Best movies & TV Shows like Brush Up Life

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Brush Up Life Starring Sakura Ando, Kaho, Haruka Kinami, Tori Matsuzaka, and more. If you liked Brush Up Life then you may also like: I Never Sang for My Father, anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day - The Movie, The Christmas Pageant, Mistresses, AnoHana: The Flower We Saw That Day and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

TV show

A comedy focusing on Kondo Asami, a 33-year-old single woman who lives with her parents and works at the local city hall, and suddenly finds herself starting her life over from scratch.

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I Never Sang for My Father

Hackman plays a New York professor who wants a change in his life, and plans to get married to his girlfriend and move to California. His mother understands his need to get away, but warns him that moving so far away could be hard on his father. Just before the wedding, the mother dies. Hackman's sister (who has been disowned by their father for marrying a Jewish man) advises him to live his own life, and not let himself be controlled by their father.

anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day - The Movie

A year has passed since Menma's ghostly return to the Super Peace Busters. Although the time they spent together during that summer was short, the five members reminisce about what happened as they each write a letter to their lost friend.

The Christmas Pageant

Vera Parks, an overly intense and demanding Broadway director, gets fired from yet another job, leaving her no choice but to take a gig directing a small town Christmas pageant in upstate New York. Stunned at how basic the production is, Vera attempts to back out, but is convinced by some of the locals to give their town a chance. To her surprise, the warmth and charm of the small town grows on Vera and she even enjoys the experience of directing the pageant. When Vera discovers her former fiancé Jack recommended her for the job, she is outraged. But over time Vera appreciates the gesture, as she grows close to both Jack and his young daughter. Will love stay in the wings this time around?

Mistresses

Follows the lives of four female friends and their involvement in an array of marital and extramarital relationships.

AnoHana: The Flower We Saw That Day

When Yadomi Jinta was a child, he was a central piece in a group of close friends. In time, however, these childhood friends drifted apart, and when they became high school students, they had long ceased to think of each other as friends. One of the friends from that group, Honma Meiko, now has a wish she asks Jinta to fulfil. The problem is, she can't remember what her wish is anymore.

Mildred Pierce

Mildred Pierce depicts an overprotective, self-sacrificing mother during the Great Depression who finds herself separated from her husband, opening a restaurant of her own and falling in love with a man, all the while trying to earn her spoiled, narcissistic daughter's love and respect.

Matrimonial Chaos

Ordinary salaryman Hamasaki Mitsuo works for a company which installs vending machines. He complains about his marriage life while at the dentist office. Mitsuo isn't happy at all with his marriage with his wife, Hoshino Yuka, who has the complete opposite personality from him. He doesn't know if he loves Yuka or not. At this time, Mitsuo meets Kono Akari, his ex-girlfriend from his university days, who is now married to Uehara Ryo.

Woman

After the accidental death of her husband and being deemed ineligible for welfare, Koharu struggles to care for her two children.

Shinigami-kun

Shinigami-kun, alias grim reaper #413, is a rookie who pronounces the death of those scheduled to die and brings souls to the nether world. He would appear with the signature phrase “Congratulations! I’m here to call on you” although it is hard to say how this can be a happy occasion, and watch over the dying. To a grim reaper, persuading people attempting to commit suicide and preventing unforeseen deaths is also an important task. But because #413 is new to this grim reaper work, he has a tendency to lean towards humans in his judgments, break the rules of the nether world and get reprimanded by his superior.

Barakamon

After punching a famous curator in the face for criticizing his work as "textbook and lifeless," Handa Seishuu is sent to Gotō Island to calm his nerves and find new inspiration for his calligraphy. Growing up in the city all his life, though, Handa must adapt to country life while meeting an assortment of quirky people during his tenure.

Tamagawa Ward Office of the Dead

Set in a place where zombie's existence are commonplace. Shinsuke Akaba (Kento Hayashi) works in the special welfare division at the Tamagawa City Office. His job is to deal with zombies and catch zombies. His life is boring, but, one day, a pretty woman is assigned to work in the same division.

