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Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

火垂るの墓

PG-13 89 minutes JA Animation , Drama , War

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

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8.0 /10

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Top cast

Tsutomu Tatsumi

Seita (voice)

Ayano Shiraishi

Setsuko (voice)

Yoshiko Shinohara

Mother (voice)

Akemi Yamaguchi

Auntie (voice)

Kozo Hashida

Obayashi Chairman (voice)

Masayo Sakai

Woman who takes care of Setsuko (voice)

Kazumi Nozaki

Cousin (voice)

Yoshio Matsuoka

Gosaku (voice)

Masahiro Kanetake

Aunt's House Guest (voice)

Kiyoshi Yanagawa

Patrolman (voice)

Hajime Maki

Man who arrests Seita (voice)

Atsuo Omotem

Person in Bank (voice)

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Production crew

Michio Mamiya

Original Music Composer

Nobuo Koyama

Director of Photography

Takeshi Seyama

Editor

Yoshifumi Kondo

Character Designer

Nizou Yamamoto

Art Direction

Michiyo Yasuda

Color Designer

Yasuo Uragami

Sound Director

Katsu Hisamura

Assistant Art Director

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The most positive review

This was the first animated movie that made me cry as an adult.
It still does.
Two children are left as orphans in World War 2 and have to survive. Such a basic premise, but this shows intimately what the effects of war are on children (a topic not covered by other movies). And as it's about children, it has more of an emotional impact.
Described as one of the greatest war movies of all time by Roger Ebert, the work of art will impact you like no other anime.
Its interesting to note that this was released originally with My Neighbour Totoro. Both are films about childhood. But where Totoro is about innocence maintained and the joy of childhood, **Fireflies is innocence lost**, a light dimmed after a short period.

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The most negative review

The terrible story of two orphaned Japanese kids during the ending of WWII.
Incredibly well told and totally moving, without using clichés. A must seen in the anime arena.

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Official website: https://gkids.com/films/grave-of-the-fireflies

Production companies: Studio Ghibli

Production countries: Japan

Budget: $3,700,000

Revenue: $516,962

Keywords

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sibling relationship

hunger

world war ii

wartime

shelter

adult animation

semi autobiographical

Certificate:

PG-13 (Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Films given this rating may contain sexual content, brief or partial nudity, some strong language and innuendo, humor, mature themes, political themes, terror and/or intense action violence. However, bloodshed is rarely present. This is the minimum rating at which drug content is present.)

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