[Grave Of The Fireflies English Dub 720p Vs 1080p
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The film stars Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi [ja], Yoshiko Shinohara [ja] and Akemi Yamaguchi [ja]. Set in the city of Kobe, Japan in June 1945, it tells the story of two siblings and war orphans, Seita and Setsuko, and their desperate struggle to survive during the final months of World War II. Universally acclaimed, Grave of the Fireflies has been ranked as one of the greatest war films of all time and is recognized as a major work of Japanese animation.[4][5]
In March 1945, American Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers destroy most of Kobe during the close of World War II. Military children of an Imperial Japanese Navy captain, Seita and Setsuko, survive, but their mother is severely injured and later dies. Seita conceals their mother's death from Setsuko to keep her happy. The siblings move in with a distant aunt, and Seita retrieves supplies he buried before the bombing and gives everything to his aunt, save for a tin of Sakuma drops. As rations shrink, the aunt convinces Seita to sell his mother's silk kimonos for rice. Seita also uses some of his mother's money in the bank to buy supplies.
Their aunt, brainwashed by the Imperial cause and only concerned for her wellbeing, keeps most of the supplies for herself, her daughter, and her male lodger while becoming verbally abusive towards Seita and Setsuko, accusing them of leeching off her. After she forces them to provide for themselves, Seita and Setsuko leave by July and move into an abandoned bomb shelter. They capture and release fireflies from the marshes into the refuge for light. The next day, the fireflies die; Setsuko buries them and reveals their aunt told her their mom died, then mournfully asks why they died so soon. As they run out of rice, Seita steals from farmers and loots homes during air raids, for which a farmer brutally assaults him. A police officer realizes Seita is stealing due to hunger and makes the farmer back off.
When Setsuko falls ill, a doctor explains that she is suffering from malnutrition. Desperate, Seita withdraws the last of the money from their mother's bank account. After doing so, he becomes distraught when he learns that Japan has surrendered and that his father is most likely dead, as most of Japan's navy has been sunk. Seita returns to Setsuko with food but finds her dying. She later dies as Seita finishes preparing the food. Seita cremates Setsuko's body and her stuffed doll in a straw casket. He carries her ashes in the candy tin along with his father's photograph.
That September, Seita dies of starvation at a Sannomiya train station surrounded by other malnourished people. A janitor is tasked with removing the bodies before the arrival of the Americans. The janitor sorts through Seita's possessions and finds the candy tin, which he throws into a field. Setsuko's ashes spread out, and her spirit springs from the container and is joined by Seita's spirit and a cloud of fireflies. They board a ghostly train and, throughout the journey, look back at the events leading to Seita's death as silent, passive observers. Their spirits arrive at their destination: a hilltop bench overlooking present-day Kobe, surrounded by fireflies, healthy and content.
Grave of the Fireflies author Akiyuki Nosaka said that many offers had been made to make a live-action film adaptation of his short story.[6] Nosaka argued that "it was impossible to create the barren, scorched earth that's to be the backdrop of the story".[6] He also argued that contemporary children would not be able to convincingly play the characters. Nosaka expressed surprise when an animated version was offered.[6] After seeing the storyboards, Nosaka concluded that it was not possible for such a story to have been made in any method other than animation and expressed surprise in how accurately the rice paddies and townscape were depicted.[6]
Isao Takahata said that he was compelled to film the short story after seeing how the main character, Seita, "was a unique wartime ninth grader".[7] Takahata explained that any wartime story, whether animated or not animated, "tends to be moving and tear-jerking", and that young people develop an "inferiority complex" where they perceive people in wartime eras as being more noble and more able than they are, and therefore the audience believes that the story has nothing to do with them. Takahata argued that he wanted to dispel this mindset.[6] When Nosaka asked if the film characters were "having fun", Takahata answered that he clearly depicted Seita and Setsuko had "substantial" days and that they were "enjoying their days".[8] Takahata said that Setsuko was even more difficult to animate than Seita, and that he had never before depicted a girl younger than five.[6] Takahata said that "In that respect, when you make the book into a movie, Setsuko becomes a tangible person", and that four-year-olds often become more assertive and self-centered, and try to get their own ways during that age. He explained that while one could "have a scene where Seita can't stand that anymore", it is "difficult to incorporate into a story".[9] Takahata explained that the film is from Seita's point of view, "and even objective passages are filtered through his feelings".[8]
