Grave of the Fireflies
Encyclopedia
is a 1988 Japanese animated war tragedy
film written and directed by Isao Takahata
. This is the first film produced by Shinchosha
, who hired Studio Ghibli
to do the animation production work. It is an adaptation
of the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka
, intended as a personal apology to the author's own sister.
Roger Ebert
considers it to be one of the most powerful war movies ever made.
in Japan
, Grave of the Fireflies is the tale of the relationship between two orphaned children, 14-year-old Seita (清太) and his young 4-year-old sister Setsuko (節子). The movie begins in Sannomiya Station and portrays Seita, in rags and dying of starvation. A janitor comes and digs through his possessions, and finds a candy tin containing ashes and bones. He throws it out, and from it springs the spirit of Setsuko, Seita, and a cloud of fireflies. The spirit of Seita continues to narrate their story, which is, in effect, an extended flashback to Japan near the end of World War II
, during the Kobe firebombings
.
The flashback begins with American
B-29 Superfortress bombers flying overhead. Setsuko and Seita, the two siblings, are left to secure the house and their belongings, allowing their mother, who suffers from a heart condition, to move to a bomb shelter. They are caught off-guard as the bombers begin to drop incendiary bomblets
, which start huge fires which consume their neighbourhood and most of the city. Although they survive unscathed, their mother is caught in the air raid and is horribly burned. She is taken to a hospital, but dies a short time later. Having nowhere else to go, Setsuko and Seita move in with a distant aunt, who allows them to stay but convinces Seita to sell his mother's kimono
s for rice. While living with their relatives, Seita goes out to retrieve leftover supplies he had buried in the ground before the bombing. He gives all of it to his aunt, but hides a small tin of fruit drops
, which becomes a recurrent icon throughout the film. Their aunt continues to shelter them but as they gradually begin to run out of food, she becomes increasingly resentful. She openly remarks on how they do nothing to earn the food she cooks.
Seita and Setsuko finally decide to leave and move into an abandoned bomb shelter. They fill it with fireflies for light, but Setsuko is horrified to find that the next day they are all dead. She digs them a grave and buries them all, asking why they have to die, and why her mother had to die. What begins as a new lease on life grows grim as they run out of rice, and Seita is forced to steal from local farmers and loot homes during air raids. When he is caught, he realizes his desperation and takes an increasingly ill Setsuko to a doctor, who informs him that Setsuko is suffering from malnutrition
but offers no help. In a panic, Seita withdraws all the money remaining in their mother's bank account. While at the bank he learns of Japan's unconditional surrender
to the Allies
and that his father, a Captain in the Imperial Navy who had promised him that Japan could never be defeated, is probably dead, since most of Japan's navy is now at the bottom of the ocean. He returns to the shelter with large quantities of food, only to find a dying Setsuko hallucinating. Seita hurries to cook, but Setsuko dies shortly thereafter. Seita uses supplies donated to him by a farmer to cremate
Setsuko, and puts her ashes in the fruit tin which he carries with his father's photograph until his own death from malnutrition in Sannomiya Station a few days later.
In the movie's final scene, the spirits of Seita and Setsuko are seen, healthy and well-dressed, sitting side-by-side as they look down on the modern city of Kobe
.
Some critics have viewed Grave of the Fireflies as an anti-war film due to the graphic and truly emotional depiction of the negative consequences of war on society, and the individuals therein. The film focuses its attention almost entirely on the personal tragedies that war
gives rise to, rather than seeking to glamorize it as a heroic struggle between competing ideologies. It emphasizes that war is society's failure to perform its most important duty: protect its own people.
However, director Isao Takahata repeatedly denied that the film was an anti-war anime. In his own words, "[the film] is not at all an anti-war anime and contains absolutely no such message". Instead, Takahata had intended to convey an image of the brother and sister living a failed life due to isolation from the society and invoke sympathy particularly in people in their teens and twenties.
or many. Seita and Setsuko catch fireflies and use them to illuminate the bomb shelter in which they live. The next day, Setsuko digs a grave for all of the dead insects, and asks "Why do fireflies die so soon?", so the title might serve to heighten the thematic significance of the incident.
