The fireflies's grave

Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの 墓, Hotaru no Haka^?) is a Japanese animated film produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by Isao Takahata. It was Takahata's first film directed with Studio Ghibli and the studio's third feature film. It is based on the novel of the same name by author Akiyuki Nosaka published in 1967, which, in turn, is based on Nosaka's own experiences during the war. The film stars Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara and Akemi. Yamaguchi. Centered in the city of Kobe, Japan, it tells the harsh story of two brothers, Seita and Setsuko, and their desperate fight to survive during the last months of World War II.

Critically acclaimed, Grave of the Fireflies was considered one of the best and most powerful war films by renowned film critic Roger Ebert, who in 2000 included it in his list of the best films of all time. In addition, it is considered, along with Schindler's List by Steven Spielberg and The Pianist by Roman Polanski, as one of the best anti-war films in history, although this interpretation has been denied by the director.

The film has received two live action adaptations, one in 2005 and another in 2008. The 2005 version stars Hōshi Ishida as Seita, Mao Sasaki as Setsuko and Nanako Matsushima as Hisako, the children's aunt. The second adaptation features Reo Yoshitake as Seita, Rina Hatakeyama as Setsuko, and Keiko Matsuzaka as the aunt.

Plot

Bombardments in the city of Kōbe during World War II.

The film opens at the Sannomiya train station on September 21, 1945, shortly after the end of World War II. Seita, a destitute boy, is dying at the station. After dying of starvation, Seita's spirit meets that of his little sister, Setsuko, and he begins to remember the events before her death.

March 1945, Japan. American aviation subjects Japanese cities to continuous air attacks. In one of the bombing raids, the city of Kobe becomes a smoking hell for fourteen-year-old Seita and her younger sister Setsuko, five, who are the children of an Imperial Japanese Army officer. During the height of the war, they both live with her mother, but one day after a bombing, both children are delayed and fail to reach the bunker where she is waiting for them. They are caught off guard by bombs, which quickly destroy their neighborhood and most of the city. After the bombing, the two brothers look for her mother and Seita finds her in the school that has been converted into an emergency hospital, badly injured and with severe burns all over her body. Soon after, her mother dies and both brothers stay with an aunt, who does not welcome them and her initial indifference soon gives way to an increasingly evident contempt.

The two brothers later decide to leave their aunt's house and live on their own in an abandoned bomb shelter waiting for their father to return from the war. Although they can live more comfortably there and without being a nuisance to anyone, things are not going any better for them; food is in short supply and they cannot expect any kind of help, forcing Seita to rob local farmers and loot homes during air raids. But Seita was beaten by an angry farmer who sends him to the police for robbery and the policeman realizes that Seita is starving and sets him free. What's worse, the ravages of malnutrition are increasingly visible in little Setsuko. Setsuko dies first and is cremated and Seita dies in turn. The two spirits of youth meet in a modern era.

Production

Development

Author Akiyuki Nosaka has said that he received many offers to create a film version of Grave of the Fireflies." However, Nosaka argued that "it was impossible to create the barren and burned land that was to be the background scene of the story". He also argued that contemporary children would not be able to convincingly interpret the main characters. Nosaka expressed his surprise when he was offered to make an animated version. After viewing the storyboards, Nosaka came to the conclusion that it was not possible for such a story to have been made in any method other than animation, furthermore, he expressed surprise at the accuracy with which the rice paddies and landscape were depicted. urban.

Isao Takahata commented that he was forced to make the film after seeing how the main character, Seita, "was a unique character from the ninth grade in wartime". Takahata explained that any story of War, whether animated or non-animated, "tends to be tear-jerking," and that young people develop an "inferiority complex" where they perceive people in times of war as nobler and more capable than they are, so the audience believes that the story has nothing to do with them. Takahata also argued that he wanted to dispel this mentality. When asked by Nosaka if the characters in the film were "having fun," Takahata replied that clearly Seita and Setsuko had their "substantial" days; and that they were “enjoying their days.” For Takahata, Setsuko was an even more difficult character to animate than Seita, due to the fact that she had never worked with a girl under the age of five before. Takahata said that "when you make a movie out of a book, Setsuko becomes a tangible person," saying that four-year-olds often become more assertive, self-centered, and try to go their own ways. &#3. 4;

Global distribution and reception

In its theatrical release, Grave of the Fireflies was joined by Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro in a double release. Both Isao Takahata and Miyazaki, both founders of Studio Ghibli, wanted to show "the heads and tails of the subject they both dealt with". While My Neighbor Totoro was aimed at children, The Grave of the Fireflies was aimed at adults. However, the acceptance was uneven. My Neighbor Totoro was hugely successful, fueled by its marketing strategy, but Grave of the Fireflies was not as well received. due to its adult and realistic nature about World War II in Japan.