Takahata said that he had considered using non-traditional animation methods, but because "the schedule was planned and the movie's release date set, and the staff assembled, it was apparent there was no room for such a trial-and-error approach".[8] He further remarked that he had difficulty animating the scenery since, in Japanese animation, one is "not allowed" to depict Japan in a realistic manner.[6] Animators often traveled to foreign countries to do research on how to depict them, but such research had not been done before for a Japanese setting.[6] While animating the movie, Takahata also created several different cuts of the scene in which Seita cremates Setsuko's body. Takahata spent a lot of time on this scene, trying to create the perfect iteration of it. Each of these cuts remained unfinished and unused in the end.[10]
Most of the illustration outlines in the film are in brown, instead of the customary black. Black outlines were only used when it was absolutely necessary. Color coordinator Michiyo Yasuda said this was done to give the film a softer feel. Yasuda said that this technique had never been used in an anime before Grave of the Fireflies, "and it was done on a challenge".[6] Yasuda explained that brown is more difficult to use than black because it does not contrast as well as black.[6]
Takahata insisted on working with well known animators Yoshifumi Kondō who was working for Nippon Animation at the time and Yoshiyuki Momose.[12] Both animators played a pivotal role in creating fluid, realistic animations of the characters in the animation.[13][14]
Takahata drew from his personal experience to create a realistic depiction of the air raid on Okayama. In an interview, he criticized TV shows and movies that had recreated images of incendiary bombs, "They include no sparks or explosions, I was there and I experienced it, so I know what it was like."[15][16]
The film features Niteko-ike pond (ニテコ池), which is described as the "birthplace" of the novel and where Nosaka conducted his daily routines of dishwashing and personal ablutions. Notably, during the final days of the Pacific War, Nosaka, then 14 years old, sought refuge with his younger sister-in-law in a relative's house and nearby bomb shelters near the pond.[17][18]
The location and background in the film is based on a style created by 18th century Japanese artist Hiroshige and his follower Herg, who created Tintin.[19] Film critic Roger Ebert examines the contrast of the style of the background in comparison to the cartoonish animation of the characters. He claims that there is an unusual amount of detail in the evocative landscape, while the characters are a take on the modern Japanese animation with childlike bodies and enormous eyes. The depiction of Seita and Setsuko have Ebert believe that this deliberate animation style embodies the true purpose of animation, which is to recreate the raw emotion of human life by simplifying reality to emphasize ideas.[20] He concludes his analysis with saying, "Yes, it's a cartoon, and the kids have eyes like saucers, but it belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made."[19] According to Wendy Goldberg, Takahata's film also includes criticism of the emphasis on nationalism in Japan. In a particular scene, Seita's desire to join his father reflects a "national fantasy of war," which leads him to neglect his sister.[21]
The film score was composed by Michio Mamiya. Along with the original soundtrack, the song "Home Sweet Home", performed by coloratura soprano Amelita Galli-Curci, was included.[22] Dialogue of the film is part of the soundtrack as the music and dialogue are not separated in any way.[23] Mamiya is also a music specialist in baroque and classical music.
During an interview about his music, Mamiya stated that he creates his music to encourage peace.[24] The songs in Grave of the Fireflies as well as other pieces by Michio Mamiya such as Serenade No.3 "Germ", express this theme.[24]
In his book about the film, Alex Dudok de Wit called Grave of the Fireflies an "unusually personal adaptation" of Nosaka's short story as Takahata had similar experiences during the war, though noted it deviated significantly in its portrayal of the children as ghosts in its opening sequence whereas the short story began immediately with the children losing their mother during the air raid.[25]
Some critics in the West have viewed Grave of the Fireflies as an anti-war film due to the graphic and emotional depiction of the pernicious repercussions of war on a society, and the individuals therein. The film focuses its attention almost entirely on the personal tragedies that war gives rise to, rather than seeking to glamorize it as a heroic struggle between competing nations. It emphasizes that war is society's failure to perform its most important duty: to protect its own people.[26]
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