A Restaurant with Many Problems

Tamako works for a company in the restaurant business. She experiences betrayal from Makoto, a chef she recently hired. Rumors then spread at work about her. Tamako decides enough is enough and quits her job. She decides to open a restaurant and run it from a woman's perspective. Tamako soon learns that Makoto has opened a luxurious restaurant across the street from her modest restaurant.

Second Love

Taira Kei has a talent for contemporary dance since he was young and went to study in Germany to join a dance company in his teens. He has won several international competitions and was referred to as a “prodigy”. However, he encountered a setback in the middle and got frustrated. He returned to Tokyo and takes a part-time work while he tries to re-capture his dream. Nishihara Yui is a Chemisty teacher in her 30s, working at a prestigious high school. Even while continuing a love affair with a married colleague, she was still lonely until she meets Kei and gets swallowed in passion.

Mother Game

Kanbara Kiko is a divorcee and raises her 5-year-old son alone. To open a box lunch food store, she moves to her grandfather's house. She tries to enroll her son Haruto into nursery school there, but a person in charge of the district office tells her Haruto can't attend immediately. Kiko, busy to open her box lunch food store by next month, finds herself in a predicament with her son not having supervision by then. At this time, a director of a kindergarten school, Fune Naraoka, talks to Kiko.

Mare

Mare is an elementary school student. She lives with her family in the city, but, right before her father goes bankrupt, they run away and settle down at a fishing village in Noto. The family rents a couple's home who run a salt pond. Mare's father starts a new business, but it also fails. Her mother supports the family by working at the salt pond. 8 years later, Mare, about to graduate from high school, decides to work for the Wajima local government. She wants to have a steady job, unlike her father. Her job is to support people who move to Noto.

Best Friends in Love

Aoi Miura (Sota Fukushi) was born and grew up in Toyama Prefecture. He has an indecisive personality and does not like summer. He was the focal member of the high school swimming team, but he now works as an assistant at a small architectural office in Tokyo. One summer day, he meets his childhood friend and first love Akari Serizawa. During their school days they spent everyday hanging out together until the fireworks night in their 3rd year of high school. That night, Akari suddenly disappeared. Now, Akari has a man named Aoi.

Fight! Bookstore Girl

Pegasus Bookstore is going through hard times due to competition from internet bookstores. Kitamura Aki and Nishioka Riko are employees at Pegasus Bookstore. Aki is 23 years old. She has a strong will and freewheeling personality. She places her job and dreams above marriage. Riko is a 40-year-old single woman. She is the vice-manager at the bookstore. She has pride in her work. The two women have completely different personalities.

Lady Girls

Lady Girls is a poignant romantic comedy portrays the lives of three single, 40-year-old women as they search for happiness and love while longing to stay always-a-girl-at-heart regardless their age.

5→9 From Five to Nine

Junko Sakuraba dreams of working in New York, but she currently works as an English conversation teacher. She's about to have her 29th birthday. Junko Sakuraba works hard to achieve her dream, but New York seem far away. She has also not dated in a long time. Junko Sakuraba attends a funeral held at a temple. During the funeral, she makes a mistake and throws ashes onto a monk chanting a sutra. She feels apologetic and embarrassment. Later, Junko Sakuraba's family deceives her into going on a blind date. The man she meets on the blind date is Takane Hoshikawa. Her date is the monk whom she accidentally threw ashes on.

ERASED

Satoru Fujinuma is a struggling manga artist who has the ability to turn back time and prevent deaths. When his mother is killed he turns back time to solve the mystery, but ends up back in elementary school, just before the disappearance of his classmate Kayo.

