A touching and sad story about survival during wartime

Rating: 9/10 (1 August 2011)

(ENG dub, ENG sub)
The story is about two young children; Seita, a young teenager, and his little sister Setsuko, around 4. Due to air raids their village gets burned down and they've to abandon their house. With their mother soon passing away because of heavy burns and their father in the navy, the two become orphans. They move in with their aunt, who rather soon starts to act cruel and give them less and less food. Being unwelcome and criticized, Seita decided to move once more and they choose the caves on the hills as their new house. There, they enjoy the light of the fireflies. But as the war continues, food becomes scarce. Pure out of desperation to feed Setsuko and himself, Seita starts stealing crops. But unfortunately the health of Setsuko is deteriorating fast due to malnutrition. Her smiles and laughs are gone; instead she becomes more and more quiet
The emotional story unfolds itself very slowly. A lot of effort is put in the seemingly unimportant events, which gives the characters more depth. It's great to see how Seita copes with the situation at hand. He has to be strong, not only for himself, but also for Setsuko. It's rare to see so much beauty in an animation. There are some breathtaking and dramatic scenes, which I won't spoil of course. It's safe to say, this animated movie will move you, it's that real!
My score: 9 out of 10 My rating: PG or 6 (NL)