| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Two young children, Seita and his baby sister Setsuko, who lost their mother in the firebombing of Kobe, try to make a living in the famine which followed the war. The film is an adaptation of the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka .
Relative to American fandom, the movie is considered one of the most depressing 'famous' movies in anime fandom.
Although about a period including the American occupation after the war, this movie is more about the destruction of families in war and the callousness and indifference to suffering that war can cause, than about the war itself. There is very little about the war or Americans in this movie; the main story is about the relationships surrounding the children who are the two main characters. It is a very moving story with rather graphic depictions of the suffering which occurred at that time.
This movie gives an excellent view into Japanese culture, that depicts war as not series of victories or a story of a hero, but of personal tragedies and losses without blaming the enemy that is a continuation of the spirit of "Heike Monogatari". It is widely believed to be the effect of Buddhism.
This film is also noteworthy for its excellent artwork and animation.
In the Japanese title of the film the word hotaru (firefly) is written not with its usual kanji (蛍) but with the two kanji 火 (hi: fire) and 垂 (tareru: to dangle down, as a droplet of water about to fall from a leaf). This is intended to evoke images of fireflies as droplets of fire and also of the rain of fire which destroyed Kobe.
Japanese nouns do not conjugate to form plurals, so hotaru can refer to one firefly or many. It may be that Setsuko is the "firefly" of the title. If so, A Grave for a Firefly. Or to maintain the lack of distinction over plurals, Firefly Grave could also be used.
Fireflies are a symbol of death in Japanese culture. It is usually seen as a same thing as "Hitodama" (literally human's soul) which is depicted as a floating flickering fireball. "Heike Hotaru", a species of firefly that exist in the Western region of Japan is so-called because people considered those lights that hover near rivers and lakes as a "Hitodama" of Heike family whose entire family perished in a battle on sea.