Grave of the Fireflies

One of the greatest of all films produced by Japan’s legendary Studio Ghibli, Isao Takahata’s heartbreaking tale follows a teenage boy left to care for his younger sister after they’re separated from their parents in the aftermath of a WWII bombing raid.

“An emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation. It belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made.” – Roger Ebert

As the Empire of the Sun crumbles upon itself and a rain of firebombs falls upon Japan, the final death march of a nation is echoed in millions of smaller tragedies. This is the story of Seita and his younger sister Setsuko, two children born at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and now cast adrift in a world that lacks not the care to shelter them, but simply the resources. Forced to fend for themselves in the aftermath of fires that swept entire cities from the face of the earth, their doomed struggle is both a tribute to the human spirit and the stuff of nightmares. Beautiful, yet at times brutal and horrifying. Based on the retellings of survivor Nosaka Akiyuki and directed by Isao Takahata (co-founder, with Hayao Miyazaki, of Japan’s legendary Studio Ghibli,) GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES has been universally hailed as an artistic and emotional tour de force.