Sumika Sumire

Kisaragi Sumi is a 20-year-old university student. But do not be surprised that she is a 65-year-old inside. Under pressure to help out with the family business from a young age, she could not have a youth. Even afterwards, she devoted her entire life to taking care of first her grandmother and then her father and mother. Sumi finds herself turning 65 without ever having had a boyfriend. She takes a little pride in having lived with integrity. But after her mother passes away, she has the sudden thought of regaining her youth once more and making a fresh start in life. A miracle happens to her. One day when Sumi wakes up, she has the appearance of a 20-year-old. Despite being bewildered by this unbelievable reality, she introduces herself as Sumire and gets another try at youth.

Good Morning Call

A high school girl finally gets her own apartment, but she has to share it with the most popular boy in school. No one can know they're living together.

Aggressive Retsuko

Series of 100 one-minute anime shorts that centers on Retsuko, a 25-year old red panda who works in her dream company's accounting department. But it turns out that she is forced to keep doing more and more impossible tasks by her superiors and co-workers. She doesn't talk back to them, but she still has to let off steam, so she ends up going to karaoke by herself and singing death metal.

My Well-Organized Home

Mai Yururi decides to get rid of her old books, memorabilia, furniture and clothes. Everything around her room, except the basic necessities. Her friend visits her place and is shocked that her place is empty. Mai realizes how good it feels to get rid of clutter.

Grade A Reversal

Shin'ichi Sakurai is married to Kanako and they have a daughter named Kaori. Both, Shinichi and Kanako received only a middle-school-level education. Even though they don't have much money, they are a happy family. At work, though, Shin'ichi experiences effects of only having a middle school education. One day, Shin'ichi sees Kaori’s poor score for a national test. He freaks out and decides to improve Kaori's education. Thus, 41-year-old Shin'ichi begins studying with Kaori and instructs her for the upcoming middle school entrance exam.

Tokyo Tarareba Girls

30-year-old Kamata Rinko is single and a struggling scriptwriter. She has no boyfriend and keeps having night outs at drinking spots with her girlfriends Kaori and Koyuki. “If I become beautiful, a better guy will appear!” “If we grow to like each other, we can get married!” They will not stop talking about these hypothetical questions. Then a younger, handsome, golden-haired guy suddenly utters, “These “what if” women!” and the trio have to face the harsh reality that they are no longer girls. Rinko enters her 30s while still immature, seeking happiness and struggling with romance and work.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie

Moriko Morioka is a 30-year-old single NEET woman. After dropping out from reality, she has taken off in search for a fulfilling life and ended up in a net game or "netoge." In the netoge world, she began her new life as a refreshing and handsome character named Hayashi. While starting out as a beginner, a pretty character named Lily reached out to help her. Meanwhile, in the real world, awaits a shocking encounter with a good-looking elite company employee, a mysterious blue-eyed blonde.

Candy House

Sakurai Taro’s parents died young. His grandmother, Akiko, has been making great effort to protect her struggling candy store, Sakuraya, in the old part of Tokyo, but it's not easy. Taro eats candy with regular customers such as chilhood friend Saegusa Hiroki who aspires to be a scriptwriter, and talk nonsense, like in their youth. However, they realize this unfettered, comfortable existence will end some day with the passage of time. Then Taro’s ex-classmate, Kimura Reiko, comes back home with her son after a divorce. He and his friends start to notice what is truly important to them as they face up to their pasts, dreams and pains.

Stepmom and Daughter Blues

Eight-year-old Miyuki lost her mother several years ago and has since lived with just her father, Ryoichi. One day, she is suddenly introduced to Akiko, who is to be her new mother. Akiko uses her stellar business skills to try to win the little girl over, only to fail miserably. Ryoichi tries to reason with Miyuki, but to no avail. Akiko changes tactics and tries to get Shimoyama, a woman in the neighborhood who knows Miyuki well, on her side.

