A masterpiece, both in its skillful animation and its heartbreaking tale.

Rating: 8/10 (4 January 2007)

I watched 'Grave of the Fireflies' about five minutes ago. I immediately recognised it was one of the best films I have seen, animation or otherwise. I sat, stunned through the ending credits, listening to the beautiful score. I love animated films that make you feel something, and I rank this next to 'Happy Feet' as one of the best animations I've ever seen.
The storyline revolves around Seita, a fourteen-year-old boy, and his little sister, Setsuko, who is four. The film details their journey of survival during World War II, and their tender and poignant relationship.
The animation is beautiful, and sometimes amazingly detailed and realistic. It makes sense that a film about Japan would be done in a Japanese animation style. The version of the film I watched was the English dubbed version, which I think detracts from the film as you notice that the lip movements do not quite match the words. So, I would recommend the Japanese version with subtitles.
The first line of the film shocked me, to tell you the truth.
"September 21st, 1945 - that was the night I died." - Seita.
This line shocked me because September 21st is my birthday. I actually rewound the tape to check that's what Seita actually said. I think the film's opening is fantastic, because knowing how the film ends only makes it more tragic, because you keep on hoping for a different outcome. It gives the film a sense of wholeness, having the end at the beginning, and then the events beforehand, thereafter.
It's really quite moving, which some people might find really weird seeing as it's an animation, but the animation is poetic and not distracting. I think I'll be recommending this film to a lot of people.