Movies like Vanishing Glow (2007)
The best movies like Vanishing Glow (2007) are GO (2001), Our Little Sister (2015) and My Neighbor Totoro (1988). If Vanishing Glow hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest ratedMy Neighbor Totoro (1988)8.1/10 from 9,238 votes
- NewestA Man (2022)Released 2022
- In JapaneseGO (2001)Also in Japanese
GO (2001)
Sugihara, a Japanese-born, third-generation Korean teenager struggles to find a place in a society that will not accept him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOur Little Sister (2015)
After the death of their estranged father, 3 adult sisters invite their teenaged half-sister to live with them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBig Hero 6 (2014)
A special bond develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax, and prodigy Hiro Hamada, who team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDespicable Me (2010)
Determined to prove he's the world's greatest supervillain, Gru hatches an audacious plan to steal the Moon. To pull it off, he adopts three orphaned girls—Margo, Edith, and Agnes—intending to use them as pawns in his scheme. But the unexpected bond they form forces him to question the criminal life he's always known.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrave of the Fireflies (2005)
Hisako loses her home in Tokyo to Allied bombing. With her husband fighting somewhere in Asia, she and her two children evacuate to a suburb of Kobe, where they share a house with Hisako's cousin, Kyoko. Kobe is bombed and Kyoko is killed. Hisako is forced to take care of Kyoko's two children in addition to her own, but there is not enough food for everyone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisA Man (2022)
Akira works as a lawyer. One day, he meets with his former client Rie, who asks Akira to perform a background check on her late husband Daisuke.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Was Born, But... (1932)
Brothers Keiji and Ryoichi move to a new neighborhood in the Tokyo suburbs after their father, an office clerk, is promoted. The boys join the local gang as lowly new kids and emerge as natural leaders after defeating a bully. While visiting the home of their father's boss, the brothers witness the ridicule their father endures to please his superior. Angry and embarrassed, the boys find their naive ideas about power being challenged.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTokyo Twilight (1957)
Two sisters learn about the existence of their long-lost biological mother, but the younger is unable to accept the fact that she was abandoned as a child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNobody Knows (2004)
In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisiCarly: iGo to Japan (2008)
Carly, Sam and Freddie kick off their adventure in Japan on a tin can of a plane packed with caged possums and piloted by Spencer's odd acquaintance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006)
King Randolph sends for his cousin, Duchess Rowena, to help turn his daughters, Princess Genevieve and her eleven sisters, into royal material. But the Duchess strips the sisters of their fun, including their favorite pastime: dancing. When all hope may be lost, the sisters discover a secret passageway to a magical land where they can dance the night away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPoliceman and Me (2017)
Kako, a 16-year-old high school girl, goes to a mixer pretending to be 22. While there, she meets Kouta who at first has a very intimidating aura. But once he saves her from an awkward situation, she wants to know more about him as does he. That is until he finds out she isn't 22. The next day Kako runs into him again, but this time he's working as a police officer. Kako still wants to get closer to Kouta, but he isn't interested or is he?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Gnome-Mobile (1967)
An eccentric millionaire and his grandchildren are embroiled in the plights of some forest gnomes who are searching for the rest of their tribe. While helping them, the millionaire is suspected of being crazy because he's seeing gnomes! He's committed, and the niece and nephew and the gnomes have to find him and free him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShoplifters (2018)
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMoving (1993)
Physically separated from her father and at odds with her distraught mother, a girl must negotiate her own passage to maturity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisEarthquake Bird (2019)
Tokyo, Japan, 1989. Lucy Fly, a foreigner who works as a translator, begins a passionate relationship with Teiji, a mysterious man obsessed with photography.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Karate Kid (1984)
New Jersey teen Daniel LaRusso moves to Los Angeles with his mother, and soon strikes up a relationship with Ali. He quickly finds himself the target of bullying by a group of thugs, led by Ali's ex-boyfriend Johnny, who study karate at the Cobra Kai dojo under ruthless sensei John Kreese. Fortunately, Daniel befriends Mr. Miyagi, an unassuming repairman who just happens to be a martial arts master himself. Miyagi takes Daniel under his wing, training him in a more compassionate form of karate for self-defense and, later, preparing him to compete against the brutal Cobra Kai.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Vanishing Glow?
The closest matches to Vanishing Glow are GO (2001), Our Little Sister (2015) and My Neighbor Totoro (1988). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Vanishing Glow?
Start with GO (2001), the closest match to Vanishing Glow.
What is the highest-rated movie like Vanishing Glow?
My Neighbor Totoro (1988), rated 8.1/10 by 9,238 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Vanishing Glow?
A Man (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Vanishing Glow?
Yes: GO (2001), Our Little Sister (2015) and My Neighbor Totoro (1988).
How are movies similar to Vanishing Glow chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Vanishing Glow, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.



















