Best movies like Yellow Elephant
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Married couple Aiko Tsumari and Ayumu Muko live a happy and peaceful life. Aiko is bit naive, while Ayumu works as a not so popular novelist. One day, a letter arrives for Ayumu. Because of this letter, the couple become estranged.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 245
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: romantic, uplifting
Best tv shows and movies like Yellow Elephant (2013):
Similar in 81%
I Have To Buy New Shoes (2012)
Plot Summary:
Freelance writer Aoi Teshigahara (Miho Nakayama) lives in Paris, France. Sen Yagami (Osamu Mukai) is a photographer who came to Paris, France due to his younger sister Suzume's (Mirei Kiritani) insistance. Over the next 3 days, Aoi Teshigahara and Sen Yagami fall in love. Meanwhile, Suzume meets her boyfriend Kango (Gou Ayano), whom they have been in a long distance relationship.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 365
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: romantic, romantic comedy
Similar in 84%
Piece of Cake (2015)
Plot Summary:
Shino Umemiya readily dates guys interested in her, because she believes that's better than being alone. She breaks up with her violent boyfriend after he discovered that she cheated on him. She moves to a new area to get a fresh new start on her life. There, Shino Umemiya meets her neighbor Kyoshiro Sugahara. He is also her manager at her new job. Shino Umemiya becomes interested in him, but he lives with mysterious woman Akari.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 162
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: exciting, romantic, captivating, disturbing, manga, talky, intense, crying
Similar in 83%
Virgin Snow (2007)
Plot Summary:
Min is a Korean boy moves to Japan with his father who is a potter. One day at a local shrine, he meets Nanae, a beautiful Japanese girl with stunning eyes who is aspiring to be a painter. Min falls in love at first sight and finds out that Nanae attends the school to which he has just transferred. Their friendship develops fast despite their cultural and language difference. When Min's grandmother falls ill, Min returns to Korea and Nanae is nowhere to be found. Had his true feelings for Nanae not been apparent to her? Why has Nanae disappeared without a word?.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 960
Genere: Romance
Country: Japan, South Korea
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sentimental, psychological, captivating, romantic, sweet, romantic comedy, touching, serious
Similar in 81%
Your eyes tell (2020)
Plot Summary:
A tragic accident lead to Kaori's blindness, but she clings to life and the smaller pleasures it can still afford her. She meets Rui and begins to talk to him. Rui was once a promising kickboxer, but something happened in his past. Kaori's smile brings out a change in Rui. However, the two are connected in more than one way. Rui attempts to do what is right.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, atmospheric, emotional, melancholic, talky, crying
Similar in 85%
Halfway (2009)
Plot Summary:
In this high school romance Hiro is dismayed to learn her new love Shu will be going away to college in Tokyo. She asks him not to go.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 442
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: romantic, crying
Similar in 77%
Two in the Shadow (1967)
Plot Summary:
A man is involved in a fatal car accident, and though he is blameless, his company transfers him to a remote branch in a small town. Before he leaves, he gives the man's widow a large sum of money that she uses to move back to her hometown.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: romantic drama, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Clover (2014)
Plot Summary:
Saya Suzuki (Emi Takei) is an ordinary employee working at a hotel. She falls in love with her elite boss Susumu Tsuge (Tadayoshi Okura). Through their romance, Saya Suzuki grows as a person.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 245
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: romantic, captivating, shoujo, entertaining
Similar in 89%
Rainbow Song (2006)
Plot Summary:
Tomoya Kishida (Hayato Ichihara) is working as a staffer in a television studio when he hears about the death of his close friend, Aoi Sato (Juri Ueno). This sparks his recollection of the events in life they shared from meeting at a record store, shooting a short film as part of their university film club, to saying their last goodbyes. Though in love with each other, neither had the courage to confess their feelings before it was too late.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: romantic, light, touching, feel good, sweet, captivating, entertaining, sad, romantic drama, crying
Similar in 87%
The 8-Year Engagement (2017)
Plot Summary:
Hisashi and Mai are a happy couple in their 20s who are engaged to be married. But three months before their wedding, Mai becomes seriously ill. Her heart stops momentarily, and she falls into a deep coma. Hisashi visits Mai at the hospital every day before work. With no idea if or when she will ever awake, Mai’s parents encourage Hisashi to find someone else, but he refuses to give up and continues to pray for her recovery. As if his prayers are answered, Mai begins to regain consciousness several years later, and even utters a few words. But tragically, she has suffered brain damage and has no memory of Hisashi.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, sincere, serious, romantic drama, crying, humorous, fun
Similar in 77%
Hanamizuki (2010)
Plot Summary:
