Grave of the Fireflies is a somewhat perplexing anime. Actually, this is true of most of the Studio Ghibli films I've seen; in a medium that is usually high-angst and/or high-action, Ghibli tends to be populated with more down-to-earth characters with more step-at-a-time storylines. You don't watch a Ghibli film for "bigger, better, faster", you watch one because you're enthralled by the magic of Ghibli. Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and (most of all) Kiki's Delivery Service all favor larger-than-life stories in big elaborately detailed worlds over giant robots killing each other with sex lasers. That's what draws me to them in the first place. Grave has the big elaborately detailed world, and it has the down-to-earth characters, and it has the magical appeal that Ghibli alone in the anime kingdom seems to weild. The reason it's perplexing is that most Ghibli films are, more or less, light-hearted tales of young people overcoming insurmountable obstacles. Ashitaka is being devoured by a curse but he still attempts to stave off an enormous war; Kiki loses her magic powers but is still determined and industrious. Chihiro... shouts a lot. Well, okay, but she still un-pig-ified her parents at the end. Happy endings all around.
Characters:
The elder is Seita, who is at or around 15 years old. He's been the man of the house ever since his father went off to fight in the Navy, and after the death of his mother he devotes himself entirely to his younger sister Sansuko, who is barely old enough to walk. The story of Grave is told from Seita's point of view; it starts with his house being destroyed during an air raid and ends with his penniless death in a train station. You're supposed to sympathize with Seita throughout the story, but I found this difficult. Things start to sour after his mother's death when he and Sansuko move in with their aunt. Soon the Evil Aunt starts treating them poorly; feeding them porridge while her own family gets rice, for example. Her apparent qualm is that Seita is lazy; he doesn't go to school and doesn't work, so why should he get a fair share of the family's precious rations? The reason this reflects badly on Seita is that she has a point. In every scene he's reading, or playing with Sansuko, or doing various other nonsense tasks that don't paint him as a very hardworking person. Instead of shaping up and pitching in (the kid doesn't even do his own dishes)
It's downhill from then on. Seita makes a series of bad decisions which lead his sister downhill into illness, starvation and eventually death. By the time he really gets it into his head that he's in a lot of trouble, and takes the actions appropriate to circumvent that trouble, it's far too late. By the end of the movie I was so infuriated with Seita that I almost thought he deserved what he got. Sansuko is a very realistic little girl. She is not cute, she is not precious, and she is not quiet. She whines, cries, complains, and pouts through nearly the entire movie. Which is fine, seeing as how she's four (give or take) and that's how kids that age act. Also, she's being raised by her inept brother and that can't be helping matters. I can't help but wonder how the movie would have gone if Sansuko were several years older; still younger than Seita (and thus still under his wing) but old enough to really understand her surroundings and act accordingly. So in the end I've got a movie where neither of the main characters do much for me. I can't help but wonder if I've got Seita pegged all wrong or if he really is a lazy and proud kid when he has absolutely no reason to be lazy or proud. A scene where Seita is trying to find work but can't, for example, would have done wonders for my sympathy for him (and would have made me hate the Evil Aunt a lot more as a result) but no such scene exists. And in the end Sansuko ends up paying the price for Seita's conduct; a tragic end to be sure but not as tragic as if Sansuko were an adorable little scamp rather than a "real" little sister.
Story:
Seita's aunt is less than hospitible. She wrestles away Seita's mother's kimonos and what little else he has, and then does not allow him to eat the food she received in exchange for them. She belittles and mocks Seita and Sansuko at every opportunity, and drops many not-so-subtle hints that they should be moving on.
