Movies like Steamboy (2004)
The best movies like Steamboy (2004) are Cosmic Princess Kaguya! (2026), Fire and Ice (1983) and Bubble (2022). If Steamboy hooked you with its animation and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSpirited Away (2001)8.5/10 from 19,197 votes
- NewestCosmic Princess Kaguya! (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseCosmic Princess Kaguya! (2026)Also in Japanese
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! (2026)
Iroha's life gets knocked off its orbit when Kaguya, a carefree runaway from the Moon, moves in and convinces her to perform in a virtual world together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFire and Ice (1983)
The villainous Nekron and his mother, Queen Juliana, plot against the human race from their frigid fortress. Creating mass destruction with huge glaciers, mother and son incur the wrath of Larn, a warrior whose entire village was destroyed by ice. When Nekron's underlings kidnap the beautiful Princess Teegra, Larn sets out to rescue her, assisted by the fierce and enigmatic Darkwolf.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBubble (2022)
In an abandoned Tokyo overrun by bubbles and gravitational abnormalities, one gifted young man has a fateful meeting with a mysterious girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFuturama: Bender's Game (2008)
When Leela is insulted by a group of space-rednecks (like regular rednecks, but in space), she enters the Planet Express ship in a demolition derby. Leela emerges victorious, but when she brings the damaged ship home, and the Professor sees the fuel gauge, he's enraged by the hit he's going to take at the Dark Matter pump. Now the crew have to find a way to break Mom's stranglehold on starship fuel, even if they have to wade through a Lord of the Rings-inspired fantasy-land to do it!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJustice League: Gods and Monsters (2015)
In an alternate universe, very different versions of DC's Trinity fight against the government after they are framed for an embassy bombing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies 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 science fiction & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Wind Named Amnesia (1990)
A wind has swept the Earth taking all the memories from everyone. No one knows who they are, how to speak, or how to use the tools of modern civilization. Two years later, a young man who has been re-educated travels across America on a mysterious journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBatman Ninja (2018)
Batman, along with many of his allies and adversaries, finds himself transported to feudal Japan by Gorilla Grodd's time displacement machine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisAppleseed Alpha (2014)
The Third World War (2099–2126) devastated part of the Earth. Former nations are reforming while new powers emerge, and groups of humans struggle to survive in ruined cities. The story follows Deunan Knute and her partner Briareos as they search for the legendary city of Olympus.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMegazone 23 (1985)
A young biker stumbles onto a prototype motorcycle with a hidden function that has a link to the true nature of his world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTo Every You I've Loved Before (2022)
While struggling to make friends after his parents’ divorce, Koyomi Takasaki meets Kazune Takigawa, but apparently, they already have. Kazune reveals that she’s from World Line 85, an alternate universe in which she and Koyomi are lovers. But in a reality where moving between dimensions is natural, could Koyomi be the one from another world?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExpelled from Paradise (2014)
A.D. 2400, DEVA's central council detects an incident of unauthorized access into their mainframe. Someone on Earth was trying to hack into the system. The only information DEVA was able to retrieve was that hacker referred to themselves as "Frontier Setter." To investigate the mysterious hacker's motives, the high officials of DEVA dispatch system Security Third Officer Angela Balzac to the Earth's surface. Equipped with a prosthetic "material body," Angela attempts to make contact with a local agent Dingo, but what awaited her instead was a swarm of Sandworms now infesting the Earth's surface. Angela intercepts the gruesome pests with her exoskeleton powered suit Arhan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Piece: Heart of Gold (2016)
A girl named Olga is pursued by both the World Government and a man named Mad Treasure, as she is the only one who knows the location of the Pure Gold, a substance that can buy the entire world. Olga ends up sailing with the Straw Hat Pirates, and they journey to find the Pure Gold on the lost island of Alchemi, which is located inside the stomach of a large angler fish named Bonbori.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTales of Vesperia: The First Strike (2009)
In a mythical kingdom, the mighty Imperial Knights harness a magical substance known as Aer to power their weapons and protect humanity from the monsters of the forest. But something strange is afoot; the Aer is somehow changing, causing the wilderness to waste away and stirring the woodland beasts to attack with greater frequency. As danger creeps steadily closer to civilization, two young recruits - Flynn, the rigid son of a fallen hero, and the rebellious and brash Yuri - must ride with their fellow Imperial Knights to distant ruins in hopes of uncovering the truth behind the transforming Aer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTo Me, the One Who Loved You (2022)