Sae (Yui Aragaki) is a high school student who is studying hard for her college entrance exams. She lost her father when she was very young and so lives with her mother Ryoko (Hiroko Yakushimaru) in Hokkaido, Japan. Her father Kemimichi (Arata) once planted a dogwood tree in their garden after he found out he had a terminal disease and could not watch Sae grow up. She hopes to enter a university in Tokyo. She then meets Kouhei (Toma Ikuta), who attends a specialized high school teaching fishery. He hopes to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather as a fisherman. These two young people meet and have a long distance relationship. Although their love is strong it does not last. 10 years later these two people have a miracle.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: romantic, shoujo, sentimental, sincere, touching, romantic drama, crying, allegory, thinking
Similar in 82%
Perfect World (2018)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 167
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, crying
Similar in 82%
Colors of Wind (2017)
Plot Summary:
Yuri leaves Ryo with mysterious words. Ryo goes to Hokkaido knowing that his doppelganger magician is missing. Ryo realizes Yuri was also the magician’s lover and he learns magic. The story that crosses over two identities, illusion and magic.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 198
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 83%
My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday (2016)
Plot Summary:
Takatoshi Minamiyama (Sota Fukushi) majors in art at an university in Kyoto. On the train to the school, he sees Emi Fukuju (Nana Komatsu) 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.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, sentimental, light, romantic, emotional, sad, mind blowing, romantic drama, crying
Similar in 89%
Norwegian Wood (2010)
Plot Summary:
Set in the 1960's, high school student Toru Watanabe loses his only friend Kizuki after he commits suicide. Toru, now looking for a new life, enters a university in Tokyo. By chance, Toru meets Kizuki's ex-girlfriend Naoko in the university. They grow close because they both share the same loss. As Toru and Naoko grow even closer, Naoko's sense of loss also grows. After Naoko's 20th birthday, she leaves for a sanitarium in Kyoto. Watanabe, devastated by the situation, meets pure-hearted Midori during the spring semester. Midori looks like a small animal that just came into the world.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: romantic, enigmatic, melancholic, visually appealing, artsy, sentimental, visually stunning, thought provoking, touching, sweet
Similar in 86%
Chronicle of My Mother (2011)
Plot Summary:
Best-selling novelist Kosaku Igami has made a career out of using his family as fodder for his novels, much to their dismay. When his mother, the spirited family matriarch, is diagnosed with dementia, Igami must come to terms with the toll his own behavior has taken on his increasingly distant family and resolve his own long-simmering resentments. Evocative of classic Ozu, this gorgeously wrought epic family portrait explores the tenderness and trappings of familial bonds. (Chicago International Film Festival).
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 482
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, semi autobiographical, crying, entertaining
Similar in 78%
We Were There: First Love (2012)
Plot Summary:
"We Were There" follows the 10 year romance between Motoharu Yano (Toma Ikuta) & Nanami Takahashi (Yuriko Yoshitaka). During their high school days, Motoharu Yano was the most popular boy in school, but can't get over the death of his girlfriend from a car crash. Nanami Takahashi falls in love with Motoharu Yano and must deal with his inability to let go of the past.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 694
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, romantic, serious, shoujo, anime
Similar in 88%
Fag Hag (1992)
Plot Summary:
A straight young woman living in Tokyo becomes involved in the lives of a gay man and his married lover.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 221
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: crying, weeping
Similar in 82%
Kabukicho Love Hotel (2014)
Plot Summary:
This erotically charged drama from Japanese director Ryuichi Hiroki (Vibrator) traces the intersecting stories of a group of employees and visitors at a notorious "love hotel" in Tokyo's red-light district.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 835
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: serious, sentimental, realistic, sexual, sincere, captivating, romantic, sexy, anthology, detective
Similar in 90%
A Story of Yonosuke (2012)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 160 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, tense, captivating, independent film, crying
Similar in 85%
Orange (2015)
Plot Summary:
Naho Takamiya is a 2nd year high school student. During the spring, Naho Takamiya receives a letter sent by herself from 10 years in the future. In the letter, she liked transfer student Kakeru Naruse. Kakeru Naruse carried emotional scars from his mother's suicide and he died one year later. 26-years-old Naho Takamiya thinks about Kakeru Naruse often. 2nd year high school student Naho Takamiya, with the knowledge of what she feels 10 years in the future, takes action to change her future.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: sexy, romantic, shoujo, psychological, unusual plot structure, humorous, contemplative, manga, cerebral
Similar in 81%
Drowning Love (2016)
Plot Summary:
Natsume Mochizuki works as a teen model in Tokyo, but she learns that she has to move to her father's hometown of Ukigumo. She is in a desperate situation because she can't do the things she wants to do in Ukigumo. One day, she meets Koichiro Hasegawa. He is the successor of the Hasegawa family. His family is wealthy and is respected in the area. Natsume Mochizuki and Koichiro Hasegawa become attracted to each other, but something changes their fate.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, psychological, uplifting, disturbing, sweet, shoujo, romantic drama, sexy