Even so, Grave of the Fireflies enjoyed critical support both nationally and internationally and is considered a cult film. The prestigious film critic, Roger Ebert commented: "Grave of the Fireflies" It is one of the most powerful movies with an anti-war message that I have ever seen. Like animation historian Ernest Rister who compared Grave of the Fireflies to Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List saying: "It's the movie most profoundly human I've ever seen". It received a Special Mention at the Blue Ribbon Awards in 1989 and won Best Film and Awards for Children's Rights at the Chicago International Children's Rights Film Festival in 1994, a few months before its US premiere. Likewise, in 2010, its director, Isao Takahata, was awarded for his career at the Locarno Animated Film Festival in Switzerland thanks to this film that was presented together with Pompoko and Memories of Yesterday, both by Takahata with Studio Ghibli.

The film took five years to see the light in the West. It was presented at the Chicago Film Festival in 1994 and released in theaters in October 1994. Although, it was not released in a domestic format until 2003 thanks to Central Park Media, which acted as distributor. Unlike the rest of the Studio Ghibli catalogue, the distribution rights of Grave of the Fireflies do not belong to Disney, being the only Ghibli film that is not distributed by the Walt Disney Company nor in which nor is it one of the financial producers. This is because Grave of the Fireflies was not produced by Tokuma Shoten (former Ghibli producer that was replaced by Disney after Princess Mononoke) but by Shinchosha since Tokuma Shoten was the producer of My Neighbor Totoro and was unable to produce both releases due to cost. The extras of the film in its DVD distribution contain a retrospective of Akiyuki Nosaka, writer of the original novel of the same name, interview with Nosaka, Isao Takahata and Roger Ebert. In Latin America, the Mexican distributor ZIMA, which has distributed a large part of the Studio Ghibli catalog, released in January 2012, in DVD format, The Tomb of the Fireflies and announced that it will gradually release the Studio Ghibli catalog in Blu-ray format.

In the rest of the world the film was released in the first decade of the XXI century, with the exception of France, which released the film in June 1996. The film enjoyed both audience and critical success that managed to facilitate the release of the next Studio Ghibli films in France. Switzerland and Germany released the film directly to DVD in 2000 dubbed into German, the film in Switzerland had two different editions being the French-speaking edition released first (it was released with both German dubbing and French dubbing). The Czech Republic released it directly to DVD in 2002. In Spain, taking advantage of the theatrical success of Spirited Away, it was released on DVD in 2003 together with the release of Spirited Away. Spirited Away on DVD, both films were distributed by Jonu Media however the distribution rights for both Spirited Away and Grave of the Fireflies remained with the air due to the non-renewal of rights by Jonu Media although, since December 2012, Selecta Visión (distributors of films such as A letter to Momo, Millennium Actress or Akira) is in charge of distributing the latter. In Finland and Portugal the film was released in 2009.

Real image film adaptations

The animated film had two live-action Japanese film adaptations with the same title. The first was produced by NTV for Japanese television in 2005, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. It is 148 minutes long, and was directed by Tôya Satô.

The other live-action adaptation was the film released in 2008 and directed by Taro Hyugaji.

Voices

Character	Seiyū	Voice actors	Voice actors	Voice actors
Seita	Tsutomo Tatsumi	Albert Trifol Segarra	Hugo Rodríguez	J. Robert Spencer
Setsuko	Ayano Shiraishi	Nuria Trifol	Azucena Martínez	Rhoda Chrosite
Aunt Seita and Setsuko	Akemi Yamaguchi	Azucena Díaz	Magdalena Leonel	Amy Jones
Mother of Seita and Setsuko	Yoshiko Shinohara	Maria Rosa Guillén	Adriana Rodríguez	Veronica Taylor
Medical	Hiroshi Kawaguchi	Antonio Pujós	Carlos Becerril	Dan Green

Awards

• 1989
  • Blue Ribbon Awards - Special Award
• 1994
  • Chicago International Children's Film Festival
    • Animated Feature Film
    • Rights of the Child Award