Grave of the Fireflies - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Grave of the Fireflies



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Legendary Studio Ghibli director Isao Takahata has long since taken a more serious approach to his anime filmmaking, but very few animated children’s films in the Studio Ghibli lineup have ever approached the sheer darkness and pain shown in 1988’s Grave of the Fireflies. Sure, we’ve seen some fairly adult themes in The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Only Yesterday, and 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, but Grave of the Fireflies is his adult-themed masterpiece dealing with the horrors and ravages of war as seen through the eyes of the innocent people on ground zero. To this day I still have to brace myself mentally for what I’m about to watch, as the story is incredibly sweet and endearing, but also one of those movies that has an ending on par with watching Artax from Neverending Story sink into the bog of despair over and over again (seriously, what’s up with 80s children’s movies traumatizing younger Gen X and Elder Millennials?)

The year is 1945, and the Second World War is coming to a close as the Allied forces push forward with bombing raid after bombing raid upon the Japanese mainland. While we all know about the infamous bombs that stopped the war in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, most of us forget about the brutal fire bombing raids that happened for months before the infamous nuclear option was used. Grave of the Fireflies follows events that happen in real time as seen through the eyes of young teen Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi), and his little sister Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi) as their lives are upended from the Allied fire bombing of Kobe.

While Seita’s family is used to dealing with the raids, one in particular strikes close to home, killing their mother and leaving Seita in charge of dealing with his sister. Initially taken in by their aunt and uncle, the young orphans soon run into conflict with their new wards, as their aunt seems bitter and jealous of the two orphans. Even more so because they’re the progeny of a Japanese naval officer and are given more rations than her family is awarded. Soon, the jealousy leads to anger, and soon after that, Seita decides to leave the awkward living arrangement and live out on their own in an abandoned bomb shelter on the outskirts of Kobe.

Grave of the Fireflies is a wonderfully fascinating, if not excruciatingly painful, slice of life drama that takes a look at the ravages of war from a different perspective. Through the eyes of Seita and Setsuko, we see the pain and suffering of the poorer class, as they struggle to simply make ends meet and have enough food to survive another day. Gone are the romantic stories of how war is noble and honorable, and even further from the picture are the adults having to make do. Instead, we watch the slow and inexorable unraveling of their family, with the duo doing everything they can to survive in a world that is slowly crumbling around them. Seita is a bit arrogant at first, but soon settles into his forced role of mother and father to his younger sister, doing whatever it takes to make ends meet (including stealing from local farmers in a last-ditch effort to feed his little family unit).

The story runs a fine line of depressing war drama with a slice of life sweetness. Seita and Setsuko are both incredibly sweet, and it’s endearing to watch the familial bond grow as the realities of war require the two to make sacrifices and go with the proverbial flow. But at the same time, it’s absolutely heartbreaking watching the two wither away from lack of proper nutrition and having to make do on scraps while the war machine churns on. The first 50 minutes of the film may be a bit sad, but it’s still incredibly sweet and heartwarming. It’s that last 25 minutes that just takes the knife blade, sticks it in the viewer's chest, and leaves it there after giving it a firm twist that will make even the most hardened Anime viewer have tears streaming down their face. I’m very specifically leaving out a single salient plot point that happens in the opening few moments of the film, and I’m doing this for a very good reason. This is a film that sets you up for the ending right out of the gate, but sucks you in by going back in time and setting up the final moment so that even if you know that it’s coming, it still just sucker punches you in the gut every time.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

I don’t have the Sentai release from 2012 on hand to compare, but since Shout! Studios hasn’t given us any information on whether or not Studio Ghibli struck a new master for this release. I’m going to guess that it is using the same master from 2012, or at least a very similar one, as this looks remarkably like my Sentai disc. Image quality is strong, with hand-drawn line art with a fine layer of 35mm film grain overlaying it all. Some of the elements look a TAD faded at times, otherwise general clarity is quite good, with nice primary shades (such as the blue of the beaches where they take a swim, or the luscious greens of the surrounding countryside where the abandoned bomb shelter is located). Black levels are sometimes crushed a bit, otherwise this is a very pleasant-looking encode.









Audio:

Shout! Studios appears to have copied over all 3 language options from the Sentai release, giving us the original 2.0 Japanese track in DTS-HD MA lossless, as well as the 1998 original English dub, AND the newer Dub that was struck specifically for the Sentai release back in 2012. Just as a heads up, the source material for the 1998 dub was infamously lost, and they were forced to use a duplicate track that had suffered some damage and doesn’t sound nearly as nice as the 2012 Dub or the original Japanese track. Both the newer dub and the original audio mix sound great, with strong vocals and a great front-stage presence. Like most 2.0 tracks of the day, it’s not going to have a wild dynamic range, but things like planes flying overhead or the rumble of a train sound appropriately weighty. All in all, this is a very solid-sounding, dramatic 2.0 track and should please fans quite well.









Extras:

• Feature-Length Storyboards
• Deleted Scene Storyboards
• Interview with Director Isao Takahata
• Interview with Roger Ebert
• Promotional Video
• Image Galleries
• Teasers & Trailers

Final Score:

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Grave of the Fireflies is an emotional roller coaster of a film, but also probably Takahata’s best film (even above Pom Poko). It’s sweet, humorous at times, depressing at times, and that final 25 minutes still requires me to mentally prepare myself for the viewing (I put off reviewing this film for 4 straight days just trying to mentally get myself into a mindset to watch it). Simply put, it’s a masterpiece and Shout! Studio's re-release of the 2012 Sentai disc looks and sounds pretty great as well. This is definitely a must-watch for any anime fan out there, but with the slight warning of it being one of the biggest tear-jerker movies in the entire genre. Amazing watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi
Directed by: Isao Takahata
Written by: Akiyuki Nosaka, Isao Takahata
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: Japanese: DTS-HD MA 2.0, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 (1998 Dub), English DTS-HD MA 2.0 (2012 Dub)
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Shout! Studios
Rated: NR
Runtime: 89 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: July 8th, 2025

Recommendation: Amazing Watch