Comments on: Grave of the Fireflies Review - 85/100

by: billish

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:45:25 +0000

I had put off this movie ever since.. well, I heard of it. Mainly because i knew it would be very slow and ultimately tragic. Thus, I really just didn’t like it. Sorry to say, but i just really couldn’t find it in me to care for these characters. It probably has much to do with my personal study of history, over about 5 years, in which I have already rationalized WWII and other great conflicts.
Moving on, this, Psgels, is probably one of your only critiques that I completely agree on, though personally I didnt like the movie. I can TOTALLY see how this could be regarded as a masterpiece. You pretty much hit on every point, in my opinion.
Last, I believe someone already stated it, but ultimately this movie is more about Seita’s experience with the effects of strife than the lesson’s of war itself. Considering it’s nature as an adaptation of a true story, the plot feels as if an apology to his sister; really, an apology for everything, within or without his control. I find, thinking about that, gives this movie great strenght.
I would recommend this definately, but I would warn before about its slow and tragic nature.

by: anon

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:40 +0000

Ok you jerks who think the “japs” deserved the atomic bombing, you OBVIOUSLY are just idiotic teens who are obsessed with violent and stupid video games. Well here’s a newsflash:People dont “respawn” in real life! Murder is a horrible, cruel, unimmagenable thing. For a person to take another person’s life, it’s just horrible. You dont know what it’s like to lose someone you love. And the “japs” are people like us too. They have loved ones. They can feel and hurt, love and hate, just as we can. What we did to them was far worse than pear harbor. Instead of loving our neighbors as ourselves, we did “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” which made us as dirty and down-right villianous as the Japanese where for attacking pear harbor, if not worse. If you say that they deserved the A-bomb, then I can say that America deserved 9/11. No person deserves such a horrible and painful death as the Japanese suffered. You try being fried alive and see how it feels. You try being exposed to that much radiation, to see people melt before your eyes, and see how you like it, you heartless freak!

by: Shippoyasha

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:16:58 +0000

Psgels, the reason why the characters don’t feel ‘fleshed out’ is because the point of the story was to show the reality of the war, not for characters to go through the motions of a backplot or intriguing twists and turns in the story. It’s like in real life in all its lack of drama and sudden twists of fate.

This movie most definitely is a classic. I can’t really say otherwise.

by: cad

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:31:45 +0000

I can’t agree with the criticisms here; GotF is an anime about war, but more than anything, it is about the people who go through it all. So if one feels the characters weren’t fleshed out enough, this is a very major flaw.

by: windy

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:18:01 +0000

I’ve heard a lot about that one! Maybe I’ll give it a try even if I’m mostly into anime series, all the anime movies I watched so far , ” supposedly being the best of the best!” were all a huge disappointment and totally boring ( people usually say ” after this, you won’t be able to watch the series ” yeah, right, well, it’s the opposite for me ” after watching those movies I can appreciate even more the quality , the entertainment values and the character-development in animated series) , giving the feeling of losing time for nothing!!!

by: fireryone

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:45:45 +0000

This was one of the first anime movies I watched.
I understand your point of view psgels, but like the others, respectfully disagree.
This is a masterpiece. It was long, but I was in awe of the touching details.

by: Chris

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:31:04 +0000

psgels I can see your opinion isn’t very popular about the movie, while in my opinion I’d give it an A, I think people should lighten up on your review. I guess it’s all part of being a blogger.

And I agree Dog of Flanders is the most powerfully emotional anime film, or at least in the top 5.

by: Chris

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:27:50 +0000

All I will say to some commenters is don’t blame an entire race of people (most who I’m sure are aware of war atrocities and feel for victims) for the awful acts of soldiers in a different time. I do feel the Japanese government should issue a formal apology and hopefully the new party in power who are more liberal will do just that.

And even though the atom bomb was necessary the victims did not deserve that, did you know many didn’t support the war?

