Eiga Time! Grave of the Fireflies

Well, one of my favorite animated movies of all time really is "Grave of the Fireflies" it is a Studio Ghibli film, and if you don't know what Studio Ghibli is then lets just say you've missed out on a lot!  To me they are THE BEST! none of their movies ever disappoint me there's always a moral that stays with you or the stories are so well thought out that you will remember them forever.  If you haven't heard of Studio Ghibli you might know Hayao Miyazaki who is a director and co-founder of the studio he wrote and directed some animated movies that you might know if your a 90's kid or older since I myself remember staying up to watch them on Toonami in Cartoon Network. These movies are 'Princess Mononoke' and 'Spirited Away'  you might remember them and if you do they kept you at the edge of your seat, they were great right? If you haven't seen them, please watch them you won't regret it.  If you are the kind of person that does not like animated movies I assure you, I had the pleasure of watching 'Grave of the Fireflies' with a person that absolutely detest animated movies and he gave it a great review said he wanted to buy the DVD so I can vouch for it.

This Studio Ghibli film was directed by the studios other co-founder Isao Takahata he wrote the screenplay but it was actually based on a book with the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka.  The story that goes on in the movie is based on the book and the book is based on the authors experiences during his youth as the war raged on in Japan and the world.


Seita and Setsuko after
much hardship

The movie is placed in the middle of World War II Kobe, Japan as Seita, the main character and his little sister Setsuko try to survive the horrible things that are happening all around them.  The movie opens with Seita preparing to leave his home before the bombs drop over his village.  His mother leaves him and his sister to go to the bomb shelter because she has a heart problem and must leave first.  Seita still preparing to leave with Setsuko hears the emergency bells ringing telling them that the bombs are dropping.  He runs to safety with his sister on his back and not much else.  A few things
occur and we find that his mother has been horribly injured and has to go to a hospital away from the bombing.  Upon knowing this Seita and Setsuko end up living with the only relative they know of an Aunt who you see through out the time they spent there did everything she could to insinuate that she did not want them there.  One night after some time living with the Aunt, Seita find an unused bomb shelter that he thinks would be a great place to live with his sister and so they gather their things and begin living there.  But things don't exactly turn out the way he thought they would. Many things happen and I won't spoil it for you much but I'll tell you I am a person that never cries because of movies but this one is the only movie that has ever made me cry so if you are sentimental get your tissues ready because the ending is heartbreaking. 



Setsuko toward the
end of the movie

Also the reason the movie has the name 'Grave of the Fireflies' is illustrated beautifully in the movie itself.  Now I know I did a poor job of a movie description so if your at all interested in watching the movie you can go look for a better written movie description but most of the time they will tell you more than you want to know and frankly for movies I like to keep things as a surprises.  I will leave the English dubbed version of the trailer at the bottom.  Last time I checked you can watch the movie online so with that being said....

~Matane