Grave of the Fireflies is a movie that exists in two different versions : an animated version of April 1988 and a couple of live-action versions of November 2005 and July 2008. it is a japanese movie and a war drama.
It has been considered to be one of the most powerful anti-war movies ever made. For some other people, it is the most profoundly human animated film.
It takes place during the end of World War II in Kobe, Japan, and it is the story of two orphans , Seita and his young sister Setsuko. Both of the children find themself with no parents to take care of them, and finally end up moving with a distant aunt. But after running out of food and supplies to raise these two children, she lets them know that they are not welcome anymore under her roof. So they move again, but this time, in a bomb shelter.
Setsuko finally dies of malnutrition, and Seita, who was carrying her ashes in a fruit tin with his father’s protograph, also dies in the train station on September 21, 1945.
This story is a semi-autobiographic novel. The author lost his sister in the same condition during the same period, and he blamed himself for her death. Then he wrote this story to honor his sister, and also to help him accept his loss.
There are different reasons why fireflies are used as a symbol in the movie.
Seita and Setsuko were catching fireflies and used them to illuminate the bomb shelter in which they were living. The day after, Setsuko dug a grave for all of the dead insects and wondered why were fireflies dying so soon ? This is where the title of the movie comes from “Grave of the Fireflies”.
Also, the author compared his little sister, who died to soon, with fireflies that have a very short life spans
Finally, when describing the bombs falling from the sky on the city of Kobe, the author referred them to flighting and shining fireflies.