Best movies like The Boy and the Heron

Where death comes to an end, life finds a new beginning.

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Boy and the Heron Starring Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Ko Shibasaki, Aimyon, and more. If you liked The Boy and the Heron then you may also like: Voyage of the Unicorn, Weathering with You, The Wind Rises, Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror, Only Yesterday 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.

While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."

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Voyage of the Unicorn

One day the Aislings find themselves magically transported to a ship called the Unicorn. Here, they discover that they've been chosen to fulfill an incredible quest! They undergo an incredible journey of discovery in strange lands with enchanted creatures, but find their voyage is really one of the spirit, as they each learn faith and the power of love.

Weathering with You

The summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo, and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually gloomy and rainy every day, as if taking its cue from his life. After many days of solitude, he finally finds work as a freelance writer for a mysterious occult magazine. Then, one day, Hodaka meets Hina on a busy street corner. This bright and strong-willed girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky.

The Wind Rises

A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.

Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror

Your favourite teddy bear. That model kit that took so long to complete. The picture book you used to read over and over again. The shining stone you found that day in the park. Where do all your childhood's treasures go when you grow up? In this story, we meet fantastic creatures that gather all these little objects that fall into oblivion as they are forgotten by their owners when they step into adulthood. These creatures sneak into our world from a different dimension, and unseen by humans, they take all the ditched and forgotten "treasures" into their world. Here, they use their booty to build their own city, a fairy tale-like place called... Oblivion Island!

Only Yesterday

On a trip to the countryside to pick safflowers, a young Japanese woman recalls her life when she was ten years old.

King of the Hill

Based on the Depression-era bildungsroman memoir of writer A. E. Hotchner, the film follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a hotel in St. Louis after his mother is committed to a sanatorium with tuberculosis. His father, a German immigrant and traveling salesman working for the Hamilton Watch Company, is off on long trips from which the boy cannot be certain he will return.

From Up on Poppy Hill

Two high schoolers find hope as they fight to save an old wartime era clubhouse from destruction during the preparations for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Bridge to Terabithia

Jesse Aarons trained all summer to become the fastest runner in school, so he's very upset when newcomer Leslie Burke outruns him and everyone else. Despite this and other differences, including that she's rich, he's poor, and she's a city girl, he's a country boy, the two become fast friends. Together, they create Terabithia, a land of monsters, trolls, ogres, and giants and rule as king and queen.

The Care Bears Movie

The Care Bears have their work cut out for them, because Nicolas, a lonely magician's assistant, is about to fall under the evil influence of a bad spirit who lives in an ancient magic book -- it seems Nicolas will do just about anything for friends. Aside from Nicolas, Kim and Jason are in trouble because they are starting not to trust people after suffering many disappointments.

The Cat Returns

Young Haru rescues a cat from being run over, but soon learns it's no ordinary feline; it happens to be the Prince of the Cats.

Children Who Chase Lost Voices

The film centers on Asuna, a young girl who spends her solitary days listening to the mysterious music emanating from the crystal radio she received from her late father as a memento. One day while walking home she is attacked by a fearsome monster and saved mysterious boy named Shun. However, Shun disappears and Asuna embarks on a journey of adventure to the land of Agartha with her teacher Mr. Morisaki to meet a Shun again. Through her journey she comes to know the cruelty and beauty of the world, as well as loss.

Spirited Away

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.

Teacher's Pet

Meet Spot, a clever little dog with big dreams of becoming a real boy. When Spot finds out that a crazy scientist can make his wish come true, he takes a cross-country trek with Leonard, his best friend and master, and their mom. However, Dr. Krank's experiments are a little less than perfect, and it will take Leonard and his pet pals to right this genetic wrong.

Grave of the Fireflies

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

The Last Unicorn

From a riddle-speaking butterfly, a unicorn learns that she is supposedly the last of her kind, all the others having been herded away by the Red Bull. The unicorn sets out to discover the truth behind the butterfly's words. She is eventually joined on her quest by Schmendrick, a second-rate magician, and Molly Grue, a now middle-aged woman who dreamed all her life of seeing a unicorn. Their journey leads them far from home, all the way to the castle of King Haggard.

Tales from Earthsea

Something bizarre has come over the land. The kingdom is deteriorating. People are beginning to act strange... What's even more strange is that people are beginning to see dragons, which shouldn't enter the world of humans. Due to all these bizarre events, Ged, a wandering wizard, is investigating the cause. During his journey, he meets Prince Arren, a young distraught teenage boy. While Arren may look like a shy young teen, he has a severe dark side, which grants him strength, hatred, ruthlessness and has no mercy, especially when it comes to protecting Teru. For the witch Kumo this is a perfect opportunity. She can use the boy's "fears" against the very one who would help him, Ged.

Suzume

Suzume, 17, lost her mother as a little girl. On her way to school, she meets a mysterious young man. But her curiosity unleashes a calamity that endangers the entire population of Japan, and so Suzume embarks on a journey to set things right.

Luca

Luca and his best friend Alberto experience an unforgettable summer on the Italian Riviera. But all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water’s surface.

My Neighbor Totoro

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.

