Grave of the Fireflies

In 1988, Studio Ghibli released a film that was somewhat out of character for them. Prior releases, Castle in the Sky and My Neighbor Totoro, were whimsical and fantastical outings, staging Studio Ghibli to some as a Japanese answer to the works of The Walt Disney Company. This reputation would stay with them for decades, as Ghibli continued to release uplifting fantasy films well into the turn of the century. Even now, as we look back on the entirety of Studio Ghibli’s catalogue, there’s one Isao Takahata film that stands out from the bunch – and no, it’s not Earwig and the Witch, though that does stand out for all the wrong reasons.

Grave of the Fireflies is easily the darkest film in Studio Ghibli’s catalogue, and I would go as far as to say that it’s also one of the darkest animated films ever made. A harrowing look at a tale of two siblings living in the aftermath of the bombing of Kobe in 1945, Grave of the Fireflies is a film that has recently re-entered public discourse, as a new generation discovers how unflinchingly honest, and undeniably beautiful, this movie truly is. So, I figured it was appropriate to give my thoughts on Takahata’s masterpiece, in our first ‘review in retrospect’ here on Nerdy Nook. Spoilers do lie ahead, because we’re going deep on the discussion here. Let’s talk about Grave of the Fireflies, the most beautiful film that I’ll, most likely, never watch again.

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Grave of the Fireflies Review

Image by Toho

Grave of the Fireflies is often renowned as one of the greatest animated films ever made, and considering we’ve awarded it a perfect score here on Nerdy Nook, it’s clear that I’m not here to challenge this opinion. Personally, Grave of the Fireflies has always been my favourite Studio Ghibli movie, a preference that has earned me some judgmental looks from my peers in the past, who associate Ghibli with the magic of Howl’s Moving Castle, or the innocence of Whisper of the Heart. My love for Grave of the Fireflies is also quite ironic, considering it’s likely that I’ll never watch this movie in its entirety again, unless I get some off-the-cuff urge to be emotionally devastated by it. However, I would argue that anyone who truly loves this film recognises that it’s a tough rewatch, and that’s exactly what makes it so special in its field.

Unflinching from its earliest moments, Grave of the Fireflies is a movie that delivers one of the most raw and unfiltered looks at wartime life in the genre, a feat that’s especially impressive for an animated movie, a medium where it inherently takes more work to ensure that your audience connects with the characters on-screen. I believe that Grave of the Fireflies succeeds in its portrayal of war thanks, at least in part, to how comparatively subdued it is. From the film’s opening scenes, where we watch the fire bombing of Kobe take place, there’s a distinct lack of dramatisation going on. There’s no epic, terrifying score pounding in the background, our central characters don’t scream soliloquies in the midst of the carnage. Instead, Grave of the Fireflies depicts war when it’s at its most haunting – when it seems casual. There’s a real eeriness to how Seita calmly washes his sister’s face in complete, calm silence, while the viewer can still hear planes overhead. If this weren’t animated, it would almost feel as though we were watching real footage of such an event, and that’s what makes it work so well, in these opening scenes, and beyond.

Surprisingly, there’s little to say about the actual plot of Grave of the Fireflies, at least on a surface level. It’s a semi-autobiographical story about a young boy taking care of his younger sister in the aftermath of wartime bombings in Japan. However, there’s a lot to say when it comes to how the film has been digested by critics over the years, and how the film’s reputation seems to stand opposed to director Isao Takahata’s vision. Takahata has always argued that Grave of the Fireflies is not an anti-war film, and I believe that the calmness and lack of dramatisation that I mentioned above is exactly what speaks to his point. Grave of the Fireflies is an intensely personal movie, as opposed to a grandiose commentary on the horrors of war. While Seita and Setsuko’s environment is very clearly influenced by the ongoing war, and the events of the film are shaped by the conflict, I would argue that the war itself is not the focal point of Grave of the Fireflies, despite how it lingers over the plot in an unshakeable way.

Image by Toho

Seita is not a soldier in Grave of the Fireflies. Like his sister, he’s a civilian, connected to the events of the war through his father, a Japanese Navy Captain, but a civilian all the same. We never even see the children’s father throughout the entire runtime of Grave of the Fireflies, pushing even further the idea that this is not a film that is intrinsically ‘about war’. The war in Grave of the Fireflies pushes our characters to make a number of pivotal decisions, but the film, and the original 1967 novel on which it’s based, are both far more concerned with these personal, character-driven decisions, than any of the workings of the war itself. In fact, if Grave of the Fireflies has any antagonist to its name, it would be the children’s aunt, whom they move in with after their mother is killed in the Kobe bombing.

Many viewers find Seita and Setsuko’s aunt unbearably reprehensible when they first watch Grave of the Fireflies, and this certainly isn’t an opinion that improves too much on a rewatch. Knowing how the film ends makes her treatment of Setsuko and Seita all the more frustrating to watch. However, I think it’s wrong to blame the aunt for the outcome of the film, especially when you consider the nature of Akiyuki Nosaka’s 1967 novel. Nosaka penned Grave of the Fireflies as a semi-autobiographical apology to his younger sister, Keiko, who died of malnutrition in the aftermath of the Kobe bombing. With Seita representing Nosaka in the novel, and Setsuko representing Keiko, it’s hard to believe that Grave of the Fireflies’ intention is for the viewer to blame Seita’s aunt for Setsuko’s death. In actuality, it’s Seita’s decision to leave his aunt’s home in the wake of her treatment of him and his sibling that is the crux of Grave of the Fireflies, and separates the film from being an ‘anti-war’ film into an autobiographical, apologetic reflection on a very personal turn of events.

