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Name of the movie you are reviewing: Hotaru no Haka aka Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Link to the content you're reviewing on our site (optional):
Set in the city of Kobe, Japan, the film tells the story of two siblings, Seita and Setsuko, and their desperate struggle to survive during the final months of the Second World War.
Review:
"Blood starts drippin' from the soldier's wound
Seeps like sewage 'neath the politician's room
The wind is blowing like a hurricane
In the frightening desolated lands
Where the wolves are insane
And hawks feast on bloody hands."
-Defeat, Michael Prochaska-
War. That is the thing that hs been defining human's history. Throughout our history of a hundred thousand years, there has been a great deal of conflicts and battles happening and in our textbooks, we are introduced to many of those wars. The First and Second World War, the Vietnam War are many of those example. Despite this being a familiar topic, not many people, including me and you have suffered from the brutality of those hostilities.
But Seita and Setsuko, the main characters of Grave of the Fireflies have. Through textbooks and our lessons regarding the Second World War, we have learned the crimes of the Japanese during the war and the lives that they took. However, through Grave of the Fireflies, we are given a whole new perspective, the Japanese, specifically, the people living on the land aren't demons nor killers, they are humans, just like us, this war changed and ruined their lives just like how it did to our ancestors.
Overall, watching this anime was an enjoyable experience for me. Despite being made in 1988, I must say that I'm quite amazed with the animation, although it is nowhere near the quality of those made nowadays, it is still better than many anime made in the same period. Ghibli made a wonderful job handling the anime. This is one of the anime that actually got me crying, although the much of the plot was predictable, it still hit me hard when the tragedies happened, this anime successfully depicted the crime of wars. I must say that this anime is a total masterpiece, a wonderful and beautiful anime.
Spoiler Alerts!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
There are many scenes in this movie that a fair percentage would consider to be a cliche, such as the death of Seita and Setsuko's mother. However, I think of the opposite. That is just the truth about war, when it comes to war, there are just losses, deaths,... In the midst of this chaos, there is a child, Setsuko, the five-year-old sister of Seita and she is one of my favorite character. Although faced with the harsh and brutal reality, Setsuko was still the purest character, her innocence and optimism kept me smiling throughout the movie. Even when she is about to die, she still thought for her brother and told him to eat, her demise was one of the fictional death that got me crying.
Then we have Seita, a 15 year old boy who lost his mother to the war. Most young people could relate to Seita. Throughout the movie, he made bold and reckless actions because he put his dignity first and eventually, that led to the death of his sister, and later, his own death. His most fatal decision was to have a quarrel with his aunt and left her house with his sister, this character taught us the lesson of thinking more about the consequences of our action.
Lastly, the Aunt of the children is the last character I want to talk about. This is one of the few characters that is controversially discussed. She is the representation of those individuals who were changed by the war. She held the belief that every citizens should dedicate themselves to the country and she scolded Seita for being lazy. Although her actions indirectly caused the deaths of the children, I could sympathize with her. In the time of war, this woman was just doing what she thought was right, everyone was equally affected by the war, so was the Aunt.
This whole anime is the representation of war itself, with all the violence and sufferings, it teaches us the lesson of treasuring the peace that we are experiencing and to avoid wars at all cost.
In conclusion, I could say that this is one of the anime I've ever gotten to watch ever. With my limited writing skills, I definitely didn't do a good job transcribing my feelings about this anime into letters, but if you have the intention of watching it, I'll definitely advise you to go ahead.
Would you recommend this to other users? Yes! I totally recommend this to anyone who is interested in wars and how it damaged the lives of our ancestors and also anime lovers who are trying to find an old anime to watch!
Rating(1-5):
Link to the content you're reviewing on our site (optional):
Set in the city of Kobe, Japan, the film tells the story of two siblings, Seita and Setsuko, and their desperate struggle to survive during the final months of the Second World War.
Review:
"Blood starts drippin' from the soldier's wound
Seeps like sewage 'neath the politician's room
The wind is blowing like a hurricane
In the frightening desolated lands
Where the wolves are insane
And hawks feast on bloody hands."
-Defeat, Michael Prochaska-
War. That is the thing that hs been defining human's history. Throughout our history of a hundred thousand years, there has been a great deal of conflicts and battles happening and in our textbooks, we are introduced to many of those wars. The First and Second World War, the Vietnam War are many of those example. Despite this being a familiar topic, not many people, including me and you have suffered from the brutality of those hostilities.
But Seita and Setsuko, the main characters of Grave of the Fireflies have. Through textbooks and our lessons regarding the Second World War, we have learned the crimes of the Japanese during the war and the lives that they took. However, through Grave of the Fireflies, we are given a whole new perspective, the Japanese, specifically, the people living on the land aren't demons nor killers, they are humans, just like us, this war changed and ruined their lives just like how it did to our ancestors.
Overall, watching this anime was an enjoyable experience for me. Despite being made in 1988, I must say that I'm quite amazed with the animation, although it is nowhere near the quality of those made nowadays, it is still better than many anime made in the same period. Ghibli made a wonderful job handling the anime. This is one of the anime that actually got me crying, although the much of the plot was predictable, it still hit me hard when the tragedies happened, this anime successfully depicted the crime of wars. I must say that this anime is a total masterpiece, a wonderful and beautiful anime.
Spoiler Alerts!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
There are many scenes in this movie that a fair percentage would consider to be a cliche, such as the death of Seita and Setsuko's mother. However, I think of the opposite. That is just the truth about war, when it comes to war, there are just losses, deaths,... In the midst of this chaos, there is a child, Setsuko, the five-year-old sister of Seita and she is one of my favorite character. Although faced with the harsh and brutal reality, Setsuko was still the purest character, her innocence and optimism kept me smiling throughout the movie. Even when she is about to die, she still thought for her brother and told him to eat, her demise was one of the fictional death that got me crying.
Then we have Seita, a 15 year old boy who lost his mother to the war. Most young people could relate to Seita. Throughout the movie, he made bold and reckless actions because he put his dignity first and eventually, that led to the death of his sister, and later, his own death. His most fatal decision was to have a quarrel with his aunt and left her house with his sister, this character taught us the lesson of thinking more about the consequences of our action.
Lastly, the Aunt of the children is the last character I want to talk about. This is one of the few characters that is controversially discussed. She is the representation of those individuals who were changed by the war. She held the belief that every citizens should dedicate themselves to the country and she scolded Seita for being lazy. Although her actions indirectly caused the deaths of the children, I could sympathize with her. In the time of war, this woman was just doing what she thought was right, everyone was equally affected by the war, so was the Aunt.
This whole anime is the representation of war itself, with all the violence and sufferings, it teaches us the lesson of treasuring the peace that we are experiencing and to avoid wars at all cost.
In conclusion, I could say that this is one of the anime I've ever gotten to watch ever. With my limited writing skills, I definitely didn't do a good job transcribing my feelings about this anime into letters, but if you have the intention of watching it, I'll definitely advise you to go ahead.
Would you recommend this to other users? Yes! I totally recommend this to anyone who is interested in wars and how it damaged the lives of our ancestors and also anime lovers who are trying to find an old anime to watch!
Rating(1-5):
