ehalcomb: Grave of the Fireflies || Anime Movie Review

Grave of the Fireflies is truly like nothing I've ever seen. It's not just somber but provides an atmosphere and tone that just isn't seen in a whole lot of other Studio Ghibli movies. I mean that as in no other Ghibli film reaches this point of pure emotion and heartbreak. Because of this, it is the only Ghibli movie that I find to be hard to watch. This might be mainly because of the very opening of the film which starts off with the two main characters, Seita and Setsuko, dying. This very first scene is what makes the experience all the more sorrowful. As you travel through the war life that this brother and sister have to go to you want to see them make it through their struggles and come out on top in the end. You like to see them succeed and hate to see them fail. In the end, however, they can't succeed because you've been told that they won't. This creates a strange dichotomy in scenes that, if stuck into any other film, would seem happy if not for the fact that you know the characters' fates. The moral of Grave of the Fireflies is also not thrown in your face like other Ghibli films in part because the movie can be taken differently by different viewers and critics alike. Doug Walker from Nostalgia Critic, for instance, takes the principle of the movie as a battle between one's pride and their own senses. Though I don't not agree of that statement, I believe that it is more a tale sacrifice. Seita wants to protect and feed Setsuko but knows that he will have to give up some of his own rations and break the law in order to do so. Seita also wants to leave his Aunt's residence for their own sanity but will have to give up a whole lot of protection to do that. The whole movie seems like a constant tug of war between what we believe to be right and what Seita believes to be right. But looking back on Grave of the Fireflies and emotional movies in general, isn't that usually the case. As a viewer we feel empathy for characters who we know are doing wrong and are in fact fictional, but can't stand to watch them fail in the end. This is why this film is so beautiful. It's interpretive. It's emotional. And most importantly of all, it's a film and we know it. We don't only feel sorry for the characters but, in one way or another, we feel saddened by the fact that we can't help them.

Grave of the Fireflies is beautiful.