Do the events of WW2 set the events of Grave of the Fireflies into motion? For sure, undeniably. However, Grave of the Fireflies is almost distinctly uninterested in the events of WW2, and is far more interested in the character of Seita, and how by the end of the film, he harbours a number of regrets in how he handled his life with Setsuko. It’s left to the viewer to decide how justified he was in leaving his aunt’s home, and how much that decision played into the eventual decline of his sister’s health. Did his pride cause his sister’s death, or was he pushed to the brink by his aunt? With all of these questions involved in the narrative, it’s not hard to see why Takahata resents the idea of the film being dubbed simply an ‘anti-war’ story. War caused all of this, sure, but Grave of the Fireflies is a look at Seita. The most haunting question in the narrative is a very personal one – ‘what would have happened had they stayed with their aunt?’.

Image by Toho

Now, this is not to say that Grave of the Fireflies dismisses the war as only a backdrop to the film’s personal story. In fact, the ending of the film features a fairly blatant, and surprisingly obvious compared to the rest of the movie, commentary on class and wealth in the aftermath of the war in Japan. A group of wealthy women return home in the film’s closing moments, remarking on how ‘nothing has changed’ with their home, celebrating the fact that they can enjoy their gramophone again, and enjoying the lavish view, as they look out over the nook where Setsuko passed away. With this, Grave of the Fireflies proves itself to not be a story concerned with war itself, but rather the human reaction to war, how it pushes innocents towards devastating circumstances and subsequent decisions, and how wealth and power can make people blind to the suffering of others.

The most powerful decision made in Grave of the Fireflies is the decision to keep the viewer away from the battlefield. We stay with Seita and Setsuko throughout the vast majority of the film, forging a bond with them as characters, to the point that it’s easy at times to forget about the war raging on behind them. Setsuko’s death as a result of malnutrition at the climax of the film is far more devastating than the siblings losing their lives in a bombing, or as a result of some fatal wound. In the case of say, a bombing, viewers are left with the ‘what-if’ scenario being far too ambitious – ‘what-if the war never happened?’. Grave of the Fireflies presents a ‘what-if’ that’s far more haunting – ‘what-if Seita had made different decisions?’. The simplicity of this question is what inspires the tragedy of Grave of the Fireflies, as Seita, and his real-life counterpart, Nosaka, likely continue to ponder this question long after their sister is gone.

In this sense, on the surface Grave of the Fireflies may come across as a fairly simple film, a story that follows an easy-to-follow route, and hits its viewer with an emotional gut-punch in the finale. In reality, there’s far more to this narrative than meets the eye, as Grave of the Fireflies continues Studio Ghibli’s trend of presenting stories that can be enjoyed on their merit alone, but are plenty thought-provoking for viewers who want to go further. It helps with the emotional factor that the film’s score is so beautiful, as Michio Mamiya composes a score that perfectly encapsulates the divide between the innocence of Seita and Setsuko with the menacing world they live in.

Image by Toho

Visually, Grave of the Fireflies is quite a far cry from the colourful, wondrous landscapes of the studio’s other films, but this is fitting given the tone of its story. The film’s pacing is also spectacular, given how easily the weight of its story could’ve made it a drag to sit through. There’s something impressive about how a movie can be so depressing, visually and narratively, and yet also conduct so much magic, and stir so many emotions in its viewer. It’s pretty remarkable that this film was ever made, but thank goodness it was. There may be none of that traditional Studio Ghibli fantasy here, but that doesn’t mean that Grave of the Fireflies shouldn’t stand alongside its more family-friendly peers as one of the greats.

It’s hard for me to say that I recommend Grave of the Fireflies, because I feel like if I told anyone to watch this, they would hold a grudge against me for destroying their heart. Despite my perfect score for this film, it’s a very tough watch, unrelentingly upsetting at pretty much every pivotal plot point. However, it’s a film that I think everyone should watch, at least once. I don’t think people should watch Grave of the Fireflies because they need to be told that ‘war is bad’. Rather, I think it should be experienced for what it is – a beautiful reflection on a highly-personal tragedy, told through the eyes of two children that represent thousands, if not more, of other children who had to grow up during this period in Japan. Also, Grave of the Fireflies should be appreciated as a painful apology, from an author looking back on his life, and portraying his experiences in a powerfully honest way. The word ‘masterpiece’ gets thrown around far too much these days, but if anything deserves the title, it would be Grave of the Fireflies.

That’s all for our Grave of the Fireflies discussion! I enjoyed diving back into this film, despite how sad it was, but sometimes, it’s good to explore those darker emotions! What are your thoughts on this film? Do you believe that Grave of the Fireflies is an anti-war film, or do you agree with Isao Takahata? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and thank you for reading!

See also: The Top 10 Best Anime of 2025

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Where to Watch Grave of the Fireflies?

Image by Toho

You can stream Grave of the Fireflies globally on Netflix. This film has a habit of disappearing from streaming services, so be sure to watch it as soon as you can!

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