Best movies & TV Shows like Yawara!

Yawara helps a group of timid grade school kids overcome their fears and compete in a judo competition.

Takagi and Nishikata are in their final year of middle school, and have both anxiety and hope for the future. During the summer of their final year, on the day before summer vacation starts, the two find a kitten that they name Hana. They decide to take care of the kitten themselves until they can find its mother.

Ikaros is an Angeloid and falls out of the sky. Tomoki Sakurai is a boy who believes the most important thing is to live a peaceful life. The two live tougher. Tomoki Sakurai has never seen Ikaros smile. Tomoki Sakurai sees Nymph and Astraea laugh after they got free from the master’s rule. He hopes Ikaros can laugh like an ordinary girl. This movie wraps up the story of Tomoki Sakurai and his relationship with the Angeloid from the sky, Ikaros.

Yawara Inokuma competes for Japan in the Atlanta Olympic Games as she meets with several familiar faces throughout the tournament.

Hikaru Shindō is just a normal 12-year-old boy, but one day he's rummaging through his grandfather's things to see if he can find something to sell and pulls out an old go board. A ghostly apparition appears out of the board and tells Hikaru his sad story. His name is Fujiwara no Sai, a man who was a go instructor to the emperor of Japan a thousand years ago. However, because of the bad sportsmanship of his opponent during a game, Sai was accused of cheating and banished from the city. With no livelihood or any other reason to live, Sai committed suicide by drowning himself. Now, he haunts a go board, and wants to accomplish the perfect go game, called the "Hand of God" which he hopes to do through Hikaru. If Hikaru will be able to do it or not (or even wants to) will have to be seen.

Ousai Academy is a former all-girls private high school which has recently been integrated for both genders. Takatoshi Tsuda is pushed into becoming the vice-president of the student council, where he is the lone male member surrounded by three beautiful girls.

Saku Oyagi returns to his old hometown in order to start school at Soei High School. On the first day, he runs into an old childhood friend: a second year named Mihoshi Akeno. As children, the two used to play together, with Mihoshi, or Mii-chan, being extremely fond of astronomy. After convincing Saku to join the school's astronomy club, another girl, Hime Makita, joins the club in hopes of winning over Saku. This is the story of the 6 club members of the Soei High School Astronomy Club as they soar through their lives, each maturing and changing their outlooks on life.

Chihaya Ayase has spent most of her life supporting her sister’s model career. When she meets a boy named Arata Wataya, he thinks Chihaya has potential to become a great karuta player. As Chihaya dreams of becoming Japan's best karuta player, she is soon separated from her karuta playing friends. Now in high school, Chihaya still plays karuta in the hope that she will one day meet her friends again.

Tamako is just a normal young girl whose family has been making mochi for generations. As her birthday approaches, she happens to meet a talking bird who claims to be a royal court attendant looking for a bride for his master. After the encounter, Dera the bird decides to stay around her and becomes a part of Tamako's life and the neighborhood that she lives in.

Yamato Akitsuki travels to Tokyo alone to study in one of the high schools located within the area. He lives in with his aunt who operates a public bath solely for the ladies in the local district and begins his normal high-school life. One day, he chances upon a girl in school and is immediately mesmerized by her beauty. He is shocked when he realizes later that the girl, Suzuka, is actually living next door to him. From then on, Yamato's ordinary life begins to change little by little.

Follow the adventures of three ordinary girls as they make life’s awkward moments a thousand times worse. Along with a colorful bunch of classmates, they learn their most important lessons the hard way. Meanwhile down the street, a pocket-sized professor makes life difficult for a robot who just wants to be normal. But normal is the last thing you can expect in a town where salmon falls from the sky. In fact, the only thing you can count on is your friends, but even they are totally weird.