In the Japanese
title of the movie the word hotaru (firefly) is written not with its usual kana
ほたる, its modern kanji
蛍, or its traditional form 螢 with two 火 (hi, "fire"). Instead, both the book and movie use 火垂る — a single fire character, 垂 (tareru, to dangle down, as a droplet of water about to fall from a leaf), and the ru kana. Some consider that this evokes senkō hanabi, a fire droplet firework (a sparkler which is held upside down). This is particularly poignant in this respect because the sparkler must be held very still or the fire will drop and die, representing the fragility of life. Senkō hanabi also evoke images of family, because it is a summer tradition in Japan for families to enjoy fireworks together. Fireworks, in general, are considered to be another symbol of the ephemerality of life. Watching fireflies is another summer family tradition. Together, the references evoke the bond between Seita and Setsuko, but at the same time emphasize their isolation due to the absence of their parents.
Alternatively, pairing the two kanji for "fire" and "dangle down" may also be a metaphor for the experience of aerial bombing using incendiary
weapons. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Japanese during the war sometimes referred to falling and exploding incendiary bomblets as "fireflies." The two kanji certainly evoke how the incendiaries are depicted in the film, as falling droplets of fire.
Mature fireflies which emit light have extremely short life spans of two to three weeks and are traditionally regarded as a symbol of impermanence, which resonates with much of classical Japanese tradition (as with cherry blossoms). Fireflies are also symbolic of the human soul ("Hitodama
"), which is depicted as a floating, flickering fireball. Heikebotaru (平家蛍, Luciola
lateralis), a species
of firefly that exist in the Western region of Japan, is so-called because people considered their lights, hovering near rivers and lakes, to be the souls of the Heike
family, all of whose members perished in a famous historic naval engagement — the Battle of Dan-no-ura
.
.
in Japan produced a live-action TV drama of Grave of the Fireflies, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. The drama aired on November 1, 2005. Like the anime, the live-action version of Grave of the Fireflies focuses on two siblings struggling to survive the final days of the war in Kobe, Japan. Unlike the animated version, it tells the story from the point of view of their cousin (the aunt's daughter) and deals with the issue of how the war-time environment could change a kind lady into a hard-hearted woman. It stars Nanako Matsushima
as the aunt, as well as Inoue Mao as their cousin. The drama is approximately 2 hours and 28 minutes long.
Commenting on the dramatization, Akiyuki Nosaka noted that the drama was liberal in deviating from his original work but also said that he would nevertheless remain thankful if it could convey the brutality of wars to the people of the present days.
A different live action version of the film was released in Japan on July 5, 2008.
was accompanied by Hayao Miyazaki
's much more lighthearted My Neighbor Totoro
as a double feature. In commercial terms, the theatrical release was a failure. While the two movies were marketed toward children and their parents, the extremely depressing nature of Grave of the Fireflies turned away most audiences. However, Totoro merchandise, particularly the stuffed animal of Totoro and Cat bus, sold extremely well after the film and made overall profits for the company to the extent that it stabilized subsequent productions of Studio Ghibli.
Grave of the Fireflies is the only Studio Ghibli film that the Walt Disney Company does not have distribution rights for in the United States, since the film was not produced by parent company Tokuma Shoten
, but by Shinchosha
, the publisher of the original novel. Grave of the Fireflies was released in the U.S. by Central Park Media
in a two-disc set. The first disc contains the uncut film in both an English dub and the original Japanese with English subtitles as well as the film's storyboards. The second disc contains several extras, including a retrospective on the author of the original book, an interview with Director Isao Takahata, and an interview with well-known critic Roger Ebert
, who has expressed his admiration for the film on several occasions.
Following the 2009 bankruptcy and liquidation of Central Park Media, A.D.V. Films
acquired the license to Grave of the Fireflies and began releasing it on DVD on July 7, 2009.Due to the closing of ADV in 2009, Sentai Filmworks has rescued the series and will be released once again on DVD and on digital outlets.
As of July 30, 2011, this movie is ranked #123 on IMDb's top 250 movies. The full aggregation of reviews by Rotten Tomatoes
polls at 96% "Fresh" with 23 reviews counted. Rotten Tomatoes consensus states "An achingly sad anti-war film, Grave of the Fireflies is one of Studio Ghibli's most profoundly beautiful, haunting works".