It’s like if Christians were to say Jews deserved the Holocaust because of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It’s a horrible thing to say and very hurtful to the victims and their families.

by: anon2

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:13:18 +0000

yeah I agree with anon1 ESPECIALLY with the fact the Japs havent apologized to the rest of the asian world for, invading, and taking their women and raping them all up and down china and other asian countries, I watched the movie, and all that I could really see along with all the other Japanese movies is the oh woe is us (the japanese) we had to suffer through this horrible event despite us being the cause of it and inflicting ten times more pain on the rest of the asian-pacific world.

I like anime, its fun but seriously, as a non Japanese asian, I say f**k this movie and f**k the japs…also f**k anyone who gets their panties in a bunch and wants to bitch about me stating my opinion, the japs did HORRIBLE shit that they can even say *We are sorry* for and yet everybody wants to feel sorry for them? f**k that shit.

by: Jim

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:58:14 +0000

Spoilers: two abandoned kids, the little sister dying, that would be a tear jerker in any situation. Why did their aunt turn them out?

by: Jim

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:44:39 +0000

The villain is the aunt who wouldn’t take care of them. Not much food? Find, kick the teen out but keep the little girl.

by: psgels

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:51:32 +0000

Olivia: the three movies I consider the saddest are Oseam, Tekkon Kinkreet and The Dog of Flanders. Especially the last one stands out for me as one of the best movies I’ve seen.

by: olivia

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:37:17 +0000

out of pure curiosity, what is the saddest thing you’ve ever watched (and forgive me if this is already said in your posts or comments)

by: Chris K.

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:41:28 +0000

Sorry, but I have to disagree with your review and say I agree with Taxy and Felipe. The real villain in this film is War itself, and it doesn’t matter a damn who started the war or if the main character is likable or flawed because they would suffer regardless.

I think that Takahata’s whole message is that war is evil, those kids did nothing other than being born to deserve the suffering inflicted upon them. I, being a former military guy think that the portrayal of how war affects children and civilians to be quite accurate; no big ass robots, no teens fighting off hordes of adult soldiers. What really happens when kids and civilians end up in the wrong place at the wrong time is that they end up suffering or dead.

This film is a masterpiece in every sense of the word, and it really says something when film critics who don’t watch much anime place this film in the same standing as films like Sophie’s Choice, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion.

by: Machi

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:54:52 +0000

I think the lack of character portrait does have something to do with the war. In that if one opts to interpret it, as it seems I’m not alone in it, what IS left of the characters after the cruelty of war? Very little as you say which is why I do laud the film on its depiction of war, another great war film I’d heartily recommend is Ivan’s Childhood (though its not anime), in that what the characters once had that would’ve defined them is gone. In this case it would be a semblance of their identity during more peaceful days, or as you ask for a portrait of the characters.

On a sidenote it would be nice for people to refrain from ill remarks regarding the topic of WWII. And if you do have the guts to make such a remark own up to your remark rather than remain anonymous =/

by: WatcherZero

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:16:55 +0000

I think its incredibly powerful when you realise its semi autobiographical, the writer was the boy and his sister died but he did actually survive in real life.

by: Wyrdwad

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:10:53 +0000

“Takahata really is one of the greatest anime directors out there: setting aside Pom Poko, there are absolutely no other series or movies that are more realistic than the works he directed.”

What, you didn’t think Pom Poko was realistic? Why, those events happened to me just last week! ;)

-Tom

by: anon

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:50:25 +0000

well, those japs deserved it. us should’ve nuked their whole country. they are a bunch of motherfuckers.

by: darkerthanblackswordsman

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:00:51 +0000

Now this is astonishing! And it seemed to be your kind of film too…

I saw it for the first time a year ago, and remember that it completely disabled me for the rest of the day. I am not a big fan of Takahata, but this is a genuine masterpiece.

by: Kim

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:26:49 +0000

This is one of my favorite anime films and I am glad you gave it another change. I think what makes the film even sadder is it is somewhat based on a true story (The “Seita” in reality survives and wrote the book on which the anime is based to get over some of his guilt).

Still I think people who blame Seita for what happened don’t realize that in reality more teens might act like Seita instead of the heroes we are often shown in anime. I also think the cruelty Seita & Setsuko faced also shows the reality of how war changes normally good people.