Grave of the Fireflies
Following the success of "Grave of the Fireflies", Takahata drew up an outline for a follow-up film, based on similar themes but set in 1939 at the start of the second World War. This film was called "Border 1939", based on the novel "The Border" by Shin Shikata, and would have told the story of a Japanese teenager from colonial Seoul joining an anti-Japanese resistance group in Mongolia. The film was intended as an indictment of Japanese imperialist sentiment, which is briefly touched upon in "Grave of the Fireflies". Although Takahata finished a full outline (which is republished in his book "Thoughts While Making Movies"), the film was canceled before production could start due to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Public opinion in Japan had turned against China, and Ghibli's distributor felt a film partly set there was too risky.