40 Movies Like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) You Need to Watch Next
Updated August 2026
View The Girl Who Leapt Through Time details →If you loved The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) by Mamoru Hosoda, here are 40 movies that share its content DNA. iRankMovies measures real similarity using cosine similarity across eight weighted dimensions — genre (50%), tone (12%), pace (10%), structure (8%), era (7%), theme (6%), audience (4%) and narrative perspective (3%) — not just the rating. The closest matches according to our analysis are Stand by Me Doraemon, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth. Every title is ranked by how closely it matches and backed by the iRank Score, a composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb across 12,000+ analysed titles.
The Best Movies Similar to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Selected for their real similarity in content, these are the movies that share the most with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in terms of theme, narrative tone, and cinematic style. Every recommendation goes beyond genre — we evaluate the type of conflict, pacing, dramatic context, and the experience they create for viewers.
Stand by Me Doraemon
2014 · Takashi Yamazaki
Sewashi and Doraemon find themselves way back in time and meet Nobita. It is up to Doraemon to take care of Nobita or else he will not return to the present.
In common: Animation · Drama
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
1997 · Hideaki Anno
SEELE orders an all-out attack on NERV, aiming to destroy the Evas before Gendo can advance his own plans for the Human Instrumentality Project. Shinji is pushed to the limits of his sanity as he is f
In common: Animation · Drama · Fantasy
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth
1997 · Hideaki Anno
Originally a collection of clips from the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series, Death was created as a precursor to the re-worked ending of the series. Rebirth was intended as that re-worked ending, but
In common: Animation · Drama · Science Fiction
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
2013 · Isao Takahata
Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But,
In common: Animation · Drama · Fantasy
The Boy and the Heron
2023 · Hayao Miyazaki
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking
In common: Animation · Drama · Fantasy
Wolf Children
2012 · Mamoru Hosoda
After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident, a woman must find a way to raise the son and daughter that she had with him. However, their inheritance of their father's traits prove to be
In common: Animation · Drama
Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku
1990 · Mitsuo Hashimoto
Bardock, Son Goku's father, is a low-ranking Saiyan soldier who was given the power to see into the future by the last remaining alien on a planet he just destroyed. He witnesses the destruction of hi
In common: Animation · Drama
Pokémon the Movie 2000
1999 · Kunihiko Yuyama
When Lawrence III's scheme to capture the Legendary Pokémon Lugia upsets the balance of nature, it is up to Ash Ketchum and his friends to save the world.
In common: Animation
Weathering with You
2019 · Makoto Shinkai
The summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo, and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually gloo
In common: Animation · Drama · Fantasy
Suzume
2022 · Makoto Shinkai
Suzume, 17, lost her mother as a little girl. On her way to school, she meets a mysterious young man. But her curiosity unleashes a calamity that endangers the entire population of Japan, and so Suzum
In common: Animation · Drama
The Cat Returns
2002 · Hiroyuki Morita
Young Haru rescues a cat from being run over, but soon learns it's no ordinary feline; it happens to be the Prince of the Cats.
In common: Animation · Drama
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl
2019 · Soichi Masui
In Fujisawa, Sakuta Azusagawa is in his second year of high school. Blissful days with his girlfriend and upperclassman, Mai Sakurajima, are interrupted by the appearance of his first crush, Shoko Mak
In common: Animation · Drama · Fantasy
A Whisker Away
2020 · Tomotaka Shibayama
A peculiar girl transforms into a cat to catch her crush's attention. But before she realizes it, the line between human and animal starts to blur.
In common: Animation · Drama · Fantasy
Belle
2021 · Mamoru Hosoda
Suzu is a 17-year-old high-school student living in a rural town with her father. Wounded by the loss of her mother at a young age, Suzu one day discovers the massive online world "U" and dives into t
In common: Animation · Drama
Violet Evergarden: The Movie
2020 · Taichi Ishidate
As the world moves on from the war and technological advances bring changes to her life, Violet still hopes to see her lost commanding officer again.
In common: Animation · Drama · Fantasy
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
2018 · Mari Okada
Fleeing the war, the immortal Machia, graced with eternal youth, finds a baby abandoned in the forest and decides to raise it as her own child, sparking a moving story between a mortal and a being who
In common: Animation · Drama · Fantasy
Summer Wars
2009 · Mamoru Hosoda
Teenage math whiz Kenji Koiso agrees to take a summer job at the Nagano hometown of his crush, Natsuki. When he arrives, he finds that her family have reunited to celebrate the 90th birthday of their
In common: Animation · Science Fiction
Spirited Away
2001 · Hayao Miyazaki
A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family
In common: Animation · Fantasy
My Neighbor Totoro
1988 · Hayao Miyazaki
Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When t
In common: Animation · Fantasy
Kiki's Delivery Service
1989 · Hayao Miyazaki
A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.
