Grave of the Fireflies - Isao Takahata

This is the first of many Studio Ghibli films I'll be posting about. I figured I would get the darkest, most difficult one out of the way. I grew up in Japan so Japanese animation is very familiar to me. While I do enjoy the Disney animation, I recognize that they are very different from each other. The interesting thing is that when I was in college, everyone was raving about a certain Japanese animated show that was just beginning to be shown here on TV. I don't remember which one as I think I took one look and couldn't figure out what the big deal was. It was all so familiar and not very new to me. So later when Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro came out....again, everyone was raving about it and I shrugged my shoulders. Like Disney I thought, these are kids movies. I don't understand why grown adult men and girls are going gaga over this. (first intro to the geek culture here in the US). At some point I finally watched Totoro, in Japanese (of course) and thought it was charming and it reminded me so much of growing up that it felt like home. To clarify, I tend to watch these films at least twice - once in Japanese with the English subtitles (because my Japanese isn't quite good enough), then again in English so that I can hear how they may have changed things. I have fallen hard for the Studio Ghibli films because there is so much that reminds me of my "home."

 Grave of the Fireflies was the first Isao Takahata film I saw. Looking at his IMDB though, I probably watched a LOT of TV animated shows that he directed while I was in Japan. Lupin the 3rd, Heidi: Girl of the Alps, and probably even Anne of Green Gables. Every Sunday night we would gather as a family and watch TV. There was always some animated family show that was serialized and we would watch it weekly. Anne of Green Gables was one, and I remember one about Rocky the raccoon. I'm sure there was also a Tom Sawyer at some point. Grave is very different from all of those.

Grave of the Fireflies takes place in Kobe during World War II. The events it deals with are the bombings, specifically the fire-bombings that destroyed 21% of its urban area, in March of 1945. Seen through the eyes of Seita, a 14-yr old boy and his young 4-yr old sister Setsuko, the story is of their attempts at surviving the aftermath. Their home is destroyed, and their mother dies from wounds and burns suffered during the bombing. They take what they can and move to live with their aunt. Their aunt and her family are also struggling and are angry at the situation. She berates Seita often for not having a job, for not going to school, and for not doing what he can to help out. He, on the other hand, is doing all he can to take care of his sister and make sure she isn't too scarred from all that is going on. The movie is moving and sad but also has such moments of beauty and joy. It has great contrasts which fit the Japanese spirit so well, and help create such a great film. The story is based on a semi-autobiographical short story by Akiyuki Nosaka. This same story has been made into two different live-action films...one of which is on youtube. The animated film regularly makes the top 10 Anime film lists so you know it is worth taking the time to watch.