Weakest Beast

Seemingly perfect from the outside, Shinkai Akira was exhausted from worrying too much about how to be perfect. Nemoto Kousei is amicable and popular with women, but he trusts no one and views everything with a cold heart. The two of them, who became unable to live instinctively like animals, meet by chance at a craft beer bar after work and gradually become close enough to fight and tell each other how they really feel. Due to their encounter, even while getting hurt, they begin to try to be themselves and start taking a step forward.

Queen

Ko Himi (Yuko Takeuchi) works as a lawyer and she is also an expert in crisis management. Her clients are women who are trapped in scandals. Ko Himi never gives up on her clients and does whatever is necessary for justice to take place.

Death Office

People who just died first visit the death office. There, the final destinations of the deceased, who died for various reasons including suicide, murder and disease, are decided. Shimura works at the death office.

A Day-Off of Kasumi Arimura

Kasumi Arimura suddenly gets a break from filming and returns to her hometown for the first time in a long while. Her mother, Yumiko, comes to the train station to pick her up and they head for the family home.

Life: Love on the Line

One day after school, the serious Ito and the child-like Nishi meet by chance, as each endeavors to remain walking on the sidewalk's white line. As time goes by, Ito recognizes he is drawn to Nishi in a way that is new to him. Nishi, for his part, is frustrated that they only get to meet on the sidewalk. Ito decides to act upon his feelings and kisses a surprised Nishi, who agrees they need to walk side by side for a change. The sparks between them are undeniable as their relationship blossoms in high school, survives the college years, and matures into adulthood. A deeply moving work that bears witness to loving partners, whose unchanging feelings must co-exist within a world of changing realities.

Joshi Gurume Burger-bu

A gourmet comedy featuring 12 girls who are fascinated by gourmet burgers. Two girls appear every episode and develop in omnibus format. In addition, all the stores that appear are real stores, and we pay particular attention to the lighting and the sound of baking patties, and depict the gourmet burgers at each store with a sizzling feeling

Horimiya

A secret life is the one thing they have in common. At school, Hori is a prim and perfect social butterfly, but the truth is she's a brash homebody. Meanwhile, under a gloomy facade, Miyamura hides a gentle heart, along with piercings and tattoos. In a chance meeting, they both reveal a side they've never shown. Could this blossom into something new?

Dangerous Venus

Hakuro is single and works as a veterinarian. His father died when Hakuro was a child and his mother later remarried into the wealthy Yagami family. Although Hakuro was brought into the Yagami family through his mother's marriage, he does not feel like part of the Yagami family. Especially, when compared to his younger step-brother who possesses the same blood as his family. After the death of Hakuro's mother, Hakuro dropped Yagami from his name and broke off relations with that family. Hakuro has a strong sense of justice and sincerity in his actions. He is very susceptible to beautiful women. One day, he meets a woman. The woman introduces herself as the wife of his stepbrother and informs him that his stepbrother is missing. As Hakuro and the woman trace his stepbrother's whereabouts, Hakuro becomes involved in the Yagami family's fight over a three billion yen inheritance.

In-House Marriage Honey

A young couple got married almost immediately after meeting each other through a dating app and did not realised that they were working for the same company. They decided to keep their marriage a secret from their company and friends. At first, both parties thought it's okay to get married without love but they gradually got attracted to each other.

Life's Punchline

A comedy trio who gave up on their dreams and disbanded. An older sister who quit working in a company and became a shell of her former self. A younger sister who works in the city at night without a goal. 5 people who can't come back from their failures. In their 20s. But these failures are just a "lead up" to success later in life!? It is an ensemble drama that opens with laughter and connects failure to hope! Takaiwa Haruto (Suda Masaki), Minowa Junpei (Nakano Taiga), and Asabuki Shunta (Kamiki Ryunosuke) are members of the unpopular comedy trio, "Macbeth". Nakahama Rihoko (Arimura Kasumi) is a waitress at the family restaurant where the trio always meet to create stories. Tsumugi (Furukawa Kotone) is her younger sister. Every episode begins with the skit of the comedy trio "Macbeth" and as the title suggests, the opening conte* is connected as an important hint to the rest of the episode's story. (Source: @kamikidays)

