Jeannie Vuong

Kristena Twedell

Mon Bernardino

How Does It End?

Mon:

Storyline, Major Themes

Jeannie:

Cultural Aspects, Powerpoint, Video Related Clips

Kristena: Characters, Technical aspects of animation

and filming, Introduction to film

Introduction to Film

Grave of the Fireflies is based on the semi-autobiographical book by Akiyuki

Nosaka, published in 1967 that begins as a flashback and begins to replay the

story of the events that happened leading to the moment we meet Seita the main

character in the story. The anti-war story and then later made into the

animation by Studio Ghibli and directed by Isao Takahata. Grave of the Fireflies

is said by some to be the Shindler’s List of anime because it shows the Japanese

side of the story through the eyes of the children involved. This animation is

Takahata’s most serious animation as he is also well known for “Princess

Mononoke” “Kiki’s Delivery Service” and “My Neighbor Totoro.” The anime is

also said to be the first of its kind, because unlike the other animations of the

time such as “The Lion King”(1994) and “Princess Monoke” (1997), and others

of the 80’s and 90’s that are for the family and give a warm fuzzy feeling; while

Gave of the Fireflies is one that gives a very tearful and eye opening view of the

children.

Storyline

The films open up with Seita dying of starvation. A janitor noticed

he was gone and searches his body and found a tin can that he throws

away. The tin can glowed and Seita and his younger sister Setsuko and a

flock full of fireflies appeared. A flashback occurs and it started with an

air raid forcing Setsuko and Seita to a bomb shelter. Everything in their

neighborhood and most of the city was destroyed. They both survive the

air raid but their mom wasn’t so lucky being caught in the air raid and

died leaving them without a home and mom. Nowhere to go they move

into their aunt house. His aunt let them stay but had to give most of their

stuff to her for food. After giving almost everything they had, the aunt

complained on how they do nothing to earn the food she makes. Leading

them to choice to leave and moved into an abandoned bomb shelter.

Setsuko was afraid of the dark and they capture fireflies for light. The

next day Setsuko found them all dead and wonder why they have to die

like her mother. They ran out of rice and Seito was force to steal from

farms and loot homes during air raids. Setsuko became very ill due to

the lack of food and Seita withdraws all the money from their mom’s

bank account. Heading back to the shelter he overheard people saying

that japan lost the war and his father might be dead since all of Japan’s

navy is now at the bottom of the ocean. He returns to Setsuko

hallucinating and hurry to cook some food, but Setsuko dies shortly

after. He then cremates Setsuko and puts her ashes into that fruit tin

until he met his own death.

Characters

Seita

Seita is a young boy who is between 12

and 14 and throughout the video at some

points seems much older than just fourteen,

because he is taking care of his sister Setsuko

who is only four during the time of World War

II. His father was unreachable as he was

serving one the Japanese military, and his

mother was killed in a bombing. Seita in just a

few frames becomes the sole provider for

Setsuko, after their Aunt and Seita had a falling

out about what the siblings. Seita and Setsuko

find an abandoned cave to stay in next to a lake, where they often

spend time fishing and playing in. The two children find comfort in

the evening with the fireflies as they dance around the outside of

their cave and catch some to bring into the cave to help make it less

dark.

Setsuko

Setsuko is the little sister to Seita, only four years

old doesn't completely understand what is

happening, all she knows is her brother is taking

care of her and that her mom is in the "hospital"

(That is what Seita told her) and her father is

away on a Japanese Naval ship. Setsuko finds

comfort in the evenings from her fear of the dark

in the fireflies that fly around the places they are

staying whether it be their Aunt's or the

abandoned bomb shelter. The young girl loved the

fruit snacks that Seita put in their emergency pack

of food, Seita worked very hard to get her the

fruit snacks as much as he could, but as he was a

kid as well struggled to find food in general.

Setsuko, tried to bring happiness to this sad

story through her lightheartedness throughout

the movie up until she began falling ill where the

reality of what was happening began to set in.

The reality that she was lacking in nutrition and

couldn't get what she needed. She was having

delusions and creating "rice balls" that were

really mud balls because of her hunger.

Aunt

After the death of Setsuko and Seita's mother, their

aunt takes them in, but instead of attempting to

console them and help them through their greif of

losing their mother she is very harsh with them

about not working and helping with the efforts of the

war. She also is very stern with them about the food

that they eat that she prepared for them. Often telling

them that they are ungrateful and should go out to

get a job or go to school. the Aunt tries to compare

the children to her husband and daughter and their

efforts towards the war at hand.

Major Themes: Anti War

In the beginning of the film, there was an air raid destroying the

community and killed people. Japan had experienced fire bombing

raids in 1945 towards the end of World War II. Graves of the fireflies

is viewed as an anti-war film because it shared the struggle of life

during a war. Throughout this movie it showed hardship of life during

a war. Bombs fell like rain in the sky and It was estimated that more

than 650,000 people had lost their homes in these raids.

