Grave of the Fireflies 💔

Warm greetings to all Anime Lovers and, of course, to everyone in Hive.

My daughter @tegoshei had a plan to rewatch Whispers of the Heart, but ended up watching this beautiful but heartbreaking film "Grave of the Fireflies" because she said she hasn't watched it yet. She’s aware of the beautiful yet tragic story, so she kept on postponing watching it. In the end, we agreed to watch it instead of rewatching Whispers of the Heart.

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The film tells the story of two orphan siblings, Seita and Setsuko and their desperate struggle to survive in the midst of the Second World War. Their struggle began when their mother died because of the fire-bombing. The war had created a harsh environment and a lack of food and resources.

Seita and Setsuko were temporarily staying with their aunt. Their aunt was initially helpful to them, but later on, she became so selfish and resentful of them as the rations shrank. She even used or traded their mother's clothes and other belongings, but she kept most of the food for her and her own family.

She also verbally abused Seita and Setsuko, and Seita was deeply affected by his aunt's behavior, and he also felt a strong responsibility to provide for his younger sister, so he had to find a better way to take care of Setsuko.

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Seita and Setsuko then decided to stay in the caves where people used to take cover and make a home for themselves. Nobody goes there anymore anyway. They chose to stay away from his aunt and be independent, even in such turbulent times.

Though the fire-bombing still keeps going on from time to time, he tried his very best to protect his sister. It is really like you are experiencing a war through the eyes of innocent children, and you watch as blind hope slowly fades away.

Every moment with Seita and Setsuko is filled with love and desperation, making their inevitable fate even more heart-wrenching. Setsuko, the younger sibling, is no doubt the soul of the film, carrying lightness in her being until the very end. Seita's love for his sister fuels him to keep going to survive and make it against all odds.

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What makes this film unforgettable is the siblings' raw emotional honesty, Setsuko's laughter, her small joys, even over the fruit drops for hunger survival sometimes, and playing with the fireflies, which delighted her innocent soul.

The scene that touched my heart so deeply was when Seita personally cremated his younger sister's body with her favorite doll. And putting her ashes in the empty can of her favorite candy. Also, as shown at the beginning of the movie, when someone threw away the candy can containing Setsuko’s ashes, freeing her and allowing her to travel with her brother once again.

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For me, this is really a beautiful but heartbreaking and honest movie. Highly recommendable to watch but really hard to re-watch. But honestly, it's really a beautiful film and it is a real masterpiece.

The directing was great, the characters, the atmosphere that sets up the movie and the detailing of the premise were outstanding.

I'll just end my post here, and I hope you'll have the courage to watch it too.
Thank you for reading my post, and God bless. ❤🙏