Best movies & TV Shows like The Dream of Nepenthes

The story takes place in a new residential area in the outskirts of Tokyo. A family photograph adorns the living room of the Hashimoto family. It is a heartwarming shot of the three family members from when they first moved here, finally having bought their own home that they had wanted for so long. Wife Michiko hangs the laundry everyday. Husband Ken-ichi leaves for work without a word. Son Hiroaki has a part-time job, returns home early and disappears into his room. The Hashimoto Family no longer eats meal together at the dining table or spends time together in the living room. Michiko yearns for a different relationship with her family and is gradually overcome by loneliness. While feeling pressured from the trifling matters that occur within the residential community, Michiko tries to fill the emptiness that she hides in her heart.

Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotional strength of his mother Okan. Following a period of intensely rebellious behavior, Boku learns that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.

An unemployed man learns that his ex-girlfriend was murdered. He suddenly finds himself travelling through time to his middle school years and has chance to change the future and save the girl. He aims to rise to the top of the most brutal delinquent gang.

Diane is a struggling single mom in LA. Just when things are at their worst, but she will have to live in small town USA for a year and take care of a dog for a year before the house is hers.

The Kanto area and Kansai area are in secret tug of war. Descendants of ninja from Kansai harass Kanto area. One day, 4 female high school students from Tokyo transfer to a new school. They are descendants of ninja who are sent to protect Tokyo.

Hana is a normal high school student, unsatisfied in her daily life. One day she had a dream and met a 10-year-old girl living in Sengoku Era. The girl lives hard with poverty and misfortune in that world and the two are going to have a sisterhood friendship. When Hana wakes up, she is taken away by the government special agency and subject to severe scrutiny about her dream. There is something called Akashic Record and the destinies of all humans follow that record. And the future record of all mankind is gone in a month. The key to solving the problem is the girl who appeared in Hana's dream.

High school student Takumi lives with his two mothers in a beautiful house in Tokyo. Moving into a house across the street is Sora and her two fathers. One day Takumi and Sora begin a quest to seek answers long hidden and silent in their unconventional families. Takumi sets out to determine the identity of his father, and Sora devises a plan to integrate herself fully into her family. The ordeals of these households stretch the traditional notions of family, convention and tradition.

Kouta Noda is a 2nd grade high school student at a village. A transfer student, Tendo, from Tokyo becomes Kouta Noda’s classmate. Tendo has a mysterious mood. The two teens becomes friends and spend time having fun, but, one day, one of Kouta's friends disappears. There is a local village legend that one kid will disappear every 100 years.

A struggling lawyer, Kenji Sakuragi, takes a position at private school Tatsuyama Gakuen to pay off his debts. Kenji decides to try to turn this hopeless school into one of the elite institutions in Japan to help rejuvenate his career. His barometer of success will be to get five of his students admitted to the prestigious Tokyo University the following year. But rather than cramming them with lots of general information, his down-to-earth class concentrates on unknown techniques for passing the entrance examination and how to live a good life in these turbulent times. His refreshing outlook and strategy may just be what is needed to turn around the future prospects of himself and his students and teach the rest of us a thing or two as well!

Yasuko Matsuyuki plays the part of Nao Suzuhara, an elementary school teacher. When she realizes that one of the female students is receiving abuse from her mother, Nao's maternal instincts kick in, and she impulsively decides to bring the girl into her own care. Serving as a substitute mother, Nao takes the child on a trip from Hokkaido to Tokyo, and the two experience various events together along the way.

20 years ago a half-frozen boy was rescuded in the mountains after his parents apparent sucide. He gets released from a mental institution and his girlfriend notices him talking about a dark mountain shadow. Meanwhile a murder happens in a residential area in Tokyo. Assistant Inspector Goda Yuichiro takes on the investigation. Soon an official of the Ministery of Justice gets murdered in a similar fashion pointing towards a serial killer. Yet, Goda receives a strange order from above: he's not to further investigate in this direction. He senses a huge mystery behind the case and starts chasing after the psychopath killer called Marks. Somehow a journalist's research about a corrupt construction magnate and another unsolved murder that happend in the mountains 13 years ago are also linked to the case.

