Grave of the Fireflies

[Mr. SmartyPants]

only one thing can express how I feel after watching this just now:

T_____T

That was seriously like, one of the most depressing, smacked-into-reality, movies I have ever seen! Has anybody else watched this work of art?

[Bobtheduck]

Yes
I own it, though I lent my DVD out and dont' know if I'll ever see it again...

[Tenshi no Ai]

I bought it blindly because you know, it's Ghibli and everyone kept raving how great it was.... so depressing I had to sell it to EB Games for half the price :/ I'm honestly not a fan of the director (forget his name) either :/

[Nia-chan]

I don't know how to make spoiler boxes, so I won't leave any comments, but I didn't really like it.. I guess that type of anime just isn't my style.. : (

[Mangafanatic]

I spent a straight week being depressed after this one. I own it, but I hope I never have to see it again. *puts Grave of Fire Flies in the corner for being depressing* While it was nice piece for perspective's sake, my little female heart just can't take kids in pain.

[Rogie]

Don't talk about it. I'll only cry again. Like Osaka, I own it, but can't watch it again due to the sadness. A great movie for a collection and to show to non-anime fans, especially when someone needs a tearjerker or a reality bite.

[mysticalsphynx]

I remember watching it years ago and just sort of sitting in shock, staring at the screen when it ended. I couldn't believe it was so sad! (and it had looked to good). I think I watched something really happy after it, just to get my spirits back up.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

*puts Grave of Fire Flies in the corner for being depressing*

::picks up Grave of the Fireflies and gives her big, sad puppy dog eyes:: Can I borrow it?

I got mine from the library and saw it for the first time about a month ago...it was a great movie--very moving, very thought provoking. The love the brother had for his sister was nothing short of beautiful, as was the imagery used throughout the film.

[Rev. Doc]

I think I watched something really happy after it, just to get my spirits back up.

Exactly why they had to show My Neighbor Totoro as a double feature when Grave Of The Fireflies was originally released in Japan.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

Exactly why they had to show My Neighbor Totoro as a double feature when Grave Of The Fireflies was originally released in Japan.

Oh yeah! I remember reading about that somewhere! They did show Totoro to cheer up the kiddies after "Fireflies"...I couldn't think of a better movie to do it!


Edit: I remembered where I read that from!

This film was initially distributed with Tonari no Totoro (1988) because it was thought that this film was so depressing that a cheerful companion film was needed to lift the audience's spirits.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I also watched the Live Action version just now (Yes there is a live action one!)

There were some notable differences

[spoiler]-The LA movie was an hour longer. At around 2 and a half hours long.
-The aunt did some other mean things. Like give less food and stuff. She also had 4 children instead of one
-Much more character development with the aunt and cousins.
-The LA movie was narrated by the Aunt's oldest daughter. But it was a flashback sort of. A retelling so to speak.
-The father played a role in the movie.
-The relation between Seita's Mother and his aunt were different. In the anime, the aunt was the mother's brother. In the LA movie, the aunt and the mother's grandmothers were cousins.
-The aunts oldest daughter had a bigger role
-Seita seems to be a bit more emotional in the LA movie.
-Se-chan dies outside by a tree in the LA movie. In the anime she dies inside their shelter[/spoiler]
I felt that the movie had some more emotion than the anime. I was able to be drawn closer to the characters in the LA movie. But the anime had the more... ehhh... "real" feeling I guess. It was darker so to speak. I can't really describe it. Both were simply amazing. And the ending was well-put in both of them, with the anime's being a bit better

[Tenshi no Ai]

Exactly why they had to show My Neighbor Totoro as a double feature when Grave Of The Fireflies was originally released in Japan.

No wonder Totoro is so short... but I can see it now
*kids crying after first movie... Totoro goes by*
"Ooooh giant fluffy thing^^"

Heh here's an interesting idea for a double feature: start off with something liek Pearl Harbour and THEN watch Graveyard right after and see which has the most emotional impact.

I heard that the movie Tora! Tora! (tiger tiger?) was another movie on Pearl Harbour that was played in a classroom (not sure if it was at my school or not) and the Japanese exhcnage student started crying. :/ Don't blame them :/ War stinks v_v

I also watched the Live Action version just now (Yes there is a live action one!)

Oh yeah I forgot about that^^ I'm looking more forward to the Saikano movie... hopefully it will NOT have the sex scenes in it :/

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I heard that the movie Tora! Tora! (tiger tiger?) was another movie on Pearl Harbour that was played in a classroom (not sure if it was at my school or not) and the Japanese exhcnage student started crying. :/ Don't blame them :/ War stinks v_v

I've seen a bit of that in school. Did you know that movie used actual clips from the pearl harbor attack?

[soul alive]

I thought this film was beautifully done. We watched GotF for cultural reference in my History of Japan class last semester. I didn't go watch it because I own it, and had just watched it a few weeks previous to when the class was watching it, and I didn't feel up to seeing it again, especially so soon.

I sniffled through the end of the movie and got very depressed afterward and ended up crying myself to sleep. I don't know if I could watch this again, at least by myself. T_T

*passes around box of kleenex*

I really ought to see My Neighbor Totoro sometime.

