Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray Movie Review

Even when animated, war is hell.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 28, 2012

The horrors of war have provided grist for the filmic mill since virtually the dawn of the medium, resulting in a number of all time classics from All Quiet on the Western Front to Saving Private Ryan. It’s perhaps more than a little ironic that one of Mankind’s most dunderheaded proclivities could also offer artists in so many different mediums the inspiration to create such memorable works. Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace—the list is as endless as Man’s seemingly eternal genetic desire to wipe out other humans who don’t share their same nationality, politics, race, religion or any other given distinguishing characteristic. The world of anime hasn’t been immune to exploiting the possibilities of war themed material, though as any anime fan will tell you, nine times out of ten that use tends to be set in a dystopian future, where people are either dealing with a post-apocalyptic world or are otherwise attempting to fight off encroaching hordes of aliens. One of the very rare exceptions is the haunting 1988 feature Grave of the Fireflies, a simple but devastating account of two children trying to make their way through the burnt out husk of the Japanese city of Kobe in the closing days of World War II. Based on a 1967 semi-autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka, Grave of the Fireflies was the first animated production by publishing house Shinchosha, but its claim to fame in animation circles comes from the fact that Studio Ghibli was hired to handle the actual animation. As Ghibli fans will no doubt attest, that studio has not just an incredibly distinctive style, but also a tendency to deal in somewhat bittersweet stories, almost always focusing on children, and in that regard Grave of the Fireflies fits snugly into the Ghibli tradition. In other ways, though, the film is decidedly more gruesome and troubling than many Ghibli releases.

Young teen Seita is a sweet natured boy who is tasked with taking care of his very young sister Setsuko as an Allied firebombing raid roars over Kobe. Most Americans are of course aware of the hideous damage caused by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which facilitated the end of hostilities, but fewer are probably cognizant of the earlier raids which in their own ways wreaked havoc across the Japanese landscape. Grave of the Fireflies admirably if very troublingly captures the confusion and chaos caused by these firebombing raids, especially since the film is shown from the point of view of two children. Seita manages—just barely—to keep himself and his sister safe from the flames raining down on and around them, but he soon finds out his mother has been horribly burned in the attack. She dies from her wounds a short time later, and Seita suddenly finds himself completely responsible for Setsuko, since their father is a naval officer off fighting the war on the Pacific Ocean.

Seita and Setsuko end up staying with a distant aunt, who is in fact distant in every sense of the word. She seems jealous that the children are the progeny of a military officer, and so are afforded better rations than she and her family are, but she also just seems to resent the fact that she suddenly has two more people in her house, despite the fact that she takes the kids’ late mother’s kimonos and sells them for a rather generous supply of rice. This sets up the long middle act of the film, where Seita and Setsuko eventually leave their uncomfortable cohabitation situation and move into an abandoned bomb shelter to make their own way through the waning days of the war.

Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most tonally fascinating war films I’ve personally ever experienced. It routinely floats between the outright horrors of the conflict—things like burned bodies heaped in destitute city streets— and a more elegiac, almost meditative, approach that focuses on Seita’s awareness of nature as well as the playfulness that children, even children caught up in a global maelstrom, often exhibit. A perfect example comes early in the film when Kobe is being firebombed, an attack that nonetheless does little to dissuade Seita from focusing on a lone leaf floating in a nearby planter. Later, the recurring motif of the firefly (an obvious reference to the fragility of life) makes a poetic statement that is both visually alluring as well as increasingly meaningful as the story progresses.

This review has purposefully refrained from mentioning one major salient framing device that Grave of the Fireflies employs. The film itself gives up this conceit in its very opening images and in Seita’s narration, but it’s important to experience it first hand and not have it be spoiled ahead of time. Without revealing this fulcrum around which the entire emotional arc of the story hinges, it casts the entire film in one of the most emotionally devastating examinations of the horrors of war imaginable. There have indeed been too many films about war to count, and many of them have had considerable emotional impact, but it’s hard to think of a more completely overwhelming emotional experience than that offered by this curiously lyrical but ultimately incredibly sad film.

Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Grave of the Fireflies is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Since this wasn't an "official" Studio Ghibli release, my sense is it may not have been curated as effectively as some actual Ghibli creations, something perhaps hinted at by the state of the original English audio (see the audio section below for more details). While this is often an extremely pleasing high definition presentation, the elements here do seem to be just slightly faded at times, without the deep saturation that tends to define a lot of other Ghibli animated product. That said, the image here is excellently sharp and well defined, with crystal clear line detail and a generally very naturally filmic appearance. You'll note that this film frequently features "static" backgrounds, even when those should be swarming with things like fire and billowing smoke, and that aspect lends a certain painterly look to the film which is rendered very well on this release.

Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Grave of the Fireflies features three audio options, all delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mixes. There's a newly recorded English track, the original Japanese track, as well as the original 1988 English audio track. A note on the audio options states that the masters for the original English audio track have been lost (hence my mention above of the perhaps shoddy curating this film experienced), and that a dupe track with damage was utilized for this Blu-ray. The biggest problem with the original English track is one of amplitude. Nothing really ever pops sonically, and it's quite hard to hear some occasional lines of dialogue (it seems like this would have been an easy thing to fix with any number of pro audio tools). There are other occasional issues with this track, like pops and cracks. The two other tracks sound excellent, though there's quite a difference in the voice work in the new English track compared to the original. Fidelity on both the new English track as well as the Japanese track is excellent, and the English track especially makes some rather good use of wide stereo separation. This track and the Japanese track also exhibit very good dynamic range.

Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Storyboards for Grave of the Fireflies (HD; 1:28:33). Note that this is the entire form presented via storyboards.


• Deleted Scene 1 Storyboards (SD; 1:53)


• Deleted Scene 2 Storyboards (SD; 00:38)


• Japanese Trailer (HD; 1:47)

Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

To describe Grave of the Fireflies as a heart wrenching experience may qualify as the understatement of the year. This film manages to be as resolutely anti-war as Johnny Got His Gun, with the same general avoidance of actually concentrating on battle that the Dalton Trumbo outing did. Perhaps that comparison is apt in more than one way, for as with Johnny Got His Gun, we're confronted with basically helpless individuals who are unable to properly cope with the devastating effects a war has had upon them. The fact that Grave of the Fireflies manages to be so incredibly expressive and lyrical even as it is emotionally devastating is perhaps its greatest achievement. This Blu-ray looks fine and sounds great, and as long as you have a steady supply of tissues handy, Grave of the Fireflies comes Highly recommended.