Touching but not a classic

Rating: 7/10 (24 October 2006)

Grave of the Fireflies is based on a true story. The central characters are an orphaned brother and much younger sister in WW2 Japan. The city of Kobe has recently come under Allied fire bombing and most of the wooden houses have burned down including that of Seita and Setsuko. The children first live with a family friend who quickly becomes very nasty. They then move to a bomb shelter and try to survive the war.
I like the fact that this film is anti-war and it does tell a touching story. But, I don't consider it, on first viewing, to be quite the classic it's made out to be. To be honest, I couldn't get into the whole anime thing. Even the faces were not realistic. If this had been a real movie with real actors, it would have been tougher to make, but the impact (for me) would have been far greater. Some of the plot points didn't make sense either. If Seita could access all that money in his mothers account, why did Setsuko have to reach a point of starvation for him to get his hands on it.
Please don't let my views on this film discourage you from watching it. Overall, it is a good film and very well perceived by critics and IMDb voters.