Kotaro Lives Alone

Shin Karino is an unpopular manga writer and he is single. He lives in an apartment complex that has a rule forbidding children from living there. One day, Shin Karino's doorbell rings. When he opens his apartment door, he sees a small boy. The boy is 5-year-old Kotaro Sato. Kotaro Sato tells Shin Karino that he moved into the neighborhood. Shin Karino makes a weird face, because of the rule of his apartment complex. Kotaro Sato says that he lives by himself. At first, Shin Karino is annoyed by Kotaro Sato, but residents of the apartment building, including Shin Karino, become attached to Kotaro Sato.

#bemyfamily

A new-age home drama that depicts a group of new single fathers and mothers, each with their own worries and secrets, raising their children together under one roof and becoming a "family".

Motokare Retry

Mitsu became a college student while dragging along the trauma of her first boyfriend and a broken heart in her years back in junior high school. She was thinking about going to college and finding a new love, but the person in the room next to hers is Kaede, her ex-boyfriend! It had been 5 years and he has become sophisticated and grown-up, but his gentle smile has not changed. Mitsu wants to forget her old love and enjoy university life, but she finds herself trapped between her grown-up ex-boyfriend and her best friend.

Is Love Sustainable?

Sawada Kyoka is a yoga instructor with a rough personality and constantly fights with her father after her mother passed away. Due to having to spend the time taking care of her father, Kyoka doesn't have much time for herself and has very little desire to get married. Meanwhile, Sawada Rintaro is Kyoka's father and works as a freelance lexicographer. After the passing of his wife, Rintaro hasn't been living well which frustrates Kyoka. One day, Rintaro decides to find his second life partner and wants to start a "double marriage life" with Kyoka.

Pianist in the Shopping District

There is a street piano placed in a music store on a shopping district. Sawamoto Ren is a young electrician who has stayed away from the piano for a long time, but decides to start to a new path as a street pianist after meeting Kajiwara Midori, the daughter of the music store owner. Soon later, people from various backgrounds stop by to play the street piano and have heart-to-heart interactions with Ren and Midori.

Why Didn't I Tell You a Million Times?

When childhood friends Yui and Naoki are by chance reunited as adults, they begin to feel they were destined for each other. However, just as Naoki prepares to propose to Yui, he becomes embroiled in a mysterious incident and dies. Now Naoki's soul wanders the world unable to express his true feelings for Yui. Yuzuru, a detective and the only person who can see Naoki, goes in pursuit of the truth behind Naoki’s death. At Naoki tries to use Yuzuru to talk to Yui, but will he be able to convey his message of love?

Passion for Punchlines

May 31, 2021—as COVID-19 continued to spread, Masayasu Wakabayashi and Ryota Yamasato were on stage in front of an empty house getting ready for their live stream show. Although they’re from different comedy duos, The Nankai Candies and Audrey, they decided to create Tarinai Futari to perform new jokes about their complexes. Their final show is today.

Burn the House Down

After her mother took the blame for a tragic fire 13 years ago, Anzu plots revenge by working as a housekeeper under a pseudonym for her icy stepmother.

Barakamon

A proud young calligrapher is punished for punching a critic by being sent to a faraway island in the east coast of Japan. But as he meets and lives with the island's friendly people, his attitude begins to improve.

Girl XX

An omnibus style pinku drama that focuses on the sexual concerns of modern women. Based on the manga “Sex-chan” by Haro Aso, the original creator of Alice in Borderland.

Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater

Tsurugi Hina, a first-year high school student who moved from the city, is an indoor person who is not good at living things. While walking along the embankment, she met her senior Kuroiwa, and was forced to join the mysterious "Teibo Club" and she decides to start fishing. With the support of unique club members, she gradually discovers the joy of fishing.

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