[bigsleepj]

Grave of the Fireflies is one of the best movies I've seen, live-action or otherwise. I can't say more...

[rocklobster]

I have yet to see this one, but I want to so bad. Oh, and the director is Isao Takahata, who also directed Only Yesterday and Pom Poko. I don't mind tearjerkers. One of my favorite movies is Ghost, and that's pretty sad.

[Naga Kisaki]

I rented the movie, and watched it. I have a younger sister, and after watching the movie I just wanted to hold her and know she was all right.

That movie is said, though I didn't cry very much (I dont usually cry...) Ifelt the ending was horrible, because I wanted to know what happened next.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I thought it had a relatively good ending. Dispite it's sheer sadness. I think the realization is that
[spoiler]There was absolutely no real hope for them.[/spoiler]

[That Dude]

This is such a great movie...Though as others have said I don't know when I'll be able to watch it again. It was quite possibelly (for some reason my mind isn't working and I can't spell that word) the saddest movie that I've seen in ny whole life.

[termyt]

I heard that the movie Tora! Tora! (tiger tiger?) was another movie on Pearl Harbour that was played in a classroom (not sure if it was at my school or not) and the Japanese exhcnage student started crying. :/ Don't blame them :/ War stinks v_v

"Tora, tora, tora" was the radio call the Japanese scout plane used to signal that the US fleet was in Pearl Harbor and the attack could commence.

There were a lot of really bad things that happened to all sides during the Second World War. When governments fight, the people suffer. The lesson is that, to mangle another analogy, war is a tool in the country’s shed, but it is a wet saw – a tool with a very specific purpose that is hardly ever used. Diplomacy is the common, every day use hammer.

Anyway, I think Grave is a fantastic movie. I've seen it at least three times. It is sad, but it does not depress me. Instead, I see a movie full of love and promise in a hopeless situation.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

Heh here's an interesting idea for a double feature: start off with something liek Pearl Harbour and THEN watch Graveyard right after and see which has the most emotional impact.

Wouldn't that be a little TOO depressing? I mean, war is a downer by itself, but to watch it TWICE is a little rough, don't you think?

[yukinon]

Sometimes it's a good thing to be depressed when it means facing reality. Try watching Grave of the Fireflies and Samurai X:Reflection in the same night. I did. Sad, but unbelievably beautiful.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

Sometimes it's a good thing to be depressed when it means facing reality. Try watching Grave of the Fireflies and Samurai X:Reflection in the same night. I did. Sad, but unbelievably beautiful.

After that, I would have to watch every Studio Ghibli film ever made to cheer me up!

[Linksquest]

Exactly why they had to show My Neighbor Totoro as a double feature when Grave Of The Fireflies was originally released in Japan.

Well to quote: http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/totoro/faq.html#grave

"...no one thought that people would want to see "a movie about a two little kids and a monster in rural Japan", and "Totoro" was considered a big investment risk. Still, Miyazaki and the editors of "Animage" wanted to make this movie, which was Miyazaki's pet project for a long time. So they thought up the idea of risk-sharing. "Grave" was a well-known novel, and because of its "educational" value, a certain level of audience could be expected. (Indeed, "Grave" was chosen by many school boards as a movie to show their students - and "Totoro" along with it, since it was in the package.)"

So it was more of trying to get Totoro marketed... using Grave of the Fireflies as something that could get people to watch Totoro... yet the happyness after the sadness was also something intended.


SUCH A GOOD MOVIE. I would have to say it is my favorite because the story is so good. The order in which the story unfolds is even artistic: knowing at the beginning that they die.

It was a really great story. It was based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka. It really was a thought provoker. It was really sad and I found myself crying a few times in it (yes I can and do cry!). It was a viewpoint that not many Americans ever get to experience. I think this movie has the potential to change a lot of opinions on anime in general as well as Japan and the War.

The character development was really well done. I really felt attached to the characters which is something that is really hard to do as a writer/film maker.

One of my favs! I loved it.

[yukinon]

I enjoyed seeing the other side of the story. Even now, when it comes to World War II era Japan (and Germany) it is very easy for Americans to villianize the entire country. This movie lets us know that there were innocents involved, something we often conveniently ignore.

[termyt]

Good point. We would do well to remember both sides of the story. It's easy to sight the Baton Death March or the rape of Nanking as reasons to believe the Japanese were without conscience or even compassion. But they are people just like we are and many of their civilians suffered much more than we know.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I guess it's also worthwile to know that Japan sort of villianized americans too. When the Americans were setting up bases and stuff in Japan, they were afraid that they would rape the woman and kill the children, like they were monsters. Large numbers of suicides occured because of this. (Plus government propaganda promoting suicide)

[termyt]

All things considered, it's a wonder the occupation went as well as it did. There are few (if any) examples of better reconstruction periods in the past.

[Destroyer2000]

Hm...I'm going on a trip with the yearbook committee in a week or so, and none of them are anime fans, as fatr as I know. Would this be good to show there? I've never seen it, but I would like to know how depressing it really is. Considering it is a 4 day trip, and there are 2 guys and 13 girls...lots of crying? Maybe I'm just morbid.

[yukinon]

I don't think it would really be.....a fun trip/diversion/entertainment thing, if that's what you're looking for.