Hotaru no haka (Grave of the Fireflies) (1988)
Average Rating: 9.1/10
Reviews Counted: 32
Fresh: 31 | Rotten: 1
An achingly sad anti-war film, Grave of the Fireflies is one of Studio Ghibli's most profoundly beautiful, haunting works.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 0
An achingly sad anti-war film, Grave of the Fireflies is one of Studio Ghibli's most profoundly beautiful, haunting works.
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Average Rating: 4.3/5
User Ratings: 63,761
Movie Info
Grave of the Fireflies opens on an evening in 1945, after Japan's surrender at the end of World War II; and in a train station, the young Seita dies alone. The rest of the movie tells us, in flashback, how things have come to this. Seita and Setsuko are two young Japanese children growing up in the waning days of World War II. Much to Seita's pride, their father is in the Japanese navy, and they live fairly content lives in Kobe despite rationing and the other privations of war. When their
Jan 1, 1988 Wide
Oct 6, 1998
Cast
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Tsutomu Tatsumi
Seita -
Ayano Shiraishi
Setsuko
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All Critics (33) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (31) | Rotten (1) | DVD (17)
Writer-director Isao Takahata, a frequent collaborator of Miyazaki's at Studio Ghibli, adapted a partly autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka, and his handling of the tragic story is masterfully understated.
Top CriticAn emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation.
Such odd hopefulness, flitting around a child, mixed with the overwhelmingly sad, pervades Isao Takahata's film. And all around Seita and Setsuko, nature, in the face of human destruction and tragedy, persists in its beauty.
The stylised images suit the simplicity and gravity of a grim story of love, sacrifice and survival in the face of adult indifference and cruelty.
We're so used to seeing the human spirit triumph. Here, we're allowed to understand how it might fail.
There are magical moments of natural beauty and childish delight, too - which only make the tragedy even more harrowing.
The idea that "War is Hell" has almost become something of a climatic cliché, but Takahata's film explores this well-worn slogan from new, exciting and harrowing angles.
Isao Takahata's powerful anti-war movie is all the more harrowing for the care we invest in its beautifully drawn children.
Japanimation WWII tragedy the saddest. Cartoon. Ever.
The ephemeral fireflies, which fascinate the children and accompany them everywhere, become a potent and lyrical symbol of the fragility, brevity and beauty of life.
Quivers with every kind of wracking emotion: rage, sorrow, despair, fatigue, and in the end, a tiny measure of hope that perhaps there's something better than this in the next world.
The wonderful lasting mark of a true artist.
Takahata's alternately sweeping and intimate animated feature is a moving depiction of the fates of cast-off children who become casualties of war.
Even though it's not exactly easy to watch the protracted deaths of two children, this is not only one of the greatest anime ever, but also an important (anti-) war film. A moving masterpiece.
Very simply the gentlest and most touching war-related film I've ever seen.
Um retrato sem concessões do horror da guerra e de suas conseqüências não apenas sobre a sociedade, mas sobre indivíduos comuns. Emocionalmente devastador.
... a beautiful lament and a moving tribute to the people we rarely consider when we think about World War 2: those Japanese who suffered for the crimes of their leaders.
Incredibly moving. The ultimate tear-jerker.
A very moving, but depressing movie.
One of the most devastating anti-war films ever made, animated or otherwise.
[Evokes] the experiences of childhood grief, small moments of ordinary life and happiness amid tragedy and fear, and the overwhelming confusion of adult responsibilities falling on teenaged shoulders as powerfully as in any film I've seen.
Ultimately, the picture's respect for Seito and Setsuko's ability to fend for themselves results in a far more powerful piece of cinema than if they'd been portrayed as the typical scared kid.
Audience Reviews for Hotaru no haka (Grave of the Fireflies)
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Movies Like Hotaru no haka (Grave of the Fireflies)
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- Setsuko: I've been having diarrhea.
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- Seita: [about Setsuko] She never woke up again.
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- Setsuko: Why must firefiles die so young?
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- Setsuko: Why must fireflies die so young?
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- Seita: September 21, 1945... that was the night I died.
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Foreign Titles
- Grave of Fireflies (DE)
- Grave of Fireflies (UK)