In common: Animation · Fantasy
The Secret World of Arrietty
2010 · Hiromasa Yonebayashi
14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clo
In common: Animation · Fantasy
Whisper of the Heart
1995 · Yoshifumi Kondo
Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: "Seiji Amasawa."
In common: Animation · Drama
Look Back
2024 · Kiyotaka Oshiyama
Popular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful ar
In common: Animation · Drama
A Christmas Carol
2009 · Robert Zemeckis
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that a
In common: Animation · Drama
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
2005 · Tetsuya Nomura
Two years have passed since the final battle with Sephiroth. Though Midgar, city of mako, city of prosperity, has been reduced to ruins, its people slowly but steadily walk the road to reconstruction.
In common: Animation
Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale
2017 · Tomohiko Ito
In 2026, a new machine called the Augma is developed to compete against the NerveGear and its successor, the Amusphere. A next-gen wearable device, the Augma doesn't have a full-dive function like its
In common: Animation
Your Name.
2016 · Makoto Shinkai
High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence conti
In common: Animation · Drama
The Boy and the Beast
2015 · Mamoru Hosoda
Kyuta, a boy living in Shibuya, and Kumatetsu, a lonesome beast from Jutengai, an imaginary world. One day, Kyuta forays into the imaginary world and, as he's looking for his way back, meets Kumatetsu
In common: Animation
Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo
2012 · Hideaki Anno
Fourteen years after Third Impact, Shinji Ikari awakens to a world he does not remember. He hasn't aged. Much of Earth is laid in ruins, NERV has been dismantled, and people who he once protected have
In common: Animation · Drama
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
2021 · Kazuya Tsurumaki
In the aftermath of the Fourth Impact, stranded without their Evangelions, Shinji, Asuka and Rei find refuge in one of the rare pockets of humanity that still exist on the ruined planet Earth. There,
In common: Animation · Drama
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
2007 · Kazuya Tsurumaki
After the Second Impact, Tokyo-3 is being attacked by giant monsters called Angels that seek to eradicate humankind. The child Shinji’s objective is to fight the Angels by piloting one of the mysterio
In common: Animation · Drama
Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!
2017 · Kunihiko Yuyama
Ash Ketchum wakes up late one morning after having broken his alarm clock in his sleep. He eventually makes it to Professor Oak's lab, but is told that the three starter List of Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Sq
In common: Animation
Pom Poko
1994 · Isao Takahata
The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and
In common: Animation · Fantasy
Mary and The Witch's Flower
2017 · Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Mary Smith, a young girl who lives with her great-aunt in the countryside, follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest where she finds a strange flower and an old broom, none of which is as ordina
In common: Animation
Lightyear
2022 · Angus MacLane
Legendary Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear embarks on an intergalactic adventure alongside a group of ambitious recruits and his robot companion Sox.
In common: Animation
Princess Mononoke
1997 · Hayao Miyazaki
Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to p
In common: Animation · Fantasy
Porco Rosso
1992 · Hayao Miyazaki
In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former Wor
In common: Animation · Fantasy
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
1984 · Hayao Miyazaki
After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the
In common: Animation · Fantasy
Paprika
2006 · Satoshi Kon
When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patient's dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist can stop it and recover it before damage is done: Paprika.
In common: Animation · Science Fiction
Megalopolis
2024 · Francis Ford Coppola
In a futuristic New York known as New Rome, visionary architect Cesar Catilina dreams of building "Megalopolis," a utopian city that redefines society’s limits. Opposing him is the corrupt Mayor Frank
In common: Drama · Fantasy · Science Fiction
Popular Animation series
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
2023 · Kazutaka Yamanaka
After the party of heroes defeated the Demon King, they restored peace to the land and returned to lives of solitude. Generations pass, and the elven mage Frieren comes face to face with humanity’s m
Avatar: The Last Airbender
2005 · Michael Dante DiMartino
In a war-torn world of elemental magic, a young boy reawakens to undertake a dangerous mystic quest to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar, and bring peace to the world.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
2009
Disregard for alchemy’s laws ripped half of Edward Elric’s limbs from his body and left his brother Alphonse’s soul clinging to a suit of armor. To restore what was lost, the brothers seek the Philoso
Attack on Titan
2013 · Manabu Otsuka
100 years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress.