Best movies like Tokyo Marigold

In Edo period Japan, a lone ronin spends time in a village helping the farmers tend to their land. To keep his sword skills sharp, he spars daily with a farmer's son. Meanwhile, the nation is in the midst of major unrest with civil war on the horizon. One day, a group of outlaw ronin enters the village.

Haruna Wakagusa is a high school student who lives with her mother. Ichiro Yamada is gay and Haruna’s classmate. He is bullied at school, but Haruna sticks up for Ichiro. They become intimate and Ichiro tells Haruna his secret. He found a dead body along the riverside. A new body is soon found.

Mitsuki is shy and rather isolated at school. Towa is on the basketball team and Mitsuki's class-mate. Due to circumstances, Mitsuki soon begins to socialize with four jocks of the basketball team, which affects her self-esteem, her social status, her loneliness and her life. She finds a new lease in her school life.

Etsuro Kurosu faills getting into a university and becomes a hikikomori. One day, he tries to hang himself from a hook on the wall in his apartment. He fails, but his attempt leaves a hole in the wall. Through the hole wall, Etsuro Kurosu can now see Rio Miyaichi. He becomes fascinated with the girl that lives next door. Later, while peeping at her through the wall, Etsuro Kurosu sees her in the process of brutally murdering someone. He screams and is caught by her. Etsuro Kurosu confesses that he loves her and they start to date. Etsuro Kurosu feels happiness in his life, but what will happen to him? Will he be murdered by Rio Miyaichi?

A sex-obsessed young woman, a suicidal young man she meets on the street, a gun-crazy wannabe gangster—these are just three of the irrational, oddball anarchists trapped in an underground hideaway in Oshima’s devilish, absurdist portrait of what he deemed the “death drive” in Japanese youth culture.

Pharmaceutical student, Keiko witnesses her boyfriend having an affair. Shocked and disappointed, she jumps on a train ("destination anywhere, east or west, she don't care") and ends up in a town named Masao in Tokyo's remote suburbs. There, she gets a part-time job at a newly opened drugstore. What do ya know.. The local shopping district's middle-aged men all fall for the young girl's charms, and they start practicing lacrosse once they have found out that that's her favourite sport.

Sugihara, a Japanese-born, third-generation Korean teenager struggles to find a place in a society that will not accept him.

Yoshika has had a crush on Ichimiya, whom she calls "the One" since she was in middle school. Now, a 24-year-old salarywoman, her all-consuming fixation has prevented her from even considering another candidate for boyfriend until an office colleague asks her out.

Tsugumi Kawana (Hana Sugisaki) works at an interior design company. She happens to meet her first love Itsuki Ayukawa (Takanori Iwata) from her high school days. He is now an architect and in a wheelchair because of an accident. --asianwiki

High school student Rina has a bad attitude and thinks that friends are something that you use when you need them. She doesn't have any real relationships and is not even on good terms with her parents. Rina is the clubbing queen and could get any guy she wants with her stunning looks. One day, Rina suddenly collapses and her world falls apart. She finds out that she has cancer. The only one who starts to support her is her classmate Maki. Maki tells that they were friends in primary school even though Rina doesn't remember. Maki wants to get close to Rina and help her like Rina had helped Maki when she had hard times.

An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him, he thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home, she offers him her body. But the web that is woven between them in the space of twenty four hours bears no relation to the circumstances of their encounter.

Takatoshi Minamiyama majors in art at an university in Kyoto. On the train to the school, he sees Emi Fukuju and falls in love with her at first sight. Gathering up all his courage, he speaks to her. They begin to date and enjoy happy days together, but Emi reveals her secret to him.

A Japanophile young Belgian woman in Tokyo falls into a whirlwind romance with a Francophile Japanese student, in this charming and tender tale of young love and cultural discovery.

The year is 1987 and Japan is just reaching the peak of its economic success. Eighteen-year old Yonosuke Yokomichi arrives in Tokyo from Nagasaki. Ordinary in every way possible, he lives in a suburb far from the excitement of the big city and commutes to a university in the center of Tokyo.

Three aimless kids at a seaside high school have just one goal this summer break: to shed the virgin tag. One day, they rescue a pretty girl named Narumi by chance. Immediately smitten, Narumi makes it the summer to remember for the boys.

Aoi studies photography at a school in Tokyo. She undergoes a heart transplant operation and goes to the island of Okinawa to recover. Her uncle lives on the island. There, she holds a camera and walks along the island. Aoi hears the sound of a trumpet. She looks up and sees a young man playing the trumpet. His name is Zio.

Tsukasa got into a severe car accident when she was a high school student. She still suffers from the effects of that accident, with memory impairment and needing to use a wheelchair. Tsukasa falls in love with taxi driver Masaki. Even though they have difficulties, they try to make a happy family together, but they encounter another serious situation.

Cultures meet and values are learnt through the renovation of an inn.

Young-Ung was dumped by his girlfriend. While he is in Okinawa, Japan on a business trip, the company he works for goes bankrupt. Sakura is a single mother and works for a travel agency. She needs to learn Korean for her job. At a Korean language institute, Sakura meets Young-Ung and their romance begins.

Sato is an employee conducting a survey in front of Sendai Station. Saki takes the survey and the two ultimately become a couple. 10 years later, Sato proposes to Saki on the occasion of their 10th anniversary.

A university student finds himself wrapped up in the bizarre world of his next door neighbor, learning about his history and relationship with a girl who changed his life.

Reiko Himekawa (Yuko Takeuchi) is a female detective at the Metropolitan Police Department. Reiko doesn't come from an elite background, but she has risen fast through the ranks with hard work. Reiko than becomes involved in a murder case named "Strawberry Night" due to the mysterious use of those words surrounding the case.

Manami's mother died when she was a child. She moves to Okinawa, where her ailing aunt lives and she feels connected with her mother. Manami has always lacked self-confidence, but she becomes more positive after meeting Koa, a Vietnamese researcher following his dreams. But then Koa returns to Vietnam.

The prewar film Haha no kyoku (Mother's Melody, 1937) is known for its place in Japanese film history as one of the top three melodramas as well as for its authorship: Yamamoto Satsuo is an auteur not usually associated with filming melodramas. Yamamoto made the film right after he moved, along with his mentor Naruse Mikio, to the Toho film company. A number of subsequent postwar mother's films adopted some of its essences, making it a genre-defining moment in Japanese cinema. This great melodrama is atypical of Yamamoto's output, much of which deals with political corruption and inequities within social institutions and offers a strong anti-establishment appeal.

After being deserted by her parents, 11-year old Miyori shuts her heart from the rest of the world and denies any form of human relationships. She was entrusted in the care of her grandmother who lives near a forest. Miyori will take a walk in the forest where she felt a strong sense of loneliness in the forest which seems to have nothing. However, she soon encounters unbelievable things...

Minato is a university student and has a fear of germs. She isn't interested in looking pretty. She lives with her stepbrother Toru, who is her stepbrother from her mother's remarriage. Meanwhile, Toru is handsome and a player with the ladies. He doesn't resist women who come on to him and he doesn't stop women from leaving him either. Minato is uncomfortable with Toru and his ways with women. They are the same age and attend the same university. They have an agreement, where Toru will not approach Minato within 2 meters when they are outside. One day, due to her friend’s request, Minato puts on make-up and wears her friend’s high school uniform. While she is out walking in public, she happens to meet Toru. She unexpectedly lies to him about her identity and tells him that she is a high school student. Toru falls in love with her at first sight.

Hisashi Tanaka is a medical student in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. He does volunteer work and gets to know Yasuaki Kano at the hospital. Yasuaki Kano has suffered from muscular dystrophy since he was 12-years-old. Yasuaki Kano has his eccentric ways like running out of the hospital and saying that he wants to eat a banana late at night. Hisashi Tanaka thinks Yasuaki Kano is a lovely person. Yasuaki Kano develops a crush on rookie volunteer Misaki Ando. He asks Hisashi Tanaka to write a love letter for him, but Misaki Ando is Hisashi Tanaka’s girlfriend.

Teen romance is complicated for a boy who's secretly in love with a college girl but who's also captured the heart of a high school freshman.

Katsu (Mitsuko Baisho) is a 73-years-old woman. She often makes trouble with her biting remarks. While raising a daughter alone, Katsu was unable to live the life she wished for. One day, Katsu goes to a photo studio and takes a picture. She leaves the photo studio, but finds that she is now 20-years-old (Mikako Tabe) again. Katsu changes out of her grandmother clothes, picks out a more youthful style and names herself Setsuko Otori. Later, Katsu decides to take part in a singing contest held in a shopping district. Her singing fascinates the audience and she wins the contest. Katsu begins to move closer to her past dream of becoming a singer.

In 1980, Ayuko is a new transfer student in Okayama from Tokyo. She doesn't have any friends and relies on her boyfriend Hideo who is a college student. Ayuko likes to draw a romance manga of herself and her boyfriend. Ayuko's classmate, Takemi, becomes a huge fan of Ayuko's manga and they become close friends. Due to an incident though, they drift apart. 30 years later, Ayuko is now a manga artist and comes back to Okayama to give a lecture at her former high school. There, Ayuko meets Takemi who is now a teacher.

Life seems to be good for Shintoto, an up-and-coming rakugo artist who has just had his first sexual experience at a local brothel. Lucky for him, he gets to date the beautiful sex worker he meets that day, and a younger high school rakugo aficionado is also vying for his attention. But for clumsy, heart-on-his-sleeve Shintoto, life doesn’t stay rosy for long.

Yukina Toriyama (Tao Tsuchiya) enters a university of science after prepping for one year for her entrance exam. At first, she is shocked by the atmosphere at her school. She becomes attracted to senior student Kei (Mahiro Takasugi). Due to Kei, Yukina joins the “human powered flight” club. The club targets the "Tori Ningen Contest." Yukina wants to partner with Kei to fly in the sky, but she is partnered with Sakaba (Shotaro Mamiya) whom she does not like.