Grave of the Fireflies made Time Out's, with help from Terry Gilliam
, top 50 animated film list.
Movie Critic, Roger Ebert
has recently put the film on his "Great Movies List" calling it, "an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation."
It is often considered to be one of the best movies of all time.
Grave of the Fireflies ranked number 12 on Total Film
's 50 greatest animated films of all time.
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
film written and directed by Isao Takahata
Isao Takahata
is a Japanese anime filmmaker that have earned critical international acclaim for his work as a director. Takahata is co-founder of Studio Ghibli with long-time collaborative partner Hayao Miyazaki. He has directed films such as the war-themed Grave of the Fireflies, the romantic-drama Only...
. This is the first film produced by Shinchosha
Shinchosha
is a publisher founded in 1896 in Japan and headquartered in Yaraichō, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Shinchosha is one of the sponsors of the Japan Fantasy Novel Award.-Monthly:* ENGINE* Foresight* nicola*Shinchō-External links:*...
, who hired Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...
to do the animation production work. It is an adaptation
Adaptation
An adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....
of the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka
Akiyuki Nosaka
is a Japanese novelist, singer, lyricist, and former member of the House of Councillors. As a broadcasting writer he uses the name Yukio Aki and his alias as a chanson singer is Claude Nosaka.- Biography :...
, intended as a personal apology to the author's own sister.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
considers it to be one of the most powerful war movies ever made.
Plot
Taking place toward the end of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Grave of the Fireflies is the tale of the relationship between two orphaned children, 14-year-old Seita (清太) and his young 4-year-old sister Setsuko (節子). The movie begins in Sannomiya Station and portrays Seita, in rags and dying of starvation. A janitor comes and digs through his possessions, and finds a candy tin containing ashes and bones. He throws it out, and from it springs the spirit of Setsuko, Seita, and a cloud of fireflies. The spirit of Seita continues to narrate their story, which is, in effect, an extended flashback to Japan near the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, during the Kobe firebombings
Bombing of Kobe in World War II
On March 17, 1945, 331 American B-29 bombers launched a firebombing attack against the city of Kobe, Japan. Of the city's residents, 8,841 were confirmed to have been killed in the resulting firestorms, which destroyed an area of three square miles and included 21% of Kobe's urban area. At the...
.
The flashback begins with American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
B-29 Superfortress bombers flying overhead. Setsuko and Seita, the two siblings, are left to secure the house and their belongings, allowing their mother, who suffers from a heart condition, to move to a bomb shelter. They are caught off-guard as the bombers begin to drop incendiary bomblets
Incendiary device
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....
, which start huge fires which consume their neighbourhood and most of the city. Although they survive unscathed, their mother is caught in the air raid and is horribly burned. She is taken to a hospital, but dies a short time later. Having nowhere else to go, Setsuko and Seita move in with a distant aunt, who allows them to stay but convinces Seita to sell his mother's kimono
Kimono
The is a Japanese traditional garment worn by men, women and children. The word "kimono", which literally means a "thing to wear" , has come to denote these full-length robes...
s for rice. While living with their relatives, Seita goes out to retrieve leftover supplies he had buried in the ground before the bombing. He gives all of it to his aunt, but hides a small tin of fruit drops
Sakuma drops
thumb|right|Sakuma drops are a hard candy from Japan. They are flavored with real fruit juice and are made by Sakuma Candy Co. based in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. The candies are not as popular as they were in the past, but they are an easily recognizable icon in Japan as they have been available since...
, which becomes a recurrent icon throughout the film. Their aunt continues to shelter them but as they gradually begin to run out of food, she becomes increasingly resentful. She openly remarks on how they do nothing to earn the food she cooks.
Seita and Setsuko finally decide to leave and move into an abandoned bomb shelter. They fill it with fireflies for light, but Setsuko is horrified to find that the next day they are all dead. She digs them a grave and buries them all, asking why they have to die, and why her mother had to die. What begins as a new lease on life grows grim as they run out of rice, and Seita is forced to steal from local farmers and loot homes during air raids. When he is caught, he realizes his desperation and takes an increasingly ill Setsuko to a doctor, who informs him that Setsuko is suffering from malnutrition
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
but offers no help. In a panic, Seita withdraws all the money remaining in their mother's bank account. While at the bank he learns of Japan's unconditional surrender
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...
to the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
and that his father, a Captain in the Imperial Navy who had promised him that Japan could never be defeated, is probably dead, since most of Japan's navy is now at the bottom of the ocean. He returns to the shelter with large quantities of food, only to find a dying Setsuko hallucinating. Seita hurries to cook, but Setsuko dies shortly thereafter. Seita uses supplies donated to him by a farmer to cremate
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
Setsuko, and puts her ashes in the fruit tin which he carries with his father's photograph until his own death from malnutrition in Sannomiya Station a few days later.
