OverviewInitially released in April 1988, Grave of the Fireflies received critical acclaim and was lauded as one of

the great anti-war films of its day. Today, while it is often talked about with the warning "be sure to

have a box of tissues handy”, it remains a pivotal example of a society as it attempts to recover

from the effects of war and what happens to those who exist on the fringes of that society in a

culture that normally places high value upon self reliance and fortitude of spirit.

Storyline

Grave of the Fireflies is the story of an orphaned brother and sister, Seita and Setsuko, in the time of

WWII Japan.

After their Mother succumbs to wounds received during an air raid, the two move in with a distant aunt,

who proves to be mean and greedy, encouraging Seita to sell his Mother’s kimonos for rice and

continually scolding the siblings for being lazy and not contributing enough to the household.

Finally, Seita decides to take his sister and live on their own in a abandoned air raid shelter, where

they attempt to subsist on their own with whatever they can find or reclaim.

Theirs is a tale of struggle and hardship as they try to maintain the cultural expectations in a society

which has been decimated by the Hiroshima bombing.

Seita

From the beginning you

are in love with the

fourteen year old Seita

and already sad for his

death. Then it cuts to him

burying a time capsule

and saying good by to his

mother, this is developing

him as a responsible

person as he is the one

saving things rather then

his mom and he is telling

her what to do. After the

capsule is buried he puts

his sister on his back,

showing that this

character has all the

responsibility in the family.

Setsuko

Setsuko is a young child,

small enough to be carried

on her brothers back. She

laughs a lot and is

seemingly un effected by

the war except when she

says “I hate shelters!” this

is the only sign that she

gives off of knowing there

is a war going on other

wise she is as happy as a

clam. But once her brother

tells her that her mother is

sick in the hospital you

see her cry. She is a

strong young child.

Mother

Mother leaves the film

early on, she leaves her

two children alone at the

beginning of an air raid

leaving her burned by a

bomb fire , she doesn’t

survive.

Aunt

The Aunt, is a distant one.

And she is disapproving

also, she calls the kids

pests and gives them a

hard time for eating her

food, and singing during

war time.

Introduction to Film & TextGrave of the Fireflies is based on real life events that happened to the writer of the 35 page story by

Author Nosaka Akiyuki. In the article “Laughter and Tears: The Complex Narratives of Showa

Gesaku Writer Nosaka Akiyuki ” I have found that the writer takes the things that had happened in

his life and write stories to re leave some of the pain from his life. When he wrote Hotaru no haka

(Grave of the Fireflies) he is “Telling lies” (Hiroko 296) as he had been his whole life, these lies how

ever on based on the truth as I've said before all of these theme come from real life experiences. A

theme that he lies about in Hotaru no haka is that of what is was like to be an orphan for him. He is

not really ling about what is was like but more bringing a imaginative twist to his work to make the

reader able to handle the events of his life. For example as an orphan he was the one who killed

his sister by sealing food from her and hitting her over the head. In the story he lies so that setsuko

can be looked at as a good caring boy so the audience will want to follow his story. If he told the

truth then the audience would be appalled and think of him as the villain. (Hiroko pg 300) This is

interesting to know because it shows you how a real orphan has grown to become a story teller

and spread the information of what its like to be an orphan. The theme of Orphans is shared with

the viewer by showing how the parents are lost and what they do to survive after the loss of their

parents.

Major ThemesAll of the themes it covers are social issues such as, War ,Orphans and Hunger.

The theme of War is covered in the film as it takes place during world war 2, All the events that are

occurring are the product of the wars air raids on Japan. It shows the Planes dropping bombs and

people running away trying to make it into a bomb shelter in time. It gives a live action feeling of

what it would be like to be living in a time of war. It shows the pain of losing both parents to war.

One parents life is lost by innocent bystander and the other is lost fighting in the war. The children

are then left orphaned with no one in the community able to afford to help them.

Once the children are orphaned the issue of hunger comes into play. All orphans have this issue as

there is no parent to provide food to them. The issue begins with the two children being forced to

sell their mothers clothing for rice. Then they try living of the land which consisted of lake water and

frogs. Once they are hungry enough they begin to steal what they can to get food. But this leads to

trouble. When you are living off near to nothing the issue of malnourishment comes into play and

that is how this story ends with both children dying from lack of nutrition.

Cultural & Historical AspectsJapan is known to have been a bit reticent to examine their own behavior during the end of WWII, as

demonstrated in the article “Coming to Terms with the Past: Japan”. In the article, the whitewashing

of some historical aspects of Japan’s actions in World War II are clearly laid out. The fact that this

film is able to scrutinize the behavior of people during war speaks volumes about the Japan’s

growing acceptance of human fallibility.

This film also illuminates some of the cultural aspects of Japan’s nuclear family and the roles that each

member is expected to assume. Often older siblings are tasked with taking over some of the

parenting responsibilities. Firstborn girls are expected to assist with preparing meals and lunches

for their other siblings or waking them up in the morning, older boys are tasked with getting work

and helping to bring in money to maintain the household or achieving good grades in order to bring

the family honor. It is apparent in some of Setsuko’s actions (scolding Seita for sitting rudely at their

table, her purse full of coins and marbles) that had she been a little bit older, she would have

naturally settled into the expected norm of responsible, supportive sister and future caretaker of a

household.

For his part, Seita struggles to put food on the table and take care of his little sister, assuming the dual

role of provider and caretaker.

Even in the face of their extremely difficult circumstance, both siblings appear to be unwittingly

attempting to adhere to the expected social norms of their culture of that period.

Technical AspectsGrave of the Fireflies is a traditional Japanese animation film created by Studio Ghibli on 35mm film.

It was created concurrently with another popular Studio Ghibli film, My Neighbor Totoro due to the fact

that Grave of the Fireflies received funding for its production, while the pitch for My Neighbor Totoro

failed. Thus, the Ghibli team worked on the two films at the same time– causing occasional bouts

of confusion for the artists and collaborators.

The film received multiple awards, including in 1994 the Animation Jury Award and Rights of the Child

award in the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival and a Blue Ribbon award Special

Award in 1989.

Video Clips

Roger Ebert Reviews Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies English Trailer

Grave of the Fireflies Live Action Trailer

Works CitedGrave of the Fireflies, Dir. Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli, 1988. Film.

Cockerill, Hiroko. “Laughter and Tears: The Complex Narratives of Showa Gesaku Writer Nosaka

Akiyuki”. Academic Search Complete, December 2007

Kersten, Rikki. “Coming to Terms with the Past: Japan”. History Today; Mar2004, Vol. 54 Issue 3, p20-

22, 3p

Hasegawa, Koichi. Shinohara, Chika. Broadbent, Jeffrey. “The Effects of 'Social Expectation' on the

Development of Civil Society in Japan”. Journal of Civil Society; Sep2007, Vol. 3 Issue 2, p179-

203, 25p, 1 Diagram, 3 Charts, 5 Graphs, 1 Map