A Japanese parable - and not just an anti-war film

Rating: 9/10 (2 May 2020)

While many western viewers will see this film as a beautiful anti-war film that it unmistakably turns out to be, there is another side to it that most people unfamiliar with the Japanese culture will have overlooked, or simply been unaware of.
While war is terrible, "Grave of the Fireflies" is really a Japanese parable of the "ants and grasshopper" story. In may ways, and as the title of the film suggests, this is a film about creatures who burn brightly, but die quickly. There are many occasions during the course of the story where our young characters doom themselves to their fate through laziness and breaking many Japanese customs, such as hard work, social cohesion, and cooperation.
That's why I wasn't crying at the end. While tragic, I know that from the Japanese perspective that their fates were completely avoidable, and that more than ever, the onset of war and chaos is no reason to deviate from them.