Grave Of The Fireflies

[Prince Asbel]

I got it just this week when my family went to a booksale. They happened across a VHS copy for 50 cents, so they brought it home. I was very impressed. It's different from most anime. It has no magical or spiritual stuff in it at all excluding the ghost element. I really liked it. The dub was good too. So I had another film to add to my slowly but surely growing anime movie collection.

What do you other guys think?

[bigsleepj]

I think its a good movie, but not one I can watch a lot. It has a lot of things that is impressive about it, though, especially its very subtle criticisms about the Imperial Japanese government of the time. Most of this is missed my most viewers, I think.

[ilikegir33]

GotF is a very good movie, but it's also extremely sad. It moved me to the point of tears.

[ClosetOtaku]

I ususally warn potential viewers (many of whom are not normal anime watchers), "If you are in need of depression, this is the anime for you."

At the same time, I think it shows just how powerful anime as an art form can be. One of the few times a 'cartoon' (again, to non-anime viewers) has proven to be a rival of live-action movie fare.

[Roy Mustang]

To me, it was an okay movie. There is just to much hype over this movie and I didn't understand what the big deal was over it.

It didn't help that people told me that I would cry to this movie and all I felt was a little sad, but that was it.
[color="Red"]

[font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[bigsleepj]

It didn't help that people told me that I would cry to this movie and all I felt was a little sad, but that was it.

I think that's a mistake to make with the movie, to go into it expecting to cry. If a viewer pays too much attention to what should make you cry you might miss what the movie is actually about. The fact that most people regard it as a tear-jerker is entirely a side-effect of what the animators set out to do, which was to tell a war story from the point-of-view of two children living in Japan in the latter days of World War II. But you and I have discussed this before.

[Roy Mustang]

I think that's a mistake to make with the movie, to go into it expecting to cry. If a viewer pays too much attention to what should make you cry you might miss what the movie is actually about. The fact that most people regard it as a tear-jerker is entirely a side-effect of what the animators set out to do, which was to tell a war story from the point-of-view of two children living in Japan in the latter days of World War II. But you and I have discussed this before.

Well, I understand what the movie was about and all. I think it was hearing too much hype over this movie that killed it for me as liking that that much.

[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang
[/font][/color]

[bigsleepj]

It's a sad fact of life; hype always kills a movie.

[Prince Asbel]

I knew I might be a little depressed, but I don't ALWAYS rate a movie on the outcome.

[SPOILER]I was more depressed of the fact that they died 1. Because Seta (Or Saita, I've never seen it spelled yet.) couldn't swallow his pride and go back to his aunt, and 2. Because they had the money to live, but for some unknown reason he never bothered using it till it was too late. That depressed me more than anything, because I knew from the start that they would die.[/SPOILER]

[bigsleepj]

..2. Because they had the money to live, but for some unknown reason he never bothered using it till it was too late.

The reason, I think, Seita never used the money was because he wanted to save it for better days, ultimately because he had total and complete trust in the Japanese army. He knew felt for certain that they were going to win, so why did he need to be wasteful? It was his trust in the government and the military (and maybe his own father) that caused him to act so foolishly. If I'm not mistaken, the director never intended Seita to be the most sympathetic character.

[Prince Asbel]

The reason, I think, Seita never used the money was because he wanted to save it for better days, ultimately because he had total and complete trust in the Japanese army. He knew felt for certain that they were going to win, so why did he need to be wasteful? It was his trust in the government and the military (and maybe his own father) that caused him to act so foolishly. If I'm not mistaken, the director never intended Seita to be the most sympathetic character.

Hm. That may explain it. But I wish they'd make points like this clear in the movie. It always makes me angry when horribly bad things happen because a character was too stupid to understand the obvious.

[MasterDias]

That's what sort of irritated me about the movie as well. The fact that all of it could have been easily avoided if he had made better choices.

However, the movie is actually based on a semi-autobiographical novel, intended as a personal apology to the author's own sister, who also died of malnutrition in the closing days of World War II. Put into perspective, that explains some things.

[ADXC]

Yeah, it was a good movie. And it will make you feel sad, possibly even cry. But I do think all anime viewers should see it.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

Yeah, it was a good movie. And it will make you feel sad, possibly even cry.

