Rating: TVPG
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 07/07/2009
Dubbed: English/Japanese
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 89 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: A.D.V. Films
Grave of the Fireflies opens on an evening in 1945, after Japan's surrender at the end of World War II; and in a train station, the young
Seita dies alone. The rest of the movie tells us, in flashback, how things have come to this.
Seita and
Setsuko are two young Japanese children growing up in the waning days of World War II. Much to
Seita's pride, their father is in the Japanese navy, and they live fairly content lives in Kobe despite rationing and the other privations of war. When their mother dies from burns suffered during an American fire-bombing raid, a distant aunt takes them in -- and conflict eventually forces the children to try to survive on their own. At first,
Seita and his little sister enjoy their idyllic lives in the country, but harsh reality eventually settles in as
Seita begins to understand the difficulties of taking care of a young child when both food and compassion are scarce.
~ Emru Townsend, All Movie Guide