Similar in 84%
Nana (2005)
Plot Summary:
Based on the popular manga, this follows the adventures of two girls named Nana who depend on each other's help to realize their dreams. The two meet on a train to Tokyo, where Nana K. aims to reunite with her boyfriend and Nana O. hopes to make it big in the music business. Despite their differences, the pair hit it off and become roommates.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, shoujo, sweet, manga, gothic, semi serious, hot
Similar in 84%
From Me To You (2010)
Plot Summary:
Sawako Kuronuma, called Sadako by her classmates for her resemblance to the character from Ring, has always been feared and misunderstood because of her appearance. There are rumors that Sawako can see ghosts and curse people. However, despite her appearances, she is a sweet and timid girl who longs to be able to make friends with everyone and be liked by everyone else. When her idol, popular boy Kazehaya, begins talking with her, everything changes. She finds herself in a new world, trying to make friends and talking to different people and she can't thank Kazehaya enough for giving her these opportunities. Slowly, but surely, a sweet love is blossoming between the two as they will overtake any circumstance or clear obstacles in their way.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: shoujo, sentimental, psychological, sweet, captivating, romantic, dorama, manga, anime, romantic drama
Similar in 89%
Strobe Edge (2015)
Plot Summary:
Ninako Kinoshita has never been in love until an encounter with the school's most popular boy, Ren Ichinose, leads the two to befriending each other. Ren's patient and kind personality is a far cry from his unapproachable idol status at school, and soon Ninako falls in love with him. However, she must cope with the fact that he already has a long-time girlfriend.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 952
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: shoujo, psychological, captivating, disturbing, romantic, romantic drama
Similar in 75%
A Flower Aflame (2016)
Plot Summary:
When Sonoko enters a traditional Japanese arranged marriage with Amamiya facilitated by her parents the resulting union is loveless including the functional and goal-oriented sex.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 134
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: romantic, captivating, entertaining
Similar in 81%
Say 'I Love You' (2014)
Plot Summary:
Mei Tachibana is a high school student. Due to a traumatic incident when she was a kid, Mei has been unable to make friends or have boyfriends. By mistake, Mei then injures the most popular male student named Yamato Kurosawa. Somehow, Yamato Kurosawa likes Mei Tachibana and tells everyone unilaterally that Mei is his friend. One day, Yamato Kurosawa saves Mei Tachibana from a stalker by kissing her. From that kiss, their love story begins.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sexy, anime, light, sincere, shoujo, touching, captivating, romantic, romantic drama
Similar in 81%
Be with You (2004)
Plot Summary:
When two souls find one another, nothing can tear them apart. Widower Takumi (Shido Nakamura) lives a quiet life with his six-year-old son Yuji (Akashi Takei) after the loss of wife and mother Mio (Yuko Takeuchi). Yuji unfailingly remembers her promise to him: "I'll be with you again in a year's time, when the rains come." On the first anniversary of her passing, Takumi and Yuji are taking a walk in the woods when they come across a woman sheltering from a monsoon downpour. She bears an uncanny resemblance to Mio, but has no recollection of who she is or what she is doing there. Family life resumes from where they left off, while Takumi and Mio's memories of their first encounter in high school come flooding back. However, their new life together is interrupted by the discovery of Mio's old diary, which reveals the secrets of her past and how they must say goodbye once more in six weeks' time.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, romantic, sincere, enigmatic, sad, romantic drama, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Love Letter (1995)
Plot Summary:
When exchanging letters two women discover new things about a deceased man they used to know.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: romantic, retro, feel good, sweet, epic, art house, independent film, anamorphic, romantic drama, psychological
Similar in 75%
Heavenly Forest (2006)
Plot Summary:
The story begins with Makoto Segawa, a freshman at Meikei University. On the day of his university entrance ceremony, Makoto meets a fresh-faced, quirky girl named Shizuru. Makoto has a complex which causes him to shy away from contact with other people, but she succeeds in getting him to open up to her naturally. All Shizuru wants is to be with Makoto, so she takes up a camera too. The two spend their days together taking photos in the forest behind the campus. However, Makoto has feelings for another student named Miyuki. Shizuru decides that if Makoto likes Miyuki, she wants to like her too. She wants to like everything that he does. One day, she tells Makoto that she wants to take a photo of them kissing in the forest as a present for 'her birthday'. He obliges for her sake, and they kiss in the forest.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, romantic, sad, shoujo, romantic drama
Similar in 84%
All My Life (2020)
Plot Summary:
A couple's wedding plans are thrown off course when the groom is diagnosed with liver cancer.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, China
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: romantic, heartbreaking, sentimental, touching, captivating, compassionate, tear jerker, freeze frame, tearjerker