Movies like White Heron (1941)
The best movies like White Heron (1941) are After the Rain (2018), Sasaki and Miyano: Graduation (2023) and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 1 (2021). If White Heron hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (2021)7.7/10 from 574 votes
- NewestRascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid (2023)Released 2023
- In JapaneseAfter the Rain (2018)Also in Japanese
After the Rain (2018)
Akira Tachibana is a soft-spoken high school student who used to be a part of the track and field club. Working part-time at a restaurant, she finds herself inexplicably falling in love with her manager, a divorced 45-year-old man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSasaki and Miyano: Graduation (2023)
As Sasaki prepares for his college entrance exams, Miyano tries to make the most of their limited time together while grappling with his own emotions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 1 (2021)
After a total solar eclipse, a dark circus troupe appears, Mamoru is stricken with a mysterious malady and bad things start happening across the city. Sequel to the Sailor Moon Crystal TV series.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBeyond the Boundary: I'll Be Here – Future (2015)
The battle is over, and they can go about their normal lives now... or so they thought. With no time to rejoice after miraculously saving Mirai from Beyond the Boundary, Mirai lost all her memories. Akihito, now a high school senior, starts to avoid Mirai thinking it’s for the better. Not aware of Akihito’s feelings, Mirai tries to get closer to Akihito. Then, someone who knows of Mirai appears in front of the two. With Akihito’s troubles in vain, Mirai once again sets forth on a battle that forces her to look within.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPeach Girl (2017)
While everyone thinks that Momo is a wild party girl, the reality is that she is shy and lonely. Can Momo confess her love to her classmate, Toji, or will her best friend Sae steal him away? It's a bittersweet drama of growing up and fitting in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid (2023)
Finally, the day of Mai's high school graduation has arrived. While Sakuta eagerly waits for his girlfriend, an elementary schooler who looks exactly like her appears before him. Suspicious, and for all the wrong reasons... Meanwhile, Sakuta and Kaede's father suddenly calls, saying that their mother wants to see her daughter. She was hospitalized because Kaede's condition had been too much for her to bear, so what could she possibly want now?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNisekoi: False Love (2018)
Raku Ichijo (Kento Nakajima) is an only son and a high school student. His father is the leader of yakuza group Shuei-gumi. Raku Ichijo doesn't like to fight and he studies hard. His dream is to become a public official. One day, he passes the entrance gate at his high school and is kicked inadvertently by Chitoge Kirisaki (Ayami Nakajo). She is a new transfer student at the school. Chitoge Kirisaki is the only daughter of a rival gang leader. To keep the peace between the rival gangs led by their fathers, Raku Ichijo and Chitoge Kirisaki decide to act as boyfriend and girlfriend. --asianwiki
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Love Story!! (2015)
Takeo Goda is a high school student 2 m tall and weighting more than 100 kg. He has a righteous character. The male students adore him, but female students do not like him. All of the girls Takeo likes prefer his handsome friend Makoto Sunakawa.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAura: Koga Maryuin's Last War (2013)
Satou Ichirou once called himself 'Maryuuin Kouga' and behaved as if he were a hero in a fantasy world. His strange behavior caused his classmates to bully him and he left the school. At his new school, he tries to behave like a normal boy, but one day he meets a girl who cosplays with a blue cape. She calls herself "a researcher traveling from the outer world to search for the 'Dragon Terminal'". At first, Ichirou rejects the girl, Satou Ryouko, because her behavior reminds him of his embarrassing past, but he changes his mind after seeing her getting bullied. In order to bring Ryouko back to real life, Ichirou accepts her and his past and begins the final battle as Maryuuin Kouga.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Like the Falling Petals (2022)
Haruto Asakura falls in love with hairdresser Misaki Ariake and asks her out. Watching Misaki Ariake work hard to achieve what she wants, Haruto Asakura, who almost gave up his dream to become a photographer, begins to pursue his dream again, but Misaki Ariake is diagnosed with a disease that ages her 10x faster than normal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMy Rainy Days (2009)
A cold and calculating high school student falls in love for the first time with a professor, but he's dying of brain cancer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKaguya-sama: Love Is War -The First Kiss That Never Ends- (2022)
After pining for one another and plotting for so long, Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane finally have their climactic first kiss. However, they struggle to define their relationship. After all, how much of their true selves have they really shown to one another?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRanma 1/2 the Movie: Big Trouble in Nekonron, China (1991)
When Prince Kirin of the 7 Lucky Gods shows up at the Tendo dojo looking for his bride-to-be, guess who's accidentally holding the scroll that signifies his future mate? Why, Akane, of course, and the rest of the Ranma crew is forced to take a boat to China in order to save her from the horrors of marriage and a diet of pickled vegetables.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUrusei Yatsura: Only You (1983)
Six-year-old Ataru steps on Elle's shadow during an impromptu game of shadow-tag; in Elle's culture, this is viewed as a marriage proposal. Eleven years later, Elle returns to Earth in order to marry Ataru — by which time not only had he forgotten the events of his childhood, but he was also going out with Lum. The rest of the plot focuses on Lum's attempts to prevent the marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRanma ½ (2011)
Akane is the youngest of three daughters for Soun Tendo. Her father Soun Tendo runs a dojo for martial arts. Akane hopes to carry on her father's dojo into the distant future. Meanwhile, Akane has been selected to marry Ranma, the son of her father's long time friend Genma. Akane and Ranma's relationship has developed into a love and hate relationship. Also, Ranma isn't your typical boy. While on a training journey Ranma fell into the Spring of the Drowned Girl and now changes into a women whenever cold water is splashed on him. Warm water will allow him to revert back to a male. Problems arise when Akane's father declares that the successor to their dojo must be a male. Now, Akane and Ranma (being a man only half of the time) must find a secret spring that can cure him of his curse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (2021)
Before he was a protector, Kenshin was a fearsome assassin known as Battosai. But when he meets gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, a beautiful young woman who carries a huge burden in her heart, his life will change forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEven If This Love Disappears Tonight (2022)
A high school girl wakes up each day with no memory of the day before. When she agrees to date a shy classmate, Toru, he begins to fall for her—despite her rule against falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYour Lie in April (2016)
Arima Kousei won numerous piano competitions while under the strict watch of his mother. He was known as the human metronome during that time. Since the death of his mother, Kousei has been unable to hear the sound of his piano. He then meets Miyazono Kaori through childhood friend Sawabe Tsubaki. Kaori plays the violin and has a free sprit. Since meeting her, Kousei is able to face the piano again. Meanwhile, Kaori holds a secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWe Made a Beautiful Bouquet (2021)
Two people meet each other after missing the last train home, leading to a beautiful relationship over five years.
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 this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like White Heron?
The closest matches to White Heron are After the Rain (2018), Sasaki and Miyano: Graduation (2023) and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 1 (2021). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after White Heron?
Start with After the Rain (2018), the closest match to White Heron.
What is the highest-rated movie like White Heron?
Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (2021), rated 7.7/10 by 574 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like White Heron?
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like White Heron?
Yes: After the Rain (2018), Sasaki and Miyano: Graduation (2023) and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 1 (2021).
How are movies similar to White Heron chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside White Heron, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.