And that is why when it was first shown in Japan, it was a double feature with "My Neighbor Totoro"...can you imagine all the little kids walking out the theatre bawling their eyes out? Good choice!

[GrubbTheFragger]

A true tragedy. A A plus movie. It was a hard movie to enjoy because of the themes.

[Roy Mustang]

And that is why when it was first shown in Japan, it was a double feature with "My Neighbor Totoro"...can you imagine all the little kids walking out the theatre bawling their eyes out? Good choice!

Not really, the double feature theatrical release was a commercial failure, because Grave of the Fireflies turn away most audiences.


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[KhakiBlueSocks]

Not really, the double feature theatrical release was a commercial failure, because Grave of the Fireflies turn away most audiences.


Col. Roy Mustang

Really? Facinating...I stand corrected.

Win.

[rocklobster]

I think this is one of the most important movies ever made. Like Schindler's List, it shows the harsh realities of war.

[Prince Asbel]

That's what sort of irritated me about the movie as well. The fact that all of it could have been easily avoided if he had made better choices.

However, the movie is actually based on a semi-autobiographical novel, intended as a personal apology to the author's own sister, who also died of malnutrition in the closing days of World War II. Put into perspective, that explains some things.

Hmmm... So this may have actually happened. That would be interesting to know. How it happened in real life in relation to the anime.

[Roy Mustang]

Really? Facinating...

Yeah, the character goods of Totoro sold extremely well after the film and it made an overall profit for the company that it stabilised funding for other productions of Ghibli studio.

How it happened in real life in relation to the anime.

The real life story of Akiyuki Nosaka, the one that wrote the book was he was the son of Sukeyuki Nosaka, a sub-governor of Niigata. But he and sisters, (I don't know how many sisters he had) were adopted children of Harimaya in kobe, Hyogo. Two of his sisters died, one from sickness and the other died from malnutrition and his adoptive father died during the firebombing of Kobe in 1945.

One thing to note about the movie is, the director Isao Takahata was the only living animator involved on the project who had survived bomb blasts during WWII.

[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[minakichan]

I always hear Grave of the Fireflies mentioned with Barefoot Gen.

I just saw Barefoot Gen and hated it. Normally, I love depressing movies about war and survival, etc (Life is Beautiful is one of my favorite films of all time), but Barefoot Gen... I dunno, a lot of people defend it because it's "dated" and "a bit foreign to modern sensibilities," but I call bad voice acting and terrible visuals (...zombie movie?! "DON'T FEED THEM WATER, THEN THEY DIE!") just a bad movie.

How would you compare Grave of the Fireflies to Barefoot Gen, if you've seen both? The subject matter is similar, so I think it's an interesting comparison. I want to see a good depressing movie.

[Tsukuyomi]

I cried when I saw that movie u_u It was sad when

[Spoiler]the little girl died [/Spoiler]

[KhakiBlueSocks]

I always hear Grave of the Fireflies mentioned with Barefoot Gen.

I just saw Barefoot Gen and hated it. Normally, I love depressing movies about war and survival, etc (Life is Beautiful is one of my favorite films of all time), but Barefoot Gen... I dunno, a lot of people defend it because it's "dated" and "a bit foreign to modern sensibilities," but I call bad voice acting and terrible visuals (...zombie movie?! "DON'T FEED THEM WATER, THEN THEY DIE!") just a bad movie.

How would you compare Grave of the Fireflies to Barefoot Gen, if you've seen both? The subject matter is similar, so I think it's an interesting comparison. I want to see a good depressing movie.

I have seen both, and I must respectfully disagree with you, but I'm not going to start a dispute with it. I'm just going to say that I prefer Barefoot Gen to Grave of the Fireflies because Barefoot Gen kinda gave a clearer illusion of hope for the future in it's ending than Grave of the Fireflies did.

I do wonder which version of Barefoot Gen did you see--the original version or the re-release that came out about a year or so ago? From what I heard, the re-release was worse than the original.

[inuyasha89]

I havn't seen GotF yet, but I've been wanting to see it for about a year or so. It's so hard for me to find older anime movies around here, normally just online. Related: I finally found a copy of Akira today. I already saw it but I wanted my own copy...its hard to find around here. ANYWAY, GotF is the next anime I'm going to look for, everything i've heard is good.