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Only Yesterday > Grave of the Fireflies.

While I find Grave to be an amazing movie, the truth is it was a simple tale of survival that happened to contain a tragic ending that left people feeling it was the best movie ever made.

Wanabedamned wrote:

While I find Grave to be an amazing movie, the truth is it was a simple tale of survival that happened to contain a tragic ending that left people feeling it was the best movie ever made.

It's rather ignorant to assume all Grave of the Fireflies is is just a "simple tale of survival." The movie itself is meant to be a war drama focused on events through a civilian's perspective which many war movies don't delve into, not war action through the eyes of a soldier like you would find with movies like Saving Private Ryan. The movie was more focused on Setsuko and Seita trying to maintain as much normalcy in their lives as possible while waiting for the return of their father as well as the measures being taken by the adults to ration and work to support the war.

There is also the emphasis on how relying on one's own pride to get through problems can be costly. In this case, Seita chose not to swallow his pride to live with his aunt which could have allowed him to live on beyond the war. The aunt might have seemed cruel to him and Setsuko, but she was living her own stressful times in making sure there was still food for everyone living with her to eat. She especially grew concerned when Seita and Setsuko finally decide to leave her.

The movie even has the credential to be semi-autobiographical as it is based on a book whose author had a sister who died from malnutrition during World War II and left to fend for himself when his family separated.

I don't really understand why you would try and compare these two diverse movies simply because they had the same director.

I have seen both, and I agree that Only Yesterday was better, however Grave of the Fireflies is more widely distributed and known. If I am not mistaken (and I didn't just go look, I searched to buy this quite awhile ago) Only Yesterday doesn't have a US release, which of course makes it harder for many to see.

To compare them however in the way you did is not fair to either show though, to say Only Yesterday is more down to earth, original, intelligent, complex (this one I completely disagree with) and imaginative and one that leave people seeking self-reflection (which I am sure Grave could do as well) are all fairly subjective, and an unfair comparison when talking about two such different films.

When people tell me they liked Grave of the Fireflies and think it's a masterpiece, I recommend to them to see Barefoot Gen, which in my opinion is a vastly superior commentary on war, and really does engage your emotions. If someone told me how much they loved Only Yesterday, I may suggest something like Whisper of the Heart.

Now, I do wish Only Yesterday were more widely known as well, but sadly, I doubt it will ever be licensed here.

Also, I don't think the above poster stated he hadn't seen Only Yesterday, he was merely making a point that reducing Grave to a mere survival tale may have been trivializing the show...
everyone has different opinions about Grave around here, some love it and some others thought it was emotionally manipulative.

Now, I do wish Only Yesterday were more widely known as well, but sadly, I doubt it will ever be licensed here.

Also, I don't think the above poster stated he hadn't seen Only Yesterday, he was merely making a point that reducing Grave to a mere survival tale may have been trivializing the show...
everyone has different opinions about Grave around here, some love it and some others thought it was emotionally manipulative.

As for Only Yesterday in America, from what I've heard, Disney has licensing rights to the movie yet refuse to distribute it to video in America. Some speculate that this was due to a couple scenes in the movie that Disney thought would tarnish the company's family image. The two scenes of concern are spoiler[a family bathing scene with Taeko] and spoiler[menstruation being immaturely discussed by grade school kids.]

Ggultra2764 wrote:

As for Only Yesterday in America, from what I've heard, Disney has licensing rights to the movie yet refuse to distribute it to video in America. Some speculate that this was due to a couple scenes in the movie that Disney thought would tarnish the company's family image. The two scenes of concern are spoiler[a family bathing scene with Taeko] and spoiler[menstruation being immaturely discussed by grade school kids.]

I haven't seen this movie, but that first scene wouldn't make much sense, as the already-Disney-distributed Totoro showed the same thing without any apparent qualms.

I've got Only Yesterday sitting right here on my shelf, alongside the rest of the Ghibli collection. At the very least, Only Yesterday is easily available in the UK.

I'm kind of surprised to hear that it's not available in the US.