In the movie's final scene, the spirits of Seita and Setsuko are seen, healthy and well-dressed, sitting side-by-side as they look down on the modern city of Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
.
Story origin and interpretations
The story is based on the semi-autobiographic novel by the same name, whose author, Nosaka, lost his sister due to malnutrition in 1945 wartime Japan. He blamed himself for her death and wrote the story so as to make amends to her and help him accept the tragedy.Some critics have viewed Grave of the Fireflies as an anti-war film due to the graphic and truly emotional depiction of the negative consequences of war on society, and the individuals therein. The film focuses its attention almost entirely on the personal tragedies that war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
gives rise to, rather than seeking to glamorize it as a heroic struggle between competing ideologies. It emphasizes that war is society's failure to perform its most important duty: protect its own people.
However, director Isao Takahata repeatedly denied that the film was an anti-war anime. In his own words, "[the film] is not at all an anti-war anime and contains absolutely no such message". Instead, Takahata had intended to convey an image of the brother and sister living a failed life due to isolation from the society and invoke sympathy particularly in people in their teens and twenties.
About the title
Japanese nouns do not change to form plurals, so hotaru can refer to one fireflyFirefly
Lampyridae is a family of insects in the beetle order Coleoptera. They are winged beetles, and commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs for their conspicuous crepuscular use of bioluminescence to attract mates or prey. Fireflies produce a "cold light", with no infrared or ultraviolet frequencies...
or many. Seita and Setsuko catch fireflies and use them to illuminate the bomb shelter in which they live. The next day, Setsuko digs a grave for all of the dead insects, and asks "Why do fireflies die so soon?", so the title might serve to heighten the thematic significance of the incident.
In the Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
title of the movie the word hotaru (firefly) is written not with its usual kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
ほたる, its modern kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
蛍, or its traditional form 螢 with two 火 (hi, "fire"). Instead, both the book and movie use 火垂る — a single fire character, 垂 (tareru, to dangle down, as a droplet of water about to fall from a leaf), and the ru kana. Some consider that this evokes senkō hanabi, a fire droplet firework (a sparkler which is held upside down). This is particularly poignant in this respect because the sparkler must be held very still or the fire will drop and die, representing the fragility of life. Senkō hanabi also evoke images of family, because it is a summer tradition in Japan for families to enjoy fireworks together. Fireworks, in general, are considered to be another symbol of the ephemerality of life. Watching fireflies is another summer family tradition. Together, the references evoke the bond between Seita and Setsuko, but at the same time emphasize their isolation due to the absence of their parents.
Alternatively, pairing the two kanji for "fire" and "dangle down" may also be a metaphor for the experience of aerial bombing using incendiary
Incendiary device
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....
weapons. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Japanese during the war sometimes referred to falling and exploding incendiary bomblets as "fireflies." The two kanji certainly evoke how the incendiaries are depicted in the film, as falling droplets of fire.
Firefly symbolism
Particular firefly symbolism in the movie:- Actual fireflies (which die and are buried by Setsuko)
- The children themselves, especially Setsuko, who dies young
- KamikazeKamikazeThe were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
planes and pilots: Setsuko observes that a passing kamikaze plane looks like a firefly - Incendiary bomblets (as in the title kanji)
Mature fireflies which emit light have extremely short life spans of two to three weeks and are traditionally regarded as a symbol of impermanence, which resonates with much of classical Japanese tradition (as with cherry blossoms). Fireflies are also symbolic of the human soul ("Hitodama
Hitodama
are believed in Japanese folklore to be the souls of the newly dead taking form as mysterious fiery apparitions. The word hitodama is a combination of the Japanese words hito, meaning "human", and tama , meaning "soul"...
