Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies
Directed by	Isao Takahata
Screenplay by	Isao Takahata
Music by	Michio Mamiya, Mamija Joshio
Production company	Studio Ghibli
Release date	16 April 1988 (1988-04-16) (Japan)
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Grave of the Fireflies (Japanese: 火垂るの墓; romanized: Hotaru no Haka; literally: Tomb of the Lampreys) is a Japanese anime movie produced by Studio Ghibli in 1988.

This movie is considered as extraordinary work, because unlike other anime movies, it contains the story of two children who suffer from starvation, while struggling to live by themselves in World War II Japan. They both die shortly after the war ends. Because of this, the movie is considered "heartbreaking".

The director of the movie is Isao Takahata. The music was composed by Michio Mamiya and Mamija Joshio. The movie was based on a semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, which was first published in 1967. It was written by Nosaka Akiyuki, who wrote it to honor his sister who died from starvation during World War II, and to also cope with survivor guilt.

In 2005, a non-animated Japanese live action movie of the same title and story was released.

Plot

The movie is set in 1945 in Japan during the final months of World War II. The American bombers have bombed most of Kobe. Seita (aged 14) and his younger sister Setsuko (aged 4) survived, but their mother dies. Their father is out serving the Japanese Imperial Navy during the war. As a result of this, Seita and Setsuko move in with their aunt who lives in the nearby city of Nishinomiya. Their aunt seems kind, caring, and helpful at first, but later treats them badly and turns out to be abusive. She takes most of Seita and Setsuko's food just for herself and her family, sharing only little portions with them. When Seita and Setsuko ask for more food, she insults them and tells them to get their own food. Whenever Seita tries to play and have fun with his sister Setsuko, their aunt attempts to stop them from playing and tell them that they are no help during wartime and they can just leave her house.

After an air raid, the children pack up and leave their aunt's house. They move into an abandoned bomb shelter, which is located on the banks of a nearby river. Seita and Setsuko are well-fed at first but that lasts only a short while. The two fall into hunger, and after a while, the hunger turns into starvation. Meanwhile, Seita begins stealing food, for which he is assaulted by a farmer and sent to the police. The police realizes that he is stealing out of starvation and releases him from the station. Seita continues stealing food, especially doing so from people's houses during bombings, when people flee from their houses for safety, thus putting himself at risk.

The war ends with the surrender of the Japanese. All of the ships serving the Japanese Imperial Navy had been sunk, and Seita and Setsuko's father is most likely dead. Seita is distraught upon learning of this. By the time the war ends, Setsuko is very weak and she dies from starvation shortly after the war ends. After her death, Seita buys some charcoal and cremates her body. He puts her ashes into a candy tin. Seita decides to leave the bomb shelter and become homeless. He dies in a train station all alone from starvation, as people who pass by him and pretend they don't notice him. A janitor searches Seita's dead body for valuable items and tosses the tin away. The ashes spill out of the tin, and Setsuko's spirit comes out of it. A group of fireflies and Seita joins her, and they board an empty train. During the trip, they review the events leading up to Seita's death. They then reach their destination: a hilltop bench overlooking the modern-day Kobe, surrounded by fireflies.

Related pages

• Grave of the Fireflies (2005 movie)

Other websites

• Grave of the Fireflies at Letterboxd