Grave of The Fireflies stands as one of the most saddest anime films ever made as it chronicles the journey and eventual demise of two children, Seita and Setsuko, as they struggle to survive in a World War II Japan.

While this may be held as one of the most depressing films ever made,

a lot of the tragedy that comes from Grave of The Fireflies doesn’t only come from the struggles and inevitable deaths of the two children

but can be associated with the very core ideas the film is trying to present.

On the surface, Grave of The Fireflies seems to be an exploration about the tragedy and consequences suffered by the innocent in World War II,

but I think there’s a lot more nuance and subtleties that goes unnoticed when discussing the film.

I think the opening scene illustrates exactly what Grave of The Fireflies is trying to say, but can’t truly be understood without having seen the film it its entirety.

It begins with the aftermath of World War II showing us Seita’s lifeless body and other kids similar to him, rotting away in a dark train station.

As two officers approach Seita’s decaying body, they search and treat him almost as an inhuman object, showing no sympathy or compassion.

They then continue to pick up his sister’s candy jar and toss it out as if it were mere trash.

Upon the first viewing,

this moment may seem like an initial set up to the films tone and atmosphere,

but by knowing the history behind Seita and his sister’s candy jar, the scene takes on a whole new meaning, which I’ll get to later on.

Throughout the course of the film, Seita is put in extremely desperate situations where he both has to find a way to survive and shelter his sister, Setsuko, from the horrors of the outside world.

His first test comes when his home town undergoes a bombing and is the first act in which innocence is taken away him,

the literal representation being his mother suffering from life threatening burns.

This idea of how innocence is short lived and can be easily taken away from our characters, is a prominent motif that pervades the film.

After the horrifying death of his mother, Seita and Setsuko come to live with their aunt under harsh conditions,

but over time are unable to stand her unjust rules and so end up leaving for the wilderness.

It’s at this point where I start to see a lot of criticism by other people on Seita’s decision to leave and not comeback to his aunts.

While I do understand the complaint and even agreed with it to an extent when I first watched the film,

I ultimately believe this mindset to be a misunderstanding of the core concepts that Grave of The Fireflies is trying to portray.

As the two siblings move into their new home by the lake, their daily lives seem to have improved drastically as they’re much more carefree and cheerful, with no authority figure to oppress them.

They even reach a high point in the film, in which they have an idea to brighten up their cave by gathering a bunch of fireflies and releasing them.

Their faces light up and is the first real instance where the two siblings find hope within their lives.

However, that hope is completely short lived as Seita finds Setsuko the next day, digging the graves and burying the fireflies.

What’s interesting here is the direct parallel and foreshadowing that can be seen with the short life span of fireflies and the innocence of the main characters.

From the beginning of the film, Seita has done everything within his power to shield his sister from the gruesome reality of death and destruction.

He lied about their Mother’s death in order to protect her from the truth, but fails as Setsuko comes to the realisation that their Mother had passed away.

This innocence that Seita had tried so hard to protect and is now unable to, breaks him down into tears.

All the decisions that Seita made up until that point, no matter how prideful or illogical, were all for Setsuko’s best interest.

It’s at this moment where we reach the turning point of the film as we slowly experience and await the tragic deaths of Seita and Setsuko.

Up until now, the two children have actually been malnourished and not eating enough food and so Seita takes it upon himself to get his hands dirty, by stealing crops and doing whatever needs to be done.

However, in the end, it inevitably doesn’t prove enough to stop the heart wrenching death of his sister.

From start to finish, Grave of The Fireflies treated death throughout the film as a more than natural part of life, something that just can’t be helped.

What’s really telling and even morbid about what the film says about death, can be seen in various instances where characters feel dissonant and unsympathetic to those more unfortunate than them.

When Seita takes Setsuko to the beach, she happens to stumble across a corpse and rather than to educate her, Seita simply says, "Don’t look at that." averting her attention away.

One of the more obvious scenes is where he takes Setusko to the hospital and all the doctor says is that she needs food and does nothing about it.

Even when Seita is talking to a police officer about his dire situation and after listening to what he has to say, all the officer does is offer a glass of water.

All these moments where people don’t help others in need even if it’s with their power, is a dark truth of humanity that Grave of The Fireflies unwaveringly presents to us.

Now knowing all this, going back to the opening scene of the film,

when the officers throw away Setuko’s candy jar, it’s important because it’s symbolic of them throwing away the last piece of innocence and happy memory that Seita possessed of his sister.

Good things, no matter how beautiful or innocent they are have a fragile life and no matter how much you spend trying to protect them, it will all lead to the same end.

This scene highlights a cold hard truth seen even to this day, that people are ignorant for victims of the past and take for granted the sacrifices made.

Grave of The Fireflies presents its ideas in such a raw and unfiltered fashion, that it essentially forces the viewer to acknowledge and pay respect to all the innocent lives lost during war.

Seita and Setsuko didn’t deserve what happened to them and this film is a reminder of how beautiful yet tragic innocence can be.