Koyomi Hidaka and Shiori Sato meet at his father’s research center and begin to fall in love, but so do their parents, who eventually marry. To avoid becoming stepsiblings, they decide to run away to a parallel universe. Traveling between dimensions is common in their world, but not without repercussions. Does a universe exist for the young couple, and what will it cost them to find it?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPatlabor WXIII the Movie (2002)
Set in the year 2000, when the level of Labor accidents begin to escalate around Tokyo Bay, police detectives Kusumi and Hata are assigned to investigate. What they discover leads to a series of government cover-ups, conspiracy concerning a new biological weapon entitled WXIII-Wasted Thirteen and a tragic, personal connection to Hata. The only hope to stop this threat is to cooperate with the military and lead WXIII into a showdown with the Labors of Special Vehicle Division 2.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMetropolis (2001)
In the midst of societal conflict in the futuristic city of Metropolis, Kenichi and his uncle Shunsaku Ban set out to uncover the mystery behind the first human-like robot, Tima.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Invincible Iron Man (2007)
When a cocky industrialist's efforts to raise an ancient Chinese temple leads him to be seriously wounded and captured by enemy forces, he must use his ideas for a revolutionary power armor in order to fight back as a superhero.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! (1992)
Dr. Gero's Androids #13, #14, and #15 are awakened by the laboratory computers and immediately head to the mall where Goku is shopping. After Goku, Trunks, and Vegeta defeat #14 and #15, #13 absorbs their inner computers and becomes a super being greater than the original three separately were. Now it is up to Goku to stop him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFate/Grand Order the Movie: Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot 1 Wandering; Agateram (2020)
The wandering knight, Bedivere, reaches the end of his journey. It is A.D. 1273 in Jerusalem. The Holy Land has been transformed into a massive desert and its people have been forced out of their homes as three major powers wage war with each other in this wasteland. The Knights of the Round Table come together to protect the Holy City and their Lion King. With the whole of his kingdom summoned into a strange land, Ozymandias, the Sun King, quietly plots against the tyranny of this bizarre realm. The mountain people, protectors of those who were stripped of their land, await their chance at rebellion. In order to fulfill his mission, Bedivere heads for the Holy City where the Lion King rules. There he meets humanity’s final Master, Ritsuka Fujimaru, who has come to Jerusalem, accompanied by his Demi-Servant, Mash Kyrielight, in their quest to restore human history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWarriors of the Wind (1984)
After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley engage in an epic struggle to restore the bond between humanity and Earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEye of the Storm (2011)
Steampunk short animated film about a traveler in an airship crossing through a storm.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & science fiction
Spirited Away (2001)
A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAkira (1988)
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCrayon Shinchan the Movie: Invasion!! Alien Shiriri (2017)
When the mysterious Shiriri turns his parents into children, Shin-chan must trek across Japan to help return them to adult form.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like this20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAppleseed XIII: Tartaros (2011)
Following World War V, a global-scale conflict fought with non-nuclear weapons that almost halved the earth's population, the city-nation of Olympus stands as a beacon of hope in a world of chaos.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & animation
Gundam: Mission to the Rise (1998)
Gundam Mission to the Rise is a short CGI movie with a duration of 5 minutes directed by Katsuhiro Otomo aired during the Gundam Big Bang Project event (August 1998). The story is settled in the Universal Century, although it's not completely clear whether in late years (after 0093) or in an alternative UC timeline.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & animation
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy & animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDoggie March (1963)
It tells the story of Rock, a puppy whose mother is killed by a tiger and a fox. To fulfill his revenge, will achieve together a large number of animals. An animated collaboration between Osamu Tezuka and Toei Animation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & fantasy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Steamboy?
The closest matches to Steamboy are Cosmic Princess Kaguya! (2026), Fire and Ice (1983) and Bubble (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Steamboy?
Start with Cosmic Princess Kaguya! (2026), the closest match to Steamboy.
What is the highest-rated movie like Steamboy?
Spirited Away (2001), rated 8.5/10 by 19,197 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Steamboy?
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Steamboy?
Yes: Cosmic Princess Kaguya! (2026), Bubble (2022) and BLAME! (2017).
How are movies similar to Steamboy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Steamboy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.