Two people meet each other after missing the last train home, leading to a beautiful relationship over five years.

To protect his family from a mysterious being, a man joins forces with a journalist and an exorcist - but they come to learn what they are dealing with is beyond their imagination.

Haruma is an up-and-coming photographer who is getting full exposure at a photo exhibition in a Tokyo photo gallery. Rei, a beautiful curator at the Yamanashi Prefectural Art Museum, is fascinated by the photos she sees and calls Haruma to request a photo-shoot with an intimate part of herself as the subject. The only rules to this shoot are that no questions must be asked and Rei will be given the negatives. Haruma is initially surprised but goes along with the job, however, Haruma’s pregnant girlfriend Natsumi grows frustrated over being kept in the dark about their work and jealousy develops in their relationship as passions blow up.

When Yasuko (Eriko Hatsune) was a child, her mother left their home. She grew up not knowing what an ordinary family is. Satoshi's (Kengo Kora) mother was the girlfriend of Yasuko's late father. One day, Satoshi appears in front of Yasuko. Since that moment, Yasuko's monotonous life begins to change.

Haruna Tsunematsu (Yuri Tsunematsu) is studying folklore at university and she decides the subject of her graduation thesis will be the "Kisaragi Station" urban legend which has been a hot topic on the Internet since 2004.

For Yasuko every day is a challenge. Due to her mental illness and hypersomnia, simple things like household chores and holding a job seem impossible. Added to the mix is an indifferent, almost distant boyfriend and an ex-girlfriend with plans to win him back.

In the Edo period of Japan, a samurai’s life belonged to his lord. On the battlefield or in the home, a loyal samurai must always obey his lord’s commands. This is the tragic story of one such loyal samurai, whose love for his family forced him to make the ultimate choice of disobeying the wishes of his lord.

Classmates Shuji and Eri becomes friends, both young people have family problems. When Eri is taken away to Tokyo by her relatives, Shuji becomes increasingly isolated at school and drifts into criminal activity.

When Chihiro was a baby, she suffered from eczema. Her parents tried to find a cure, but nothing worked. Her father's co-worker then gave him some water from a strange religious group. Chihiro was miraculously cured by the water. Her parents began to follow the strange religion and became fervent followers. Chihiro is now in the 3rd grade of middle school and she faces changes in her life.

Shinichiro Kiyama is completely alone in the world. One day, he realizes he possesses "Fortuna's Eye", an ability through which people whose death is drawing near appear transparent to him. It is a gift that torments him. Then he meets a cheerful, optimistic girl Aoi Kiryu who makes him feel at ease. Shinichiro develops feelings for her, but after a brief period of happiness, Aoi's body suddenly starts turning transparent.

Shiori has just moved to a new apartment. One evening, she hears a mysterious voice that claims to be "from the future" asking her to trail Susumu Hirano, who lives next door. Shiori in an attempt to solver the mystery began to investigating more and more about Hirano until she gets attracted to him.

“Hana-Dama”—a flower in the wasteland. This flower is a symbol of earthly desires and every human is overwhelmed by desire and their rationality collapses wherever the flower is in bloom. And even today, the “Hana-Dama” continues to blossom profusely somewhere in the world. The story is set in a film theater, the facility keeps on closing one after another during recent years. The last day has come to a film theater which has been maintained by a film-loving owner, the staff, and their unique audiences. The symbol of human desire, “Hana-Dama,” blossoms at the theater and instigates people’s erratic behavior. Upon facing its closure, tremendous chaos that will be noted in the history of Japanese film takes place within this film theater.

There is a man who has many sex slaves. Another man offers his wife as a sex slave to him and the slave owner agrees. He adds the man's wife to his stable. Alas, the husband comes to reverse his decision and takes his wife back. The reversal of the arrangement causes trauma.

A young and newly-married couple in Tokyo lives a hard life moving repeatedly because of their unfamiliar relationships with their surroundings.

27-year-old Sakumi Shimura lost the last 10 years of her memory from a car accident. Sakumi can only remember events up to when she was 17-years-old, but she accepts her fate and tries to stay positive. Nevertheless, Sakumi is bothered by the loss of her memory. She tries to remember with the help of Yoshihiko, who thinks of himself as her boyfriend and her friend from their high school days.

Having failed with his business and gone absolutely penniless, Masao (45) divorced with his wife, and is currently leading a hopeless life in Ibaraki. One day, a mysterious high school girl, going by the name Emiko, showed up before Masao. Every now and then, Masao would be toyed around by Emiko, but little by little he started taking a liking to her loveliness. As days went by, Masao started opening up to Emiko – something that he rarely did to others. However, there was just something about Emiko – something that bothered Masao - that wouldn’t go away.

Natsuko Kotani was born to be a swindler. Meanwhile, Tetsuko Ishida is Natsuko’s distant relative. Unlike Natsuko, Tetsuko is an attorney with an upright disposition. Whenever Natsuko makes trouble, Tetsuko is called to solve her troubles. Believing that Natsuko is using her, Tetsuko, with her boring life, begins to change.