Forum - View topicHave you seen Grave of the Fireflies?
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SnowfairyX
 Posts: 438 |
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When I first watched the movie, I assumed that the war would have a more direct effect on the circumstances that would eventually lead to the two main characters' deaths. It obviously caused them a lot of grief and sadness, but ultimately it was because of the irresponsible actions of Seita that was the cause of their demise. And the movie felt like it belonged in the genre of "slice-of-life" to me more than an anti-war movie. There was one good scene in which they were throwing all the dead bodies into the fire that made me think that the movie was attempting to be the latter, but other than that scene, I actually thought the portrayal of the suffering that's supposed to go on in war was far too subtle. I don't think I've seen any good portrayals yet in anime but I've seen a lot better in live-action stuff that makes me think that war is not such a wonderful thing. This movie probably even swayed me more to the pro-war side but I'm probably not going to clarify any further than that since I'm afraid I'm going to be yelled at.
He killed his little sister and then he just gave up on living afterwards. Even if I believed that he was just too young and stupid to be held accountable for his actions for the former, just for the latter, he still deserves to burn in hell. I'm pretty sure it would be even more difficult for him to do so after the fact that he caused his sister's death, but he could have still crawled back to his aunt on his hands and knees to beg for food and shelter, provided he do some work for change and not be a lazy bum. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Yeah, he's just a teenager in a wartime era, and he's supposed to know what to do so that he can lead a perfect life. With his parents dead, and his aunt throwing him and his sister out to live on their own, what is he supposed to do? Young people need guidance, especially in a wartime era, he didn't have it, resources were scarce, and how is he supposed to know that whatever his sister has is killing her? On top of that, the doctor is not being much help either. When you don't know what to do, and whatever you're trying doesn't work and you lose all the family that you have left, what can you do? Don't think that this person would have been the only one to act like that after all of his/her family died. A lot of people committed suicide after the war, because they lost everything and didn't see no point in living anymore, not that I'm referring to this particular character.
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SnowfairyX
Posts: 438 |
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His aunt didn't throw them out. She suggested that he leave if he wasn't going to do any work and he took it. I don't believe that she is inhuman so if they would ever come into a desperate situation, I'm sure she would readily take them back in. Seita also knew his mother was dead but he didn't find out that his father was gone as well until towards the end when his sister was already near death. That's probably not too important though. Anyway, I have to go to bed now. |
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frentymon
Forums Superstar
 Posts: 2362 Location: San Francisco |
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Honestly, in terms of the depression factor, I thought Saikano was much worse. In Saikano: spoiler[A party held before inevitable death and destruction, yet the villagers still did their best to enjoy themselves and hold on to their last bit of enjoyment before they are all killed; Shuuji and Chise escaping from the village and trying to escape their fate but are unable to do so, any last bit of hope for the two utterly crushed into oblivion yet they still struggle to the best of their ability; Staying strong even after their classmates drop dead one by one; Shuuji being thrown into a world of illusion in the end due to his strong ambition...] They struggle, run against the prospect death to every ounce of their ability, yet cannot outrun it and are swallowed eventually.
Contrast this with a boy who basically throws away his life, in a situation where he can easily outrun death simply by swallowing his pride, yet he chooses to turn around and run straight towards what he could easily have escaped. Who would you pity more? I would definitely pick the former. Setsuko I do feel sorry for, though. |
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KAtchan15
 Posts: 460 Location: NYC |
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BTW: All I'm saying is that this movie is good, and it's not pointless and it has meaning. Nothing good can be gained from war. To me, It's just an uncivilized way of settling things , we're not animals, I fail to see why people can't sort things out by talking. |
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10円
Posts: 605 |
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Seriously? Saikano looked promising enough at first, but it focused on a "girl" with military machinery sticking out of her back. The emotional impact on me never managed to break 0%. There was simply nothing in that show that presented anything that I could relate to and I dropped it after the first volume. It was a bit of a let-down because I was actually expecting something a bit more impressive. |
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musashi1600
 Posts: 198 Location: Hawaii |
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To reiterate earlier arguments in this thread: Traditional Japanese society has historically been centered around pride. In feudal days, a single (sometimes relatively minor) mistake could lead to someone being forced to commit suicide to "save face," usually by disemboweling himself. People were held to certain standards, and were (and in many cases, still are) considered to have failed as a person if anyone failed to meet them. Even in modern Japan, many people commit suicide for the same reasons they did four hundred years ago. In one particularly high-profile criminal case, the police chief in charge killed himself over his failure to solve the crimes committed.