Things get so bad for the siblings that Seita actually starts running to town during air rads and looting farms and houses for food or things to trade. This eventually catches up with him as he tries to steal some potatoes and sugar from a local farmer who pummels him into a pulp. Relying on relatives didn't work, supporting himself didn't work, stealing didn't work... and all the time Sansuko is getting worse and worse. One day Seita goes to the bank for the rest of his mother's money (why he didn't do this before is beyond me) to buy some decent food for himself and his sister. While at the bank he overhears some men talking about Japan's surrender, and inadvertantly learns that not only is his father dead but he has been dead for a long time. With the last bit of Seita's faith in his country shattered, he returns to Sansuko with some food and begins preparing dinner. That night, Sansuko goes to sleep and never wakes up. After that, Seita loses his will to live. There isn't much movie left after that point, but we're led to believe he drifts from place to place just waiting to die. And he finally does in a train station, dirty and penniless and absolutely hopeless. A good tragedy can be a beautiful thing, and Grave of the Fireflies is if nothing else a good tragedy. As the world of Seita and Sansuko goes from bad to worse to even worse you get a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach right along with them. The few uplifting pitstops along the way only serve to make the conclusion even more terrible. The reason none of the story is in spoiler text is because the viewer is aware that both Sansuko and Seita are dead from the beginning. The story opens with Seita's death and then flashes back; the entire time you watch the film you know it's coming. It makes every step forward a step into darkness.
Animation:
I've always championed Studio Ghibli's decision to "cast" more realistic characters in their anime than the pin-up models or rock-hard hunks that populate most anime, and Grave uses this to great effect. Seita is so scrawny (even when not malnourished) that his clothes drape off of him loosely, and Sansuko is pudgy around the face and limbs just like your chunky four-year-old niece who eats crayons. The characters move in an almost eerily realistic fashion, especially Sansuko who stumbles and trips and doubles back over her own steps. It's little touches like this that set not only Grave but all Ghibli films apart from most other animation studios. The film does show its age, though, in some moments when the framerate clicks along like the DVD is skipping. Small movements (such as when people are trying to chew their food) can look awkward and overacted at times, but nothing that drags the film down too much. You can't really say Grave is a pleasant film to look at, what with all the bomb injuries and ugly rashes and fly-strewn corpses called for by the storyline, but the attention to detail is uncanny. Most certainly a beautiful piece of animation all around.
Culture Shock:
The important thing to keep in mind, I think, is that Grave is a story about the innocent civilians who lived their lives detached from the war. In the context of the story the war has nothing to do with the Allies or the Axis, it's simply a matter of their skies filling up with enemy planes and their homes filling up with bombs. Seita and Sansuko could be any unfortunate kids in any country in the world under these circumstances and the story would be largely the same. The few times "the Americans" are mentioned at all in the film are in a negative light, and rightly so; after all, it's the Americans who are blowing up their homes and killing their family members.
Of course I could be totally off-mark here. Could be that I'm underestimating the typical American viewer, but I wonder. So if you're looking at it from a strict anime standpoint, Grave is pretty culturally neutral; there are foods here we don't eat and clothes we don't wear and little social quirks that we don't understand, but those things are all peripheral. The core of the story is something anyone can see who wants to see it.
Studio Ghibli's forte is telling big stories about little people, and on that note Grave succeeds famously. Though it's a story that makes one's heart hurt it's still a wonderful story, and the thought of being in a situation anywhere near Seita's is incomprehensible to me. It makes one think of how many people all over the world throughout history have been in his shoes; how many firefly-filled graves are there out there? It's depressing to think about. In the end I still haven't hit the soul of Grave of the Fireflies. I can't tell if it's supposed to be just a story or if it's supposed to be some sort of social commentary, or both. I can't tell if I'm supposed to feel sorry for Seita for being forced into a provider role when he is not physically or emotionally ready to handle it, or feel angry at him for letting his headstrong pride get ahead of his sister's wellbeing. I find it hard to recommend Grave of the Fireflies to people. I don't really like the movie; rather, I think it's a
So I'm afraid, for all its length and wordiness, this review isn't too helpful at all. Your mileage will vary. Grave of the Fireflies is going to be something different for everyone who watches it. For me, it's a 100-minute long sad ending.
Overall Rating:
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Little known fact: all ghost trains contain red upholstry.
One of the few happy scenes in the movie, this one happens to be a dream sequence. Go figure.
I was going to make a joke about the curse of the mummy, but figured it'd be
in bad taste considering this is Seita's mother.
Sheesh, even that umbrella is depressing.
Him name was Hopkin Green Frog.