Junna Tōno has a twin sister named Senna. He is an ordinary student at Sakurahama Private High School. However, in the past, a traffic accident deprived him of his parents and his memory. Junna survived the accident and since then, he lived only with his sister, though he's been looked after by his relatives. His present life with Senna at the same high school is so pleasant that he can forget his severe past. However, Junna begins to recall the memories he lost in the accident. He enjoys the happy and pleasant days, but he is tossed by his past, his present, and his future. What is the truth hidden in his memory?

At a high school entrance ceremony, high school student Kotoko Aihara, who isn't that smart, notices pretty boy Naoki Irie. She falls in love with him immediately. Kotoko initially doesn't express her feelings to him, but finally has a chance to tell him how she feels. Unfortunately, Naoki turns Kotoko down, saying "I don't like dumb women." One day, Kotoko Aihara's house is severely damaged by an earthquake. Until the house is rebuilt, Kotoko Aihara and her father decide to live with her father's friend. When Kotoko Aihara moves to her new temporary house, she is surprised to learn that Naoki Irie lives there as well.

In Hiroshima, a gang known as "Beast," led by Hidenori Danno (Takashi Nikaido), is the number 1 gang in the area. The number 1 gang is "Nights". Meanwhile, high school student Tsukasa (Kento Nakajima) happens to meet Yoji (Hikaru Iwamoto), Hisao (Shota Watanabe) and Eiji (Tatsuya Fukasawa) and become friends with them. Through his new friends, Tsukasa becomes involved with the gang "Gokuraku Cho". One day, Tsukasa fights with the Shun, the leader of "Gokuraku Cho" and beats him. Tsukasa now becomes the 8th leader for "Gokuraku Cho".

To deal with the increasing violent crime rate in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, a special investigation team is formed at the Shinjuku Police Station. Detective Shunsuke Yamashita and Detective Keiichi Tashiro begin work at the special investigation team. Detective Shunsuke Yamashita doesn't care about details and says what he thinks. Meanwhile, Detective Keiichi Tashiro is diligent and enthusiastic with his investigative work. The two men frequently argue, but also cooperate to solve the cases.

Your whole outlook on life can change in an instant. Takuto Sawada (Haruma Miura) is your average college student. But one day, he finds out that he has ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and only has a short time to live. How will he choose to spend the remaining days of his precious life?

47-year-old Aso Toko is asked by her ex-husband to take their 17-year-old daughter Miu under her care because he is leaving for an overseas assignment. Toko who had wanted to take custody of her daughter, has her long-cherished wish fulfilled and her old friend Suga Yohei is happy for her. However, Toko does not have the confidence to live with Miu who is now a high school student. Although Miu also has no intention of living together with the mother who had abandoned her, the two of them meet again for the first time in 12 years in order to have a discussion. On the very day that mother and daughter are reunited, Miu’s impertinent behaviour angers Toko, and they reach an agreement to live separately. However, they get trapped in the lift they took right after that and then the lift suddenly plunges. The shock from this incident causes their souls to swap bodies. As a result, the two of them have no choice but to live together.

People are not always who they appear to be, as is the case with Umaru Doma, the perfect high school girl—that is, until she gets home! Once the front door closes, the real fun begins. When she dons her hamster hoodie, she transforms from a refined, over-achieving student into a lazy, junk food-eating otaku, leaving all the housework to her responsible older brother Taihei. Whether she's hanging out with her friends Nana Ebina and Kirie Motoba, or competing with her self-proclaimed "rival" Sylphinford Tachibana, Umaru knows how to kick back and have some fun! Himouto! Umaru-chan is a cute story that follows the daily adventures of Umaru and Taihei, as they take care of—and put up with—each other the best they can, as well as the unbreakable bonds between friends and siblings.