In Seita's case, he personally believed that with his father at sea in the Navy, he has to act as the man of the family, even moreso after his mother was killed in the firebombing raid. When he decided to leave his aunt and attempt to support himself and his sister, there was no turning back, because to turn back to his aunt would mean he failed. Even when it became clear his and Setsuko's situation was beyond desperate, he was not going to accept charity from anyone, even if the choice was between life and death. Even less acceptable would have been to go back to his aunt and say "I'm sorry, I was wrong," because that would go against what he was raised to do. In this sense, I think Grave of the Fireflies has a certain meaning to Japanese viewers not easily recieved by other people; while most people in the rest of the world are more willing to swallow their pride, few people in Japan are as willing to do the same. |
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Asako
 Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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There's a few things that I think might have also been the reasons not to go back to the Aunt besides pride. Though I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the original idea, but just the way I interpret it to myself... spoiler beyond this point, so stop reading if you want.
The Aunt kept taking things from the two of them. Selling their property and keeping part of what was received for those goods. They were never really family there in the home. The Aunt took valuables (food) from them as if it were rent. True that her husband worked and her daughter went to school and were a direct support to the war effort. But you could also tell that his Aunt was not going to tolerate taking care of the young girl so how could he possibly go out and work as well? He had to take care of his sister. The girl was crying and crying, but all the Aunt did was tell him to get her to be quiet because her family is resting. She had no intention of assisting them in anything except taking what was available like the food his family hid and the rice from the Kimono. Obviously they're just a burden on her own family. With that type of relationship, I wouldn't be surprised if the Aunt would kick them out if they don't have anything to give in return. She took their rice and made meals out of it but didn't bother to give them any of the nutritious stuff. Just gave them the soupy portion. Both of them would have suffered from malnutrition anyway. I don't think the Aunt would care one bit. So he tried to solve it by preparing separate meals. I think he tried very hard to keep himself and his sister healthy. I also believe he left the Aunt before she could take any more of their supplies. I think he was better off without her. Maybe you never had a family member that turned you down but there are many people out there that know relatives that wouldn't dream about helping you one bit. And it turns difficult especially when you're faced with such a crisis. You can't feed everyone, and sometimes you make these choices that are neither easy or fair. Maybe the Aunt wasn't as bad as she was portrayed, but it's another effect that the war can have on society, and even as close as your most trusted family member. gah.. I'm done ranting  sorry...
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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The movie is still not pointless, because war is war. People died, and the Japanese suffered dearly for their "pride". |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Did I ever call it "pointless?" I was trying to say that Seita can get himself into troubles EVEN IN A PEACE TIME. Heck, you can remove the war theme entirely from this movie: "A middle class family used to have a good life, but one day a fire (not a bomb) destroyed their home and killed the mother, and the father, who served on a civilian oceanliner (not a warship), has lost contact at sea, presumed dead. The orphaned brother and his much younger sister tried to stay with their relatives but were harshly treated, and in no time they moved out to stay in an abandoned house (not an abandoned bomb shelter), but without nutritious food his sister got weaker day by day, finally died from malnutrition. The elder brother lost his will to stay alive, and even with some money inherited from his dead parents and a moderately healthy, work-capable body to find some simple jobs to support himself, he basically starved himself to death." Did you see "war" in the paragraph above? Heh, why didn't I think of this "new version" of GotF two years ago? SnowfairyX was right: this movie is more about slice-of-life than anti-war, and even the body-burning scene can be seen at many natural or man-made disasters (earthquake, tsunami, train / aircraft crash into houses, gas pipeline explosion, etc.) completely unrelated to warfare. |
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Iwatch2muchanime
 Posts: 1291 |
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Well that does shound like GoTF to me. Just with less war and more of a homey environment.
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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No. YOU didn't. But the other guy did. Okay, so maybe I'm overexxagerating the themes a little here, or maybe it's just been seven to eight years since I watched the movie. I'll just go back and watch it again so that we don't have any mixunderstandings here. Don't trip, man 
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KAtchan15
Posts: 460 Location: NYC |
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Hahaha, you're right we are mammals, BUT we're not uncivilized like most animals. 
BTW, you weren't the one who said it was pointless. That movie wasn't like The best movie ever, but it was pretty good.Sadly, I still don't have the dvd  . bye 
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gundamfan34
Posts: 4 |
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Grave of the Fireflies is my 3rd favorite anime movie of all-time. The movie is very depressing, it is one of the few films that actally made me cry.
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