A must-see masterpiece
It is impossible not to be touched by this movie
Anime. A hit in Japan
Anime films are Japanese animated films. They have a huge audience in their own country. Their themes are by no means just for children.
Outside of Japan, their audience is comparatively small. GloriousMe would like to introduce one of our favorite films, which can be an excellent introduction to the fascinating world of anime films.
The last fireflies
The movie “The Last Fireflies” is about two children: Seita, a fourteen-year-old boy, rescues his four-year-old sister Setsuko from the burning house where their mother dies during a bombing raid towards the end of the Second World War. He tries to keep himself and his little sister alive in the war-ravaged Japanese city of Kobe.
He does not succeed. Due to the catastrophic nutritional situation, the little sister dies of a feverish infection and is buried in the traditional manner by her brother.
The film itself begins with the death of the boy, who learns of Japan’s surrender and the sinking of a Japanese warship, leading us to assume that his father also died. Completely exhausted and without hope, he dies in the corner of a train station vestibule. Someone steals the dead boy’s most important memento of his little sister, a metal sweet tin, which he carried with him until the end.
In flashbacks, the film tells the story of the two siblings in war-torn Japan: their hunger, their attempt to survive in an empty bunker and their joy in fireflies and other small everyday occurrences.
A deeply sad story that is unfortunately likely to be a daily reality in many places around the world, such as Ukraine. Why, you may ask, should you watch a movie like this in this day and age, besides all the gloomy news?
Well, it is a masterpiece.
Masterpiece
Anime films have evolved from manga drawings, the Japanese comics. The drawing style and the typical, often very affectionate coloring of the drawings can be seen in the film “The Last Fireflies”.
This is a large part of its charm. The handcrafted character communicates the serious subject in an excellent, almost playful way. The Last Fireflies is not a brutal war case but a heartfelt, sad story based on a novel with autobiographical features by Akiyuki Nosaka.
The film’s director, Isao Takahata, co-founder of the Ghibli studios, which have already won several OSCARS for their animated films, also survived a heavy bombing raid on the city of Okayama as a nine-year-old boy during the Second World War.
The film was not initially a great success in Japan itself. However, it enjoyed worldwide success and is included by many professional film critics in their lists of the best films in the world.
The most famous Japanese director Akira Kurosawa praises “The Last Fireflies” as his favorite from the extensive production of the Ghibli Studios.
You may also be impressed by this movie and want to delve deeper into the world of anime films. The English trailer gives you a first impression of the movie “The Last Fireflies”, whose English title is “Grave of the Fireflies”.
The German version of the film “Die letzten Glühwürmchen” is available on AmazonPrime. Many other Ghibli Studios productions are available to download from Netflix.
#ProductPlacement #IndependentRecommendation #BecauseWeLoveIt
Cover picture: Hotaru no haka, Grave of the Fireflies,1988 © Alamy Stock Photo