What does it take to become the ultimate volleyball player? The smash hit manga spikes its way onto the TV screen for the first time! A smash hit manga spikes its way onto the TV screen for the first time! Kozue, a positive and cheerful high school girl devotes her entire energy toward her school volleyball team. Extremely severe practices designed by the strict head coach Inokuma, highly competitive matches against the toughest top players, friendships and rivalry among teammates with strong characters.... Can Kozue's genuine love toward volleyball make the impossible come true? --TV Asahi

Koichi Kawato is the new Japanese Literature teacher at the ill-famed Futakotamagawa high school, whose baseball club is composed of thugs and bullies who have been suspended for a year from all school competitions, for causing a brawl during an official match. The newly appointed teacher finds that the club members left are only interested in women, smoking and doing nothing until, under Kawato's guidance, they discover their dream of going to the Koshien high school baseball tournament. However, the road to Koshien is far from easy as many obstacles await them.

Aoi prefers indoor hobbies and is afraid of heights, but her childhood friend Hinata loves to show off her passion for mountain climbing. As young children they once watched the sunrise from the top of a mountain, and now they've decided to take up mountain climbing in hopes of seeing that sunrise again. They have cooking battles with mountaineering gear, climb small hills in their neighborhood, and meet new mountaineering friends as they learn the ropes of the hobby. When will they finally see that sunrise again?

Yuugo Hachiken enrolled in Ooezo Agricultural High School for the reason that he could live in a dorm there. In some ways he chose Ooezo in an effort to escape the highly competitive prep schools he had attended previously, but he was faced with an entirely new set of difficulties at Oezo, surrounded by animals and Mother Nature. After growing up in an average family, he began to encounter clubs and training the likes of which he had never seen before.

Being just a normal student without a special talent, Makoto Naegi wins a lottery to attend the prestigious Hope's Peak Academy where only the top prodigies attend. However, instead of this being the beginning of a wonderful high school life, it's a ticket to despair, because the only way to graduate from Hope's Peak Academy is to kill one of your fellow students or be one of their victims.

A superhero-admiring boy without any powers enrolls in a prestigious hero academy and learns what it really means to be a hero.

When a stray black cat named Kuro crosses Mahiru Shirota's path, the high school freshman's life will never be the same again. Kuro is, in fact, no ordinary feline, but a servamp: a servant vampire. While Mahiru's personal philosophy is one of non-intervention, he soon becomes embroiled in an ancient, altogether surreal conflict between vampires and humans.

Shigeo Kageyama, a.k.a. "Mob," is a boy who has trouble expressing himself, but who happens to be a powerful esper. Mob is determined to live a normal life and keeps his ESP suppressed, but when his emotions surge to a level of 100%, something terrible happens to him! As he's surrounded by false espers, evil spirits, and mysterious organizations, what will Mob think? What choices will he make?

Set six years prior to the events of Barakamon, detailing the life of Seishuu Handa as a high school student—and a very interesting life it is. In Handa-kun, Seishuu Handa is admired by his peers as a calligraphy genius and given the utmost respect, but Handa-kun himself is under the mistaken impression that the deference and attention he receives from the other students is actually bullying. Handa just wants to live a quiet life, but hilarity ensues as one character after another challenges his position as the school idol, and somehow comes away as a fan all while Handa is horrified and clueless.

Lu Shuiyin (Riku Suigin in Japanese) is a master of gaming, a skill only known to his classmate Lu Lian (Riku Lin in Japanese). One day, Shuiyin receives a device from Lu Lian for a tomb raiding online game. While Shuiyin is excited to receive the device, Lian is suddenly kidnapped. Shuiyin touches the device that was left behind, pulling him inside the game and trapping him there. What is the imaginary world inside the device? What will Shuiyin find there? It is a world where two groups of people fight over the power of the gods, which originates from the tomb the mother goddess Pangu (Bango in Japanese). The two groups are the tomb raiders and the tomb protectors. The device Shuiyin received from Lian is called the Monolith, and it allows a normal gamer to go near the tomb. The tomb raiding group plans its attack by recruiting common people in the name of gaming. Shuiyin, as the final tomb protector, must fight against the raiders in order to save Lian.

An inconspicuous middle school psychic confronts an organization plotting to use other psychics to rule the world. Based on the hit manga.

Koizumi is a mysterious and attractive high school student. But what most people don't know about her is that she's a ramen master who is always on the lookout for great ramen restaurants. Everyday, she goes hunting for real-life places serving the best ramen dishes and delightfully eats the delicious noodles. The way Koizumi downs a giant bowl of ramen–more adeptly than any large man–will amaze and delight you!

