Blistering performances.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Grave of the fireflies is a heart wrenching inspiring film that may leave you feeling both dead and alive once you have watched it. With a realistic portrayal of the destruction of war and bombing and what it causes and how it tears happy families apart. Grave of the fireflies portrays two beautiful life's torn into one million beautiful pieces. You must watch this film.

I saw this film last night in a theatre as part of Studio Ghibli Fest. I had not been aware of it until yesterday although I have seen eight or nine Miyazaki films.No, I was not tempted to cry and I was sad. I had been coincidentally reading yesterday someone's story about how grateful his father had been for the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, about how despite continuing defeat the Japanese command would not surrender, and about how Eisenhower had decided to "fire bomb" the cities to stop the manufacturing of war materials. I don't know how much, if any, of this was true. I had never heard of the firebombing of Japanese cities until yesterday and here I was watching it in a movie.I was sad because all I could think of was how many children had been killed by the Japanese the previous many years of war and, only because of that warfare, these Japanese children died of starvation. So, if the film is to convince one of the evil of ideological warfare, I was moved. It is often said that truly crazy people are not aware that they are crazy; this is how I think of that Japanese war of conquest. Yes, yes, of course there are other frames of reference and everything I know could be wrong. I do know that this film shows both the culture that began the war and the tragic effects of that war. I thought of the children who died in Nanking, in the Phillipines, and in all the other places the Japanese military conquered. I think this is the complete effect of the movie--that war, for whatever virtuous reason, is crazy and that innocent people always suffer. The genius of this movie is that it shows us the faces of two very innocent lives that were destroyed by the craziness. For that, I rate it highly.

I'm not usually one to cry watching a movie, especially in public, but no matter how hard I fought, I couldn't contain myself. I've heard of this movie before, I knew it was really sad, so I thought I knew what I was in for, I was wrong. I assumed, because it was made by studio ghibli, it would be a kids movie, a dark kids movie, but still a kids movie, now I know its not, because if it was, it would follow the don bluth principle "a child can handle anything as long as there's a happy ending" this does not have a happy ending, its not even a bittersweet ending, its a "rip your heart out while you watch this 4 year old get cremated with her doll" ending. I should acknowledge it's not all "tear jerky, heart breaky" there are some really cute and charming moments, like when the brother is chasing his sister around the beach, but that just makes her death harder to watch, and the flashbacks he has of her, after she dies, I couldn't contain myself during that scene. (QUICK RANT) Why are we still doing this, is there no better way to settle disagreements than murdering people. Is that what we are, creatures who have to prove how strong we are by destroying families. This doesn't just affect people who are in the war, it affects their families, their children, and everyone in the nation. How can we be this evolved and still think the best way to settle disagreements is by dropping bombs. Sorry about the rant, that's just where my mind went to after watching this movie, but anyway, I recommend this movie highly, the only reason I didn't give it a 10/10 is because... well, I can only take so much, despite how much I love this movie, I never want to see it again. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go cheer myself up a bit by watching a fun, light-hearted movie, like finding nemo, or spirit , or dead man walking.

The reviews were great and the movie lived up to its projected image too. However, the effect wore off too soon. Maybe I didn't get as emotionally invested as most people did. The bond between Seita and Setsuko really makes you relish the beauty of love amidst the brutality of the world. All the emotions overwhelmed me from time to time - the sadness, the laughter, the reality, the dreams of a little girl and her brother protecting her with everything he's got. It was all there, just it didn't consume me long enough to leave a mark in my thoughts.