Belle

Suzu is a 17-year-old high-school student living in a rural town with her father. Wounded by the loss of her mother at a young age, Suzu one day discovers the massive online world "U" and dives into this alternate reality as her avatar, Belle. Before long, all of U's eyes are fixed on Belle, when, suddenly, a mysterious, dragon-like figure appears before her.

Mary and The Witch's Flower

Mary Smith, a young girl who lives with her great-aunt in the countryside, follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest where she finds a strange flower and an old broom, none of which is as ordinary as it seems.

Lassie

On their way to start a new life at a sheep farm in rural Virginia, the Turner family are halted by a wreck on the highway that has claimed the life of a truck driver. Spotting the trucker's now-abandoned collie on the side of the road, they take pity on the dog and adopt her. As the city family copes with the change to rural life, including a feud with a neighboring farm family who resent the city interlopers, the ever-loyal Lassie helps them adjust to their new surroundings.

A Letter to Momo

A shy 11-year-old's life takes a strange turn when she discovers three hungry goblins living in the attic of her new house. She misses her old life. She misses her father so very much. Until she makes some new ghoulish friends.

Porco Rosso

In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.

Monster High: Friday Night Frights

SKRM (Skultimate Roller Maze) is an annual tournament between Monster High and different monster high schools that consists of a roller derby of dangerous obstacles and mazes. Granite City High, a high school team of gargoyles and Monster High's oldest rivals, won the school crest after defeating them in SKRM, and with it taking the school spirit. This has resulted in the school literally beginning to fall apart, and due to the boys serious injuries after the tournament, they decide not to participate any longer. This prompts the ghouls to play SKRM in the boys place, and they suit up and begin training. However, the boys protest and claim SKRM is a boys sport only, and they won't help the ghouls train. This only pushes them to work harder, with the goal of making it to the championship game to defeat Granite City High.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

A girl, sent by her parents to live with her two eccentric aunts, finds out on her sixteenth birthday that she is a witch.

Milk the Maid

Milk the Maid stars newcomer Tia, who is cute, sexy and hot (not necessarily in this order). This erotic comedy tells the story of Milk, a Japanese sexy maid (Tia) who begins living with a Tokyo family. Initially turned off by the prospect of having another mouth to feed, the men of the family are reluctant to accepts Milk, but her irresistible charm kicks in, and she quickly finds her way into their hearts and bedrooms.

The Boy Who Saw the Wind

Amon is a boy who can control the wind. Branik, ruler of the Empire of the Golden Snake, wants Amon's power to complete the ultimate weapon and sends his troops to capture the boy. Amon, using his talents, manages to runs away with Maria, one of the People of the Sea. Together, they try to stop the Empire of the Golden Snake from destroying and conquering everything.

The Day of the Crows

In a cabin of the deep of the forest, a child and his father lead a wild and hard life in utmost isolation. The child grows up fearing and admiring his father, with the ghosts haunting the forest as his only companions. Until the day he discovers the neighbouring village and meets a young girl there, Manon. At her side, he discovers that love exists. From then on he won't cease to search for the place where his father's love for him is hiding.

Tenchi Muyo! In Love

The demonic space criminal Kain has escaped from prison and destroyed the Galaxy Police headquarters. To ensure that the Jurai will not stop him, Kain travels back to 1970 to eliminate Tenchi's mother before he is even born. Now, Tenchi and the gang must travel to the past to stop him before he ceases to exist.

Blast

Four high school friends believe the local myth that developer Swenson killed a kid for trespassing years earlier and got away with it. When one of the four friends disappears, the remaining three believe Swenson killed their friend and they take revenge. When their friend then shows up alive they must deal with the consequences of crossing the harsh line that separates fantasy from reality.

Monster High: 13 Wishes

It’s a new school year at Monster High™, and the little sister of Clawdeen Wolf™, Howleen, is determined to be more fangtastic than ever. Her dream of popularity turns out to be easier than anyone imagined when she stumbles upon a genie named Gigi Grant™ who grants her not 3, but 13 Wishes! But the ghouls quickly learn to be s-careful what you wish for because each wish comes with a dark side, and soon the student disem-body of Monster High™ is turned upside-down! Join Frankie Stein™, Clawdeen Wolf™, Draculaura™ and the rest of their creeperiffic ghoulfriends as they journey deep inside the magic lantern to save the very soul of Monster High™… while flashing their killer style every step of the way!

My Father's Dragon

Struggling to cope after a move to the city with his mother, Elmer runs away in search of Wild Island and a young dragon who waits to be rescued. Elmer’s adventures introduce him to ferocious beasts, a mysterious island and the friendship of a lifetime.

Dragons: Fire & Ice

Two young rival dragon riding warriors fight to end a 1000 year old war despite the hidden manipulator opposing them.

Monster High: Haunted

Lurk what's waiting for the Monster High ghouls when they bring their killer fashion to the howlways of the spooktacular Haunted High! When the ghouls of Monster High follow Spectra Vondergeist one day, they discover a creeperiffic Ghost World with an all-spirit school. But their scary-cute student bodies are hardly welcome with the very strict Principal Revenant, and she punishes Spectra with frightful detention chains that prevent her from re-joining Monster High. Now, it's up to the imperfectly perfect friends to take on ghostly forms in order to save one of their own from disappearing forever!

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