Major Themes: Optimism and Courage

Another theme would be courage and optimism both showed by

Seita. He always had a way to keep both himself and Setsuko happy

even though they are going through a hard time. When they lived in the

bomb shelter , they had a hard time gathering food. Seita had the

courage to take care of Setsuko even when the odds are stacked against

him. With problems Seita always tried to find a way to solve the

situation. Seita showed that it's important to always keep a positive

mine during hard times it keeps motivation up and a reason to keep

going.

Cultural Aspects: Family Values

is needed the most. They rely on each other in order to survive and you

can see that Seita steps upto take care of Setsuko when both their parents

are not present. This is a big responsibility for a young boy at 14 years

old to take care of his 4 year old sister. The ties of family support loosens

when Seita and Setsuko is under the care of their aunt. She no longer

treats them as her own family, and instead puts her own blood family in

the struggle for survival during this time period.

Common cultural values that are seen in Japanese

films can include family values and social status. In

Japanese culture, family values are strong providing

love and support. In times of need like the fire

bombing raids portrayed in the film, family is what

Cultural Aspects: Post War

In 1945, fire bombing raids were already taking place. August of

1945 was when Japan surrendered the attacks of the bombings. In the

film, civilization went back to normal, others still had their houses

intouched while some have lost theirs. Millions were homeless, injured

or died from the result of these fire bombing raids. Unfortunately,

Seita's life had came to an end at the train station, where no family

members were there to provide for him. He was reunited with Setsuko

in the spirit life.

Technical Aspects of animation and Filming

The anime of Grave of the Fireflies style is inspired of the 18th

century Hiroshige and modern day Herge who created Tin Tin. The

movie shows the characteristic of Anime characters of large eyes and

small mouths when closed yet large when open. Produced live action

animation and has won three awards, the first being the Special Award

in 1989, and the second and third being in 1994, the Animation Jury

Award and the Rights of the Child Award. The animation used

spherical cinematographic process, this relates to the type of lenses

used in the process of the animation. There are many different types of

lenses one can use. Spherical is often referred to the traditional lens.

Throughout this heavy topic to film is what is called “pillow

shots” just as Japanese poets use “pillow words” in their poetry to

separate each scene and as a way to create poetry of animation. The

Pillow shots in this film use shots of nature surrounding the scenes.

This allows the consequences of war and the devastation of what has

just happened set into the viewers mind and help them create a

stronger understanding of the consequences and dangers of war.

Others see the pillow shots as a breathing point for the audience as it

is a very heavy and difficult topic.

Video Clips

Animated film:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAVD7qloRv0

Live action version:

Part 01

• http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5E7261B952FC0DF9

Part 02

• http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8706A20956ECDFCA

Discussion Questions

· Grave of the Fireflies is considered by many in the anime community to be a

classic describe some of the characteristics that made this film a classic. And

what would make a film a classic to you when viewing it?

· What might the fireflies represent throughout the film? What meaning does

it have for Setsuko and Seita? If the flashback scenes were not red but rather a

blue color, Would that change the feeling or aspect of the story?

· Takahata, the author of the story in a few interviews has said that Grave of

the fireflies is not an anti-war film, so what other major ideas does this film

relay?

Discussion Questions

· How different would the story be if Seita decided to stay with his aunt? Would this

story continue on into a happy ending? Or does this sorrow ending shows a different

perspective from how an animated film usually is?

· Grave of the Fireflies was also made into a live action film, unlike the animated

version the live action film tells the story from their cousins’ point of view. How

does the ending differ from both versions? Does having their cousins point of view

change how you viewed the original animation? Or was it better off to have it stay as

Seita’s story telling it?

· What effect did the war have on families, school/education, economy, and society

as a whole? Did this film change the way you look at World War II? Why or why not

and in which ways has it changed or not changed in your outlook?

Works Cited

Bennett. "Anime Abandon - Grave of the Fireflies." TGWTG Update. N.p., 28 May 2012. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.

<http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/bt/the-sage/anime-abandon/35418-anime-abandon-grave-of-the-fireflies>.

Ebert, Roger. "Grave of the Fireflies (1988)." RSS. N.p., 19 Mar. 2000. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.

<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000319/REVIEWS08/3190301/1023>.

"Grave of the Fireflies - Synopsis." Grave of the Fireflies. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.

<http://www.wingsee.com/ghibli/fireflies/synopsis.html>.

"History Behind Grave of the Fireflies." History Behind Grave of the Fireflies. N.p., 2001. Web. 07 Mar.

2013. <http://www.animeacademy.com/grave_fireflies.php>.

"Review of Grave Of The Fireflies." 123HelpMe.com. 06 Mar 2013

<http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=156971>.