"), which is depicted as a floating, flickering fireball. Heikebotaru (平家蛍, Luciola
Luciola
Luciola is a genus of "flashing" fireflies , especially well-known from Japan. They are often called "Japanese fireflies", but their members range farther into Asia and reach southern Europe and Africa...
lateralis), a species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of firefly that exist in the Western region of Japan, is so-called because people considered their lights, hovering near rivers and lakes, to be the souls of the Heike
Taira clan
The was a major Japanese clan of samurai in historical Japan.In reference to Japanese history, along with Minamoto, Taira was a hereditary clan name bestowed by the emperors of the Heian Period to certain ex-members of the imperial family when they became subjects...
family, all of whose members perished in a famous historic naval engagement — the Battle of Dan-no-ura
Battle of Dan-no-ura
The ' was a major sea battle of the Genpei War, occurring at Dan-no-ura, in the Shimonoseki Strait off the southern tip of Honshū. On March 24, 1185, the Genji clan fleet, led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, defeated the Heike clan fleet, during a half-day engagement.The Taira were outnumbered, but...
.
Music
The original soundtrack was written by Japanese composer Michio Mamiya who also worked on other Ghibli films such as Horusu no daiboken. Mamiya is also a music specialist in baroque and classical music. The song "Home Sweet Home" was performed by coloratura soprano Amelita Galli-CurciAmelita Galli-Curci
Amelita Galli-Curci was an Italian operatic soprano. She was one of the best-known coloratura singers of the early 20th century with her gramophone records selling in large numbers.-Early life:...
.
Live-action version
NTVNippon Television
is a television network based in the Shiodome area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan and is controlled by the Yomiuri Shimbun publishing company. Broadcasting terrestrially across Japan, the network is commonly known as , contracted to , and abbreviated as "NTV" or "AX".-Offices:*The Headquarters : 6-1,...
in Japan produced a live-action TV drama of Grave of the Fireflies, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. The drama aired on November 1, 2005. Like the anime, the live-action version of Grave of the Fireflies focuses on two siblings struggling to survive the final days of the war in Kobe, Japan. Unlike the animated version, it tells the story from the point of view of their cousin (the aunt's daughter) and deals with the issue of how the war-time environment could change a kind lady into a hard-hearted woman. It stars Nanako Matsushima
Nanako Matsushima
is a Japanese actress and model. She is known outside Japan for her role in the horror film Ring. She was also a main character in A Story of Love, where she starred next to Hiroyuki Sanada, who also played Ryuji Takayama in Ring....
as the aunt, as well as Inoue Mao as their cousin. The drama is approximately 2 hours and 28 minutes long.
Commenting on the dramatization, Akiyuki Nosaka noted that the drama was liberal in deviating from his original work but also said that he would nevertheless remain thankful if it could convey the brutality of wars to the people of the present days.
A different live action version of the film was released in Japan on July 5, 2008.
Releases
Its initial theatrical release in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
was accompanied by Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
's much more lighthearted My Neighbor Totoro
My Neighbor Totoro
, is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film follows the two young daughters of a professor and their interactions with friendly wood spirits in postwar rural Japan...
as a double feature. In commercial terms, the theatrical release was a failure. While the two movies were marketed toward children and their parents, the extremely depressing nature of Grave of the Fireflies turned away most audiences. However, Totoro merchandise, particularly the stuffed animal of Totoro and Cat bus, sold extremely well after the film and made overall profits for the company to the extent that it stabilized subsequent productions of Studio Ghibli.
Grave of the Fireflies is the only Studio Ghibli film that the Walt Disney Company does not have distribution rights for in the United States, since the film was not produced by parent company Tokuma Shoten
Tokuma Shoten
is a publisher in Japan, that was established in 1954.The company was also the parent company for the film studio Daiei Motion Pictures, bought in 1974, and the record label Tokuma Japan Communications, bought in 1972, until both were sold off when Yasuyoshi Tokuma, who established this company,...
, but by Shinchosha
Shinchosha
is a publisher founded in 1896 in Japan and headquartered in Yaraichō, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Shinchosha is one of the sponsors of the Japan Fantasy Novel Award.-Monthly:* ENGINE* Foresight* nicola*Shinchō-External links:*...
