Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru No Haka)

I have always admired Ghibli Studio’s works: Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke among others. However, after watching another Ghibli’s Anime namely Grave of the Fireflies, it would be an understatement to declare that I admire this anime movie. I must say, I fall in love with Grave of the Fireflies (GotF) so much. Truly, madly, deeply (borrowing Savage Garden’s song title).

Before watching GotF, my youngest sister as well as my colleagues had warned me that this movie is a tear-jerker type. Somehow, accidentally I found out the ending before I actually managed to watch GotF. Knowing the ending beforehand certainly worsened the situation. I cried all the time while watching GotF, just really couldn’t help it. GotF is definitely a very touching movie, perhaps the most touching movie I had ever seen (non-animated movies included). Well, being a sensitive person as well as the ‘cengengeng’ one in the family, what could you expect? :-p

This is not a titanic-type of sad movie, it is way... way... more than that. GotF revolves around the characters of Seita and Setsuko (brother and younger sister) on how they held on to each other during the World War II in Japan. Things started becoming worse for them when their mother passed away and they had to move to their aunt’s home. I couldn’t help loathing the aunt, she is so mean and inconsiderate. If only their aunt is kinder towards them, the ending will not be that horrible. (this is only my speculation, you can ignore it if you want) I do not intend to elaborate more on the storyline, otherwise this entry will turn into spoiler.

In case you have not watched GotF yet, I really recommend you to watch it. Watching GotF made me realize of how lucky I am, living in this peaceful country with silly worries such as the ‘M’ thing (borrowing Roza’s term) and my unfinished thesis (which actually is not a problem if I give my hundred percent effort in completing it). Shame on me! We used to laugh at the beauty pageants’ contestants’ answers for all questions when being asked by the hosts: “WORLD PEACE”. Yes, it sounds so cliche, but you know what; we really need WORLD PEACE right now! History has been repeating itself numerous times, but still we have not learned any lesson.

There’s a possiblity that you might cry like a baby while and after watching GotF: meaning you might end up like me (my eyes became all swollen and puffy in the morning because I watched GotF before I went to bed). And you might also just cry a little bit, shed a tear or two, or you might feel your heart ache. But, I’m perfectly sure of one thing: Blair, Bush and Rabin will not feel a thing after watching GotF!