On the night of a blackout at the new residential area, ‘Soil New Town’, the Suzushiros, a family of three who live in that ordinary town, suddenly vanish into thin air. A pillar of salt rising up to the ceiling is left behind in the room of their daughter, Miki. Coincidentally, a heap of salt as high as a school building appears in the junior high school’s yard... At the top of that heap is the heart of a hamster. Dispatched to solve this bizarre case, Onoda Masako and Yokoi Mitsuo from the Kamikawa Precinct, are astonished by the strange pillar of salt. There is the head of the resident's association whose daily routine is obsessive surveillance, a youth who has been missing ever since the case occurred and an old woman who had an unsavoury experience in this town in the past. In the course of their investigation, Onoda and Yokoi begin to peer through to the underlying demeanours of the town’s residents and realise that malice and madness lurks beneath this seemingly quiet town.

In 1930 and as a young child, Tsuneko Kohashi lives at Enshu in Shizuoka Prefecture. She has a happy life with her parents and two younger sisters. Things change after her father dies from tuberculosis. Her father asked Tsuneko Kohashi to take care of the family in his place. Due to financial difficulties, her mother Kimiko decides to move the family to Tokyo where Tsuneko's grandmother lives.

When Okita Kazuaki was starting out as a doctor, he was forced to resign from the hospital. He left his girlfriend Danjo Mifuyu behind and went to the US alone. 10 years go by and he comes back as a surgeon with outstanding skills to save his former teacher from illness. His teacher is none other than his ex-girlfriend’s father. In the time that Okita was away, Mifuyu had married his own good friend Masao, who is now the deputy director and the heir of the hospital. To make matters worse, this friend was the one who plotted to drive him out form the hospital 10 years ago. Okita has to face all sorts of ordeals to save his teacher. But he never gives up amid the swirl of love, desire, friendship, jealousy and pride. Okita may be awkward but deals with patients with all his heart. His way of life gets the people working at the hospital to start asking themselves what real healthcare is.

Yosuke is a middle aged businessman who has a wife and two kids; wife is a teacher, his son a job-hunting student, and his daughter has a good job. His family is looking forward to buying a new house as Yosuke is about to be promoted soon. But one day, he is forced to leave the company because of a gossip con set up by his colleague! He loses his job but he cannot tell that to his family. At the same time his wife and daughter are also facing problems at their work, both thinking to quit because dad’s job is secured. When they find out dad left the company, can they support him or...?

In Tokyo, an old person, who lived alone, is found dead. Detectives from the Police Station investigate the case. According to the victim's neighbors, a woman sometimes came in and out of the victim's home. That woman is Miki Yamamoto. She does housework for her customers. The detectives from Police Station visit Miki’s house. What is the truth behind the cases?

Nami Isayama met a man through a blind date and married him. She and her husband moved to a quiet, exclusive residential area. Nami is now a housewife and she decides to take cooking classes. She meets other housewives at the cooking class and receives tips from them, while becoming friends. Nami surmises that one of the housewives in her cooking class is the victim of domestic violence. Nami decides to save the victim by herself.

Story depicts the conflicts and growth of families who live at co-operative houses. Nana Igarashi is 35-years-old and works as a diving instructor. She is married to Daiki who is 32-years-old and works at a toy company. They live in a small apartment, while saving up to buy a house. They enjoy their life. Nana and Daiki decide to buy a co-operative house. They also try to have a baby. Nana and Daiki realize it isn't easy to have baby.

Natsu Takato is a 35-year-old popular screenwriter. She lives with her husband Shogo in the outskirts of Saitama. Shogo used to work as a TV station director, but he now supports Natsu by doing housework and working as her business manager. Natsu doesn't have a lot to complain about in her life, but she has a strong sexual desire that she cannot suppress. She spends nights with theater director Shizawa. Meanwhile, Natsu Takato senses her husband interfering with her script and trying to control her. Natsu Takato leaves her home and begins to live alone in Tokyo. She gets involved with two men.

Junko Harumi was once a model student during her middle school and high school days. She failed to enter prestigious Tokyo University and her life has not gone smoothly since then. She has a hard time finding a job and having relationships with men. Now, at the age of 31, she works as a teacher at a private institute. 3 men, who vary in type, appear in front of her. Masashi Yakumo is smart and a cousin of Junko, Kyohei Yuri is a disorderly high school student and Kazuma Yamashita is Kyohei ’s teacher in high school.

