Grave Of The Fireflies Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

emotionless cynics

I'm not really into Japanese anime, but I had the patience to give this movie a chance.

I was rewarded with a sweet and moving story. I knew from reviews that it would not be particularly uplifting but looking at a country at war, from a different perspective, added interest and depth to the tale.

This movie is worth watching. I found it thought provoking and it had an emotional impact which jaded cynics like me do not always experience.

god aweful

really bad film so depressing do not watch under any circumstances

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[Highly rated reviewer]

going nowhere fast

pointless movie. Bad old yanks bombed japan, people died, people were homeless. You can choose to live yiour life or look after your little sister. You can work and feed her or you can sit around your little sister and 'say woe is me'. She dies. You sit there and become a bum. You die and meet each other in heaven. Then you are happy. Great movie if you are undecided about making something of your life or not.

If you are a manic depressive, this will confirm that the world is that bad.

The Most Moving Anime I've Seen.

This is a beautiful but dark anime about a boy and his young sister struggling to survive in late WW2 Japan. The film moves you without becoming sentimental as you follow the poverty stricken duo's life in a firebombed cityscape. This is NOT a kids film, it has a couple of harrowing moments and the subject matter simply prevents it from being for kids, so parents bear that in mind. All in all a wonderful film and up there with the best anime made to date.

This is the extras disc

This is the extras disc, get disc one if you want to watch the feature as I made this mistake.

A must see!

This anime is more a movie than a your standard anime. The story is touching and deep and shows how humanity and society sometimes fails to protect those most fragile and important to us.

The story is based on a true autobiographical story and is one of the best Anime movies ever produced. This is shown yearly in Japanese TV around new years.

A true classic.

Another fantastic anime film from Studio Ghibli

Made by the same people as Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service, Grave of The Fireflies is nevertheless unique. Set during the Second World War it follows a young orphan boy and his sister as they attempt to survive on their own.

This film astounded me. Whilst powerfully moving, there are some heart-warming and adorable scenes between the two siblings, contrasted against the desolate violence of the war happening around them.

The emotion in Grave Of The Fireflies is thick, but not excessive. The ending and the story as a whole is extremely sad and I must admit that my eyes welled up with tears. (I am not one to willingly cry at any emotional scene within films.)

For fans of Spirited Away, looking for more of the same, this anime is starkly realistic in every way that Spirited Away wasn't. Nevertheless, Grave of The Fireflies is as equally brilliant.

Not so much a review as an interesting fact..

Okay I'm not going to review this as its already been pretty much covered. It's good and VERY harrowing. But mostly this has been reviewed with talk of 'beware this is not a childrens film' or 'the adult content makes it unsuitable for children'. Not unreasonable, but it WAS intended for child consumption. On its intial Japanese release Grave of the Fireflies was given a double bill with Miyazaki's My Neighbour Totoro a much lighter a definately child targetted film. Ghibli obviously have a high opinion of what children can process! Also although it is a studio ghibli production it wasn't a Miyazaki production at all as many seem to be asserting. Just thought I'd try and clear up a few mis-conceptions.

One of the best anime I've ever seen

...and I've seen a lot - the only one that comes close is Spirited Away. Astonishingly this film was made almost 15 years ago - so why have I never heard of it?

Anybody into anime must watch this film, and if you're not this is possibly the best place to start.

I often find anime frustrating because it threatens to be brilliant and then doesn't deliver. There's too much focus on adolescent sci-fi which looks great but has no substance. (Thank god for Miyazake and Studio Ghibli eh...)

This film is everything those brash sci-fi films aren't. It's grown-up, intelligent, slow, subtle, understated, beautiful, powerful, truthful and deeply moving. I haven't watched many other animated films of this calibre, and I wish they would make more like it.

Animation is capable of so much more than robots and ninjas, and this is one of the few feature films to prove it - and it's over a decade old.

Highly recommended

Depressing for Kids

This admittedly well-made anime is such a downer that it made my 9 year-old daughter cry. It didn't help the mood of the adults who watched it either. I think it should come with a depression warning for those who think that all Japanime films are sweet!