna Hongo have played the role of May, who is now gravure idol Natsuki Sena.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Takumi-kun Series: And the Spring Breeze Whispers (2007)
A 2nd year student is assigned a handsome new roommate at the start of the school year.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Foxes of Chironup (1987)
Foxes Ken and Chin become the proud parents of cubs, Koro and Kan, who enjoy a carefree life on the northern Japanese island of Chironup. They befriend a fisherman and his wife but are forced to run for their lives when soldiers on a military exercise decide to take home some fox pelts as souvenirs. A sweet little film that obliquely symbolizes the plight of Japan's aboriginal Ainu people and the northern islands that have been contested with Russia since they were occupied by Stalin's soldiers in 1945.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
A race car driver tries to transport an illegal beer shipment from Texas to Atlanta in under 28 hours, picking up a reluctant bride-to-be on the way.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIndia (1993)
Heinzi Boesel and Kurt Fellner are two Austrian health inspectors forced to work together, traveling through Austria. Over time a beautiful friendship evolves between the odd couple who couldn't stand each other initially; a friendship that even overcomes the boundaries of great tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Taro Wanted to Become Water?
The closest matches to Taro Wanted to Become Water are The Case of Hana & Alice (2015), Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021) and Crayon Shinchan the Movie: Action Kamen VS Leotard Devil (1993). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Taro Wanted to Become Water?
Start with The Case of Hana & Alice (2015), the closest match to Taro Wanted to Become Water.
What is the highest-rated movie like Taro Wanted to Become Water?
Toy Story (1995), rated 8.0/10 by 20,828 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Taro Wanted to Become Water?
Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Art World Tales (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Taro Wanted to Become Water?
Yes: The Case of Hana & Alice (2015), Crayon Shinchan the Movie: Action Kamen VS Leotard Devil (1993) and Ranma 1/2: Team Ranma vs. the Legendary Phoenix (1994).
How are movies similar to Taro Wanted to Become Water chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Taro Wanted to Become Water, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.