Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

[InformationGeek]

Produced by Studio Ghibli (they made Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, and Spirited Away), this film is based on the story of Nosaka Akiyuki and his childhood in Japan during and after World War II.  It's best described as a downer beginning, drowner middle, and downer ending.  Basically, a really sad and depressing, but good film.  For those of you who have seen it, what did you think of it?  As an anime fan, I have suprisingly enough have not seen it, so I would like to hear some thoughts on it from the people here.  I heard a lot, but I like hearing things from you guys.  What did you think of the film?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxv9ghINEhs
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[dean]

I liked it, in so far as you can enjoy such a depressing film.  Well produced with some utterly terrible events depicted.  It's the most 'real' film from Studio Ghibli that I've seen, where the rest were all fantastical.  If you don't feel sad watching this, you have no heart.

[akiratubo]

This is one of the saddest things I've ever seen.  The great thing about it is that it isn't carefully designed to manipulate the audience, it just presents its situations bald faced, which is far more effective.

[JayJayM12]

I thought it was very good - and, this is coming from someone who is NOT a fan of anime (my only experiences lie in Spirited Away and, if you can count it - Speed Racer).  But, I had heard so many good things about it, that I had to give it a shot.  I was not disappointed.  Like everyone said, it is depressing to be sure, but a very good, moving film...

[Andrew]

This is on my list of my favorite films.  It is a 90 minute character study of a young boy and his even younger sister who are orphaned by the firebombing of Tokyo during WWII, and it is absolutely heartbreaking.  There is nothing about this film that would prevent it from being made as a live action, but I think making it as an animated feature gave them full control over the characters. 

I made the mistake of showing this to my wife when she was pregnant.  She cried and cried, and still gets misty-eyed if I mention it now.

[retrorussell]

Pretty sad and well-made.  I enjoyed it quite a bit; Barefoot Gen is another movie to check out with a similar theme.

[SPazzo]

One of my favourite movies as well.  I've actually recently convinced several friends who are all Ghibli fans to watch it on a double feature with My Neighbour Totoro with me.  This was originally released as a double bill, in Japan, with Totoro, and that's why neither film did very well in theatres.  The point is to watch Grave of the Fireflies first and then watch Totoro second to cheer you up!

But still, this is one of the few movies I've ever cried at.  The animation is well done, the voices (on both the original and dub) are great, and the story is amazing.  Definitely a masterpiece. 

[Criswell]

The point is to watch Grave of the Fireflies first and then watch Totoro second to cheer you up!

Yeah but when It was shown in theaters they showed Totoro first and then Grave of the Fireflies. Most people left after Totoro because of how sad this one is.

I haven't seen this one yet, but a friend of mine keeps telling me its really great.

[Fausto]

This is on my list of my favorite films.  It is a 90 minute character study of a young boy and his even younger sister who are orphaned by the firebombing of Tokyo during WWII, and it is absolutely heartbreaking.  There is nothing about this film that would prevent it from being made as a live action, but I think making it as an animated feature gave them full control over the characters. 

I made the mistake of showing this to my wife when she was pregnant.  She cried and cried, and still gets misty-eyed if I mention it now.

They actually did make a live action version of it, although they told it from the point of view of the aunt, for some reason (the one who was presented as a villain in the anime). Its available on youtube.

[Archivist]

This is one Studio Ghibli movie that I have yet to watch, and I have a lot of doubts about watching it.  I tend to like uplifting movies, and even years ago when I got the DVD, I had read that it is one of the saddest movies ever made.

When I watched the first few minutes, I got an inkling of how things were going to pan out, and I chickened out.

I've been to the Studio Ghibli museum in Japan (which I highly, highly recommend to any Miyazaki or anime fan) but I still can't bring myself to watch this movie.  Everyone's comments here are steering me away from it, too.