Movies like Grave of the Fireflies: 20 to watch next
If you loved Grave of the Fireflies (2005) — a drama film directed by Tōya Satō — these 20 movies are the closest matches.
The first picks are what fans of Grave of the Fireflies most often go on to watch; the rest share its genres and themes like world war ii, single mother and brother sister . 6 of them are streaming in India right now — each entry shows where.
Where to watch Grave of the Fireflies →·Get picks for your whole taste →
- 1
Tokyo Twilight 1957★ 7.7
Shares: Drama
Two sisters learn about the existence of their long-lost biological mother, but the younger is unable to accept the fact that she was abandoned as a child.
Stream in India on Plex
- 2
Kabei: Our Mother 2008★ 7.6
Shares: Drama
Set in Tokyo in 1940, the peaceful life of the Nogami Family suddenly changes when the father, Shigeru, is arrested and accused of being a Communist. His wife Kayo works frantically from morning to night to maintain the household and bring up her two daughters with the support of Shigeru's sister Hisako and Shigeru's ex-student Yamazaki, but her husband does not return. WWII breaks out and casts dark shadows on the entire country, but Kayo still tries to keep her cheerful determination, and sustain the family with her love. This is an emotional drama of a mother and an eternal message for peace.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 3
Rhapsody in August 1991★ 7.2
Shares: Drama
An elderly Nagasaki hibakusha spends a summer caring for her four grandchildren, whose curiosity about the 1945 bombing stirs buried memories and moral questions. When an American nephew from Hawaii visits, the family confronts grief, guilt, and the possibility of reconciliation across generations.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 4
Nobody Knows 2004★ 8.0
Shares: Drama
In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 5
Late Spring 1949★ 8.0
Shares: Drama
Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.
Stream in India on Plex
- 6
Black Rain 1989★ 7.6
Shares: Drama
Shigematsu Shizuma, who lives with his family in a village near Fukuyama, was in Hiroshima with his wife and niece just after the devastating atomic bombing, a tragedy that cruelly took the lives of thousands of people and forever marked the harsh existence of the survivors.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 7
Shoplifters 2018★ 7.8
Shares: Drama
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 8
Eureka 2001★ 7.8
Shares: Drama
In rural Japan, the survivors of a tragedy converge and attempt to overcome their damaged selves, all while a serial killer is on the loose.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 9
Early Summer 1951★ 7.9
Shares: Drama
In postwar Tokyo, Noriko lives with her extended family. Although she enjoys her career and her social life, her more traditional family worries about her single marital status at the advanced age of 28. 40-year-old business associate Takako proposes, Noriko's family press her into accepting, but when her widowed childhood friend Kenkichi returns to the neighborhood, she finds her heart leading in another direction.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 10
The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice 1952★ 7.6
Shares: Drama
The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet rustic man is tested by a marital crisis.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 11
In This Corner of the World 2016★ 7.9
Shares: Drama
Japan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at home. Inhabited by an ancestral wisdom, Suzu impregnates the simple gestures of everyday life with poetry and beauty. The many hardships, the loss of loved ones, the frequent air raids of the enemy, nothing alters her enthusiasm…
Stream in India on Crunchyroll, Sony Liv, Crunchyroll Amazon Channel
- 12
Maborosi 1995★ 7.5
Shares: Drama
A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 13
Twenty-Four Eyes 1954★ 7.7
Shares: Drama
From 1928 to 1946, the lives of 12 young people and their school teacher in a poor Japanese village are profoundly affected by historical events and personal circumstances.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 14
The Only Son 1936★ 7.4
Shares: Drama
A rural widow sends her only son to Tokyo to receive a better education. Years later, she visits him and finds he has become a night school teacher struggling to support his wife and son.
Stream in India on Plex
- 15
Tokyo Story 1953★ 8.1
Shares: Drama
The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.
Stream in India on Tubi TV, Plex
- 16
Defiance 2008★ 6.8
Shares: Drama
Based on a true story, during World War II, four Jewish brothers escape their Nazi-occupied homeland of West Belarus in Poland and join the Soviet partisans to combat the Nazis. The brothers begin the rescue of roughly 1,200 Jews still trapped in the ghettos of Poland.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 17
LOLA 2023★ 6.4
Shares: Drama
Sussex, England, 1938. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Thomasina and Martha Hanbury, two ingenious sisters, create LOLA, a miraculous machine.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 18
MOTHER 2020★ 7.0
Shares: Drama
Shuhei is leading a tough life. His alcoholic mother Akiko can only hook up with bad guys and order Shuhei to go get money from his disapproving grandparents instead of going to school. Except raising the little half-sister, his rock-bottom life seems to have no end.
Stream in India on Netflix
- 19
Brother 2000★ 7.1
Shares: Drama
A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 20
I Live in Fear 1955★ 7.3
Shares: Drama
An aging foundry patriarch, gripped by terror of nuclear annihilation, tries to uproot his family to Brazil. When they petition to have him declared incompetent, a family-court counselor witnesses his obsession slide into ruin—and asks whether ignoring the atomic threat is any saner.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now