Grave of the Fireflies

4.20
    Grave of the Fireflies
    1988

    Synopsis

    In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

    Your Movie Library

    Cast

    • Tsutomu TatsumiSeita (voice)
    • Ayano ShiraishiSetsuko (voice)
    • Yoshiko ShinoharaMother (voice)
    • Akemi YamaguchiAuntie (voice)
    • Kozo HashidaObayashi Chairman (voice)
    • Masayo SakaiWoman who takes care of Setsuko (voice)
    • Kazumi NozakiCousin (voice)
    • Yoshio MatsuokaGosaku (voice)
    • Masahiro KanetakeAunt's House Guest (voice)
    • Kiyoshi YanagawaPatrolman (voice)

    Recommendations

    • 100

      The New York Times

      The movie remains one of the most startling and moving animated films ever. It is also, with the likes of “The 400 Blows,” “Kes,” and “Vagabond,” one of the finest films about being young in an indifferent world.
    • 100

      Chicago Sun-Times

      An emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation.
    • 100

      The Guardian

      This animated Japanese masterpiece is a war story as wrenching as any live-action movie.
    • 100

      ReelViews

      While a child might be affected by the film, it takes the weight of a certain number of years to fully absorb what director Isao Takahata has put up on the screen.
    • 100

      TV Guide Magazine

      Based on Akiyuki Nosaka's semi-autobiographical novel, Takahata's alternately sweeping and intimate animated feature is a moving depiction of the fates of cast-off children who become casualties of war.
    • 91

      The A.V. Club

      Fireflies makes its doomed subjects seem utterly human, with the wealth of personal details and believable characterizations common to Studio Ghibli's peerless animated films.
    • 88

      Slant Magazine

      Isao Takahata makes survival the thematic core of the story, but he never degrades his characters or fetishizes their suffering.
    • 88

      Chicago Reader

      Rivals the films of Hayao Miyazaki in elevating anime to the level of fine art.

    Loved by

    Seen by

    Lists