Movies Similar to Not in Textbooks 4

Makoto-chan(1980)

A series of interconnected vignettes regarding Makoto Sawada, an energetic yet socially inept kindergartner, and his long-suffering family. Makoto strives to receive the title of his school's "Best Child" award, resulting in chaos and misunderstandings wherever he goes.

8.0

Hideko the Bus Conductress(1941)

Okoma, a witty young woman working as a conductor in an old, rickety bus in Kōfu, Yamanashi (rural Japan), has a creative idea that could avert the dwindling number of passengers when her job and the bus company itself are at stake.

7.0

Chat Noir Lucy(2012)

Middle-aged man Ken Kamoshida is a fortune teller and his life revolves around superstitions. Since he and his wife separated, Ken Kamoshida's life has been messy. One day, he comes across 2 black kittens which represents a symbol for misfortune. He has difficulty in raising the kittens, but he uses the kittens to help read the fortunes of others. In the process, he discovers what's really important to him.

6.0

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy(2021)

An unexpected love triangle, a seduction trap, and a random encounter are the three episodes, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.

7.2

Seven Samurai(1954)

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

8.5

In the Wake(2021)

Baffling serial killings unfold in which the victims are tied up and left to starve. Tone was just released from prison after finishing his sentence for another crime, and he surfaces as a suspect but detective Tomashiro can't nail down conclusive proof.

7.1

Kamen Rider SD: Strange?! Kumo Otoko(1993)

"Kamen Rider SD: Strange!? Kumo Otoko" is an animated OVA based on the gag manga Kamen Rider SD: Hurricane Legend. This cute and comedic short movie features chibi versions of the Showa Era Kamen Riders, as they team up against the evil GranShocker organization, while Kamen Rider Black RX tries to confess his love to female sports instructor Michiru.

6.6

The Third Murder(2017)

A lawyer tasked with defending a robbery-and-murder suspect begins developing doubts about what truly happened.

6.6

Shinjuku Swan(2015)

Shiratori Tatsuhiko works as a scout for Burst, a talent agency in Kabukichō, Shinjuku's red light district. In a business where money means everything Tatsuhiko finds himself in a constant struggle between rival talent scouts and the yakuza.

5.6

The Girl from the Other Side(2023)

Once upon a time, in a far, faraway place, there were two lands. The world was divided into an inner land and an outer land. People feared the outer land, inhabited by eerie beings, the carriers of curse. One day, on the border to the inner land inhabited by humans, one such being finds a girl on heaps of abandoned dead bodies. The girl says her name is Shiva and shows affection to the "being" who found her, calling him "Teacher." This is a story of two people—one human, one inhuman—who linger in the hazy twilight that separates night from day.

7.0

The Hidden Fortress(1958)

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

8.0

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade(1999)

A member of an elite paramilitary counter-terrorism unit becomes traumatized after witnessing the suicide bombing of a young girl and is forced to undergo retraining. However, unbeknownst to him, he becomes a key player in a dispute between rival police divisions, as he finds himself increasingly involved with the sister of the girl he saw die.

7.4

The Bridge on the River Kwai(1957)

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

7.8

Dolls(2002)

Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.

7.6

ReLIFE(2017)

Arata Kaizaki, a jobless adult, undergoes an experiment that makes him 10 years younger. He goes back to high school and falls in love with Chizuru Hishiro, who is more than she seems.

7.6

Oldboy(2003)

With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.

8.3

Memoirs of a Geisha(2005)

In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.

7.7

The Pledge to Megumi(2021)

A film depicting the story of Yokota Megumi who was abducted by North Korean agents in 1977.

7.3

Kikujiro(1999)

Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro is the unlikely companion for Masao who is determined to see the mother he has never met. The two begin a series of adventures which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and unique characters along the way.

7.5

Student Council Staff Members Movie(2017)

The work of Ousai Private Academy's student council is never done. This time, Takatoshi, Shino, Aria and Suzu are back with their very own movie! From TV interviews to a new teacher, there's even more potential for misunderstandings as the double entendres, innuendos and euphemisms reach critical mass.

6.7