Toko Ikuta lost her parents in a car accident at the age of 3. Afterwards, her uncle, who ran a barbershop in Morioka, raised her and she had a happy childhood. Toko Ikuta was active as a local idol and she dreamed of becoming an actress. At the age of 19, she is set to take an audition in Tokyo. The day before her audition, on March 11, 2011, the great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami hits Japan. In the autumn of 2011, Toko Ikuta works at a cafe. She goes with her Korean co-worker Han Yoo-Ri to do volunteer work in Kesennuma as the area recovers from the devastating tsunami. There, Toko Ikuta meets Kiyotaka Shimizu who is a university student from Tokyo and a member of a student volunteer group. While spending time together in Kesennuma, Toko Ikuta and Kiyotaka Shimizu develop feelings for each other.

Although admired at school for her amiability and academic prowess, high school student Kyouko Hori has been hiding another side of her. With her parents often away from home due to work, Hori has to look after her younger brother and do the housework, leaving no chance to socialize away from school. Meanwhile, Izumi Miyamura is seen as a brooding, glasses-wearing otaku. However, in reality, he is a gentle person inept at studying. Furthermore, he has nine piercings hidden behind his long hair and a tattoo along his back and left shoulder. By sheer chance, Hori and Miyamura cross paths outside of school—neither looking as the other expects. These seemingly polar opposites become friends, sharing with each other a side they have never shown to anyone else.

The School of Water Business is a manga series created by Shinobu Inokuma, the author of Salad Days. It is based on a novel by Hikaru Murozumi, and is set in a fictional trade-school—that focuses on the mizu shōbai—located in the Kabukichō district of Shinjuku, Tokyo. The school's focus is to give students their last chance in the school system. Classes are divided into occupations such as hostesses, hosts, "managers", "geibaa" and, finally, "soapgirls". The series is mostly a romantic comedy but also mixes in many positive messages about life, work, friendship, and other topics. The series has a sequel, 都立水商！2, with one volume published as of March 2012. Oda Mari, now a teacher at the high school, replaces Keisuke Tanabe as the focus character.

TOKYO MER is formed by order from the Governor of Tokyo. The name of the group stands for TOKYO Mobile Emergency Room. The members are emergency care professionals and they are to go to sites of dangerous accidents and disasters by ER car. Their ER car is a large vehicle equipped with the latest medical devices and an operating area. There, TOKYO MER saves lives of the injured. Kōta Kitami is a doctor for TOKYO MER and its leader. He holds a strong conviction that, regardless of the dangers, he will go to accident sites to save lives.

Onodera Yumeko may look smart on the outside, but at home, she is a complete mess in terms of housework and fashion. Yumeko is particularly clumsy in romance and always dream about her first love in high school who she still thinks is her ideal man. Somehow, Yumeko keeps experiencing trouble one after another. Her boyfriend whom she thought would propose to her ended up breaking up with her, and her junior colleague at work betrayed her. Yumeko becomes heartbroken but she suddenly meets a young man who is the spitting image of her first love and her daily life changes like a roller coaster.

Sō Utsumi doesn't have many friends. After school and before going to a private institute, he kills time by doing nothing on the riverside. One day, Shōkichi Seto appears in front of him. Shōkichi quit the soccer team and has nothing to do. They spend time together. In front of the two guys, Ichigo Kashimura and Hatsumi, from the same high school, appear.

The story tells what happened at the Oya Institute after the fight in the containers of the High and Low movie. Fujio and Tsukasa were students from Oya High School, but Fujio had to move to a school in the countryside where his grandfather lives to take care of him. While in the institute new students will try to take control.

ATHENA (アテナ) is a live action drama series based on Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life game originally broadcasted from April 7, 1998 to June 30, 1998 on TV Tokyo.[1] The series was starred Kei Ishibashi as Athena. A VHS collection including unreleased scenes was released in 6 volumes on Japan. The opening theme Lavender Dream (ラベンダドリーム), is performed by Yuki Ishii.