Tsutsui Hikari (a.k.a "Tsuttsun") is a high school student who is content with his virtual life of anime and video games. One day, he gets stuck cleaning the pool with Iroha, a real live girl who is stylish, sassy and known to be easy with boys ... and she aggressively approaches him! Tsuttsun, who has few friends and lives in his own world, finds himself smitten by the confident and wild Iroha ... and his whole world is turned upside down!! It's the awkward and pure love story of a boy who experiences relationship for the first time.

Because of the legend left by Tatsuya Uesugi, Meisei Academy High School was well-known for their strong baseball team. But 26 years after their glory, the team has not been able to keep their record and has since lost their fame. Two stepbrothers, Souichirou and Touma Tachibana, aim to revive of the once-strong Meisei Academy baseball team and enter the National High School Baseball Championship. Souichirou and Touma are second years in Meisei Academy Middle School. Both boys are talented baseball players. Souichirou has shown excellent skill as a catcher and batter. Though having an extraordinary skill as a pitcher, Touma no longer pitches due to a certain reason. Once the two enter high school, they pair as a battery and aim to enter the National High School Baseball Championship!

Ashito Aoi is a young, aspiring soccer player from a backwater town in Japan. His hopes of getting into a high school with a good soccer club are dashed when he causes an incident during a critical match for his team, which results in their loss and elimination from the tournament. Nevertheless, he catches the eye of someone important who happened to be visiting from Tokyo. How will things turn out for Ashito?

Wakana Gojo is a high school boy who wants to become a kashirashi--a master craftsman who makes traditional Japanese Hina dolls. Though he's gung-ho about the craft, he knows nothing about the latest trends, and has a hard time fitting in with his class. The popular kids--especially one girl, Marin Kitagawa--seem like they live in a completely different world. That all changes one day, when she shares an unexpected secret with him, and their completely different worlds collide.

Determined to climb up the social ladder, Mary Saotome invests everything she has into what her elite high school values most: high stakes gambling.

Atsushi Kamiya is a former captain at Kakegawa High School and the world-renowned "courageous captain" for a famous Italian soccer team. Hideto Tsuji, a student at Kakegawa High School seems uninterested in the now-weakened soccer team. Their meeting is the start of a new legend.

After one last tournament and an embarrassing loss in the final round, Michi decides to call it quits on the sport of judo. Between high school social activities and entrance exams, she’ll have no time to compete in the martial art she loves most, but putting aside old hobbies is a normal part of growing up. Still, the love of judo lingers—and it comes back full force when she meets her new classmate Towa, the girl who bested Michi in her final match! Towa wants to form a judo club at their school, but she’ll need new members to get it up and running. United by their love of judo, they’ll throw in their passions into the ring together and score ippon again!

Born in a family of delinquents, Nanba Tsuyoshi is expected to succeed as the strongest delinquent in school. Unbeknownst to his family however, he decides to enroll in the top high school in town to live as a normal high schooler. Can he maintain his double life as the strongest delinquent in town and as a normal high schooler?

Isaku just wants to live a normal life. But as the granddaughter of a yakuza boss, that’s a pretty tall order. For years, it’s been difficult for Isaku to make friends and find love. So, she decides to enroll in a high school far from her hometown in hopes of a fresh start. But her plans take an unexpected turn when a worried member of the yakuza, Keiya, enrolls in the same school to protect her.

This is the story of a maid who is all alone in the world, but who finally finds a family. Told from young that her only worth is as a killer, Yuki had known nothing else except cold efficiency and following orders. Now that she has a chance to leave her past behind, she arrives at the doorstep of Hitoyoshi Yokoya, asking to be employed… as a maid?! Thus begins the journey of a former assassin learning what it means to be ‘normal’!

Yawara Inokuma is a girl who aspires to an ordinary life but due to her innate talent is forced to practice judo by her authoritarian grandfather, Jigorou Inokuma, with the aim of achieving the championship in Japan and the gold medal in the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. Because of the pressure from her grandfather she has a generally bad attitude about judo, avoiding it as much as she can. However, over time she comes to understand why her grandfather loves judo and appreciates it more.