, the publisher of the original novel. Grave of the Fireflies was released in the U.S. by Central Park Media
Central Park Media
Central Park Media was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York, that was active in the distribution of East Asian cinema, television series, anime, manga and manhwa titles in North America prior to its bankruptcy in 2009...
in a two-disc set. The first disc contains the uncut film in both an English dub and the original Japanese with English subtitles as well as the film's storyboards. The second disc contains several extras, including a retrospective on the author of the original book, an interview with Director Isao Takahata, and an interview with well-known critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, who has expressed his admiration for the film on several occasions.
Following the 2009 bankruptcy and liquidation of Central Park Media, A.D.V. Films
A.D. Vision
A.D. Vision was an American international multimedia entertainment company headquartered in Houston, Texas, prior to its collapse and distress sale to four other Houston-based companies in 2009...
acquired the license to Grave of the Fireflies and began releasing it on DVD on July 7, 2009.Due to the closing of ADV in 2009, Sentai Filmworks has rescued the series and will be released once again on DVD and on digital outlets.
English dub cast
- Rhoda Chrosite - Setsuko (likely a pseudonymPseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
, see RhodochrositeRhodochrositeRhodochrosite is a manganese carbonate mineral with chemical composition MnCO3. In its pure form, it is typically a rose-red color, but impure specimens can be shades of pink to pale brown. The streak is white. Its Mohs hardness varies between 3.5 and 4. Its specific gravity is 3.5 to 3.7. It...
) - Amy Jones - Aunt
- J. Robert SpencerJ. Robert SpencerRobert John Spencer is an American actor and singer, who was nominated for a Tony Award for his work in the Broadway musical Next to Normal....
- Seita - Veronica TaylorVeronica TaylorVeronica Taylor is an American voice actress. Taylor is best known for her dubbing work in English-language anime adaptations, in particular for voicing Ash Ketchum in the English dub of the Japanese anime, Pokémon....
- Mother
Reception
| Source | Reviewer | Grade / Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Movie Freaks 365 | Stan Stepanic | 10 out of 10 | Movie Review |
| Anime News Network | Mike Crandol | Overall (dub): A- Overall (sub): A+ Story: A Animation: B+ Art: A Music: B+ |
DVD/Movie Review of Collector's Series DVD |
| AnimeOnDVD | Chris Beveridge | Content: A Audio: B+ Video: A Packaging: A- Menus: B+ Extras: A+ |
DVD/Movie Review of Collectors Series DVD |
| THEM Anime Reviews | Raphael See | 5 out of 5 | Movie Review |
As of July 30, 2011, this movie is ranked #123 on IMDb's top 250 movies. The full aggregation of reviews by Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
polls at 96% "Fresh" with 23 reviews counted. Rotten Tomatoes consensus states "An achingly sad anti-war film, Grave of the Fireflies is one of Studio Ghibli's most profoundly beautiful, haunting works".
Grave of the Fireflies made Time Out's, with help from Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
, top 50 animated film list.
Movie Critic, Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
has recently put the film on his "Great Movies List" calling it, "an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation."
It is often considered to be one of the best movies of all time.
Grave of the Fireflies ranked number 12 on Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
's 50 greatest animated films of all time.
See also
- Evacuations of civilians in Japan during World War IIEvacuations of civilians in Japan during World War IIAbout 8.5 million Japanese civilians were displaced from their homes between 1943 and 1945 as a result of Air raids on Japan by the U.S. Air Force . These evacuations started in December 1943 as a voluntary government program to prepare the country's main cities for bombing raids by evacuating...
- IJN cruiser MayaJapanese cruiser Mayawas one of four Takao-class heavy cruisers, designed to be an improvement over the previous Myōkō-class design. These ships were fast, powerful and heavily armed, with enough firepower to hold their own against any cruiser in any other navy in the world...
- According to the movie, the children's father served aboard the Maya. It was sunk in 1944; of the 1,105 crewmen, 479 died. - Sakuma dropsSakuma dropsthumb|right|Sakuma drops are a hard candy from Japan. They are flavored with real fruit juice and are made by Sakuma Candy Co. based in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. The candies are not as popular as they were in the past, but they are an easily recognizable icon in Japan as they have been available since...
, the hard candy eaten by the children in the movie, are still sold in Japan. Setsuko is occasionally featured on the front of the tin.