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Grave of the Fireflies

Hotaru no Haka (AKA Grave of the Fireflies) (AKA 火垂るの墓)

1988

Isao Takahata

Animation

8.0

41,462

Animation. Drama. War A Japanese boy of 14 and his 4 year old sister, attempt to seek refuge from the atrocities of World War II in the small city of Kobe. In post-World War II Japan, a janitor finds a metal sweet container beside a deathly ill boy. The janitor tosses the canister into the night, unwittingly beginning a most unusual tale of survival amid war. Brother and sister Seita and Setsuko, flee their disheveled home and deceased parents to make their ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times	"An emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of four)"
		J.R. Jones Chicago Reader	"Takahata, a frequent collaborator of Miyazaki's at Studio Ghibli, adapted a partly autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka, and his handling of the tragic story is masterfully understated"
		Steve Rose The Guardian	"This animated Japanese masterpiece is a war story as wrenching as any live-action movie (...) There are magical moments of natural beauty and childish delight (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		The Independent	"It is told with remarkable and poetic restraint, as war movies go; achingly sad and hard to bear."
		Dan Jolin Empire	"A devastating heart-stab of a movie, this certainly isn't a family film. It is, however, a beautifully constructed, animated drama (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Tim Grierson Rolling Stone	"'Grave of the Fireflies' might be the pinnacle of adults-only animation (...) The latest Pixar movie made you weepy? This one will rip your heart and soul out."
		Chris Cabin Slant	"Takahata makes survival the thematic core of the story, but he never degrades his characters or fetishizes their suffering (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Tasha Robinson AV Club	"'Fireflies' makes its doomed subjects seem utterly human, with the wealth of personal details and believable characterizations common to Studio Ghibli's peerless animated film"

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