"Why must the fireflies die so soon?"

Rating: 9/10 (26 July 2007)

...a little girl asked.
And I wish that I had an answer.
The title (Grave of the Fireflies) probably sounds more fitted to a horror movie. Perhaps it is, but a different kind of horror- it depicts the horrors of World War II.
It follows the story of Seta and Setsuko, two Japanese army children whose father is at war, and whose mother dies of burn injuries following an air raid on their city. They then go to live with their aunt on their father's side, who treats them as second-class members of her household because unlike her daughter and husband, they do not work.
As a result of their aunt's demeaning attitude, a naive Seta decides to leave with his very young sister Setsuko and find some other place to live.
The movie is unlike any movie of its type that I have ever seen- more or less because of the attitude of Seta. He always possessed a bright and happy disposition in the midst of hardship and tried to allow his sister to live as normal a childhood as possible. The movie focuses on the innocent, joyful moments that the two had together, including playing and bathing together and their oft hobby of going out to catch fireflies during the summer nights. We never feel unaware that a war is going on or the struggles the two are facing, but at the same time the special relationship between Seta and Setsuko is more highly emphasized than many of the tragedies going on around them.
The animation of the movie is smooth and life-like. Of course, the coloring and shading of modern anime works exceeds that of this movie, but I can still watch this and be nearly as impressed with it as with either of those.
The fact that it is animated detracts nothing from the feel and flow of the movie. In fact, in many ways it adds to it- at least for me. Those cute moments are made even cuter than they could've been without this; the flashbacks to memories are made even more hauntingly sad.
Either way, this is a movie that cut me like few that I have ever seen in my life. Some movies have made me sad, but only three have brought me to tears. After the movie, I was eating a Popsicle- of all things- and suddenly everything hit me all at once and I bursts into tears.
It was less of an emotional roller-coaster the second time around, but not less of a movie. It's definitely a must-see in both the tragedy and anime genres.