A deeply felt animated drama. (Contains spoilers)

Rating: 10/10 (31 May 2001)

Grave of the Fireflies is a beautiful and subtle drama that happens to be animated and from Japan. While it could be argued that the movie could have been live action, I doubt it would have been as good. For one thing, in 1988, special effects were very expensive (and the pyrotechnics would have been dangerous to the young actors and their stunt doubles) and not as effective (especially if you consider that this is a rather low budget film from Japan). Also, the two leads are dying slowly from starvation, and several scenes show them as being dangerously skinny. Sure, Schindler's List has emaciated people, but it's more risky for a child to be that skinny.
Besides that, I would like to point out a quote from the movie Harvey which explains what I feel about animation better than I could ever say it. Elwood's sister explained the difference between paintings and photographs (somewhat) like this: "I took an art course last summer, and I learned the difference between a fine oil painting and a mechanical thing, such as photograph. A photograph shows only reality. A painting shows the dreams behind the reality."
The most obvious part of the dream in Grave of Fireflies is the sepia-toned ghosts who "narrate" the story by guiding us through their memories. This would be difficult to emulate in live action, and it wouldn't look as "real." The funny thing about animation is that it feels real as long as there is nothing real to compare it to--which is why obvious computer animation mixed with cel animation doesn't blend well, and why movies like Heavy Traffic are effective at being deliberately out of step with reality even though there are live action backgrounds. Grave doesn't use live action backgrounds or computers, which is why it doesn't knock the audience out of the dream.
Another part of the dream (which many people consider to be a flaw) is the typical Japanese limited animation. Movements are often very subdued (though in more comedic movies they would be exaggerated), and sometimes only the lips of one character are moving on screen. But watch Japanese live-action movies like Rashomon, Seven Samurai, or Shall We Dance and you'll find the same sort of scenes. I think it has to do with the traditional styles of Japanese theater (Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku), but I haven't had a chance to study them much.
But all the animation and stylistics are in service of an incredibly tragic story (one person described it as "suicidally depressing"). Based on Akiyuki Nosaka's semi-autobiographical novella, the movie traces the slow deaths of two children who were orphaned near the end of World War II. I can't really describe how moving and disturbing this movie is, except to say that the scene in which Seita cremates his sister will scar your psyche. This is nothing like the more common science fiction anime or hentai that seemingly pollutes the American market. Grave of the Fireflies is true art.