| Amazing movie, simply amazing. I agree with everyone who says it doesn't just make you tear up, it's just so depressing, it's all I could think about for 2 days, such a realistic tale of kids fighting simply to SURVIVE. I thought it would be hard to watch again and I had postponed it for a long time, but I just sat to watch the original version instead of the dub, and of course it's much better, but I sort of realized that Seita could've just done his share of work and lived with his aunt while she would've taken care of Setsuko during the day, but hey, it's still amazing, it's a profound war movie, it's just perfect. 10/10. |
| Damemametane@Twitter (Trilingual, tags #nsfw and #spoilers but not BLmatsu, rambles like a machine then disappears for weeks. follow at your own risks and perils) |
| I found this movie to be in the "okay" range. Didn't really hit me as a masterpiece at all. But there were good moments in the movie. Setsuko pissed me off though, what a brat. |
LolitaDecay said: I seem to be the only one who absolutely hated the film, I had to force myself to finish it. I just found it extremely boring. So I'm not the only one. Truthfully, I thought the film was an absolute waste of time. I found myself fast-forwarding a lot which I normally would hate to do. The story and all was great and touching at points but it just didn't strike me as a masterpiece or anywhere near great or wonderful and my standards are usually very low. Orkel said: Setsuko pissed me off though, what a brat. Ahh, same. But considering her age and their situation, it's probably how all of us would have acted. |
RainriNov 22, 2008 11:22 PM
| i'v just finished this movie and now i'm a little depressed, it was sad seeing the two kids suffer so much and it was sad see setsuko die it made me want to cry and that doesn't happen much. |
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| I don't think I appreciated this film as much as I should have. Maybe I need time for it to soak in. However, it truly is one of the most powerful anti-war movies I have ever seen. The movie doesn't take sides, and shows the true love of a brother for his sister in the brutal times of war. Great movie, but again I cant label as masterpiece....yet. |
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| i absolutely loved this movie, it just draws you into the world and you feel like your suffering along with the main characters, enough to make you shed a tear every once and a wile during the movie.Its a movie that makes you feel like war is just another word for suffering. and war...... war never changes. (my favorite quote ever, from fallout, i had to put it in there ^_^) This movie is a 10/10 for sure and a is must watch. |
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| Yeah, very, very sad movie... I had tears in my eyes :( So different from other movies... it shows the cruelty of wars. Governments declare or join war, but the ones who suffer the most are innocent people - this movie shows this truth without hesitation. This movie doesn't have any exciting action, no fights no culminating point (that's why it can be boring for some people) but even without them, this i really good movie! 9/10. |
| Sorry, my English isn't perfect ^^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "...because the people who are crazy enough to think that they change the world are the ones who do..." |
Rainri said: I only managed to force myself through 35 minutes, didn't bother to finish what I started.LolitaDecay said: I seem to be the only one who absolutely hated the film, I had to force myself to finish it. I just found it extremely boring. So I'm not the only one. Truthfully, I thought the film was an absolute waste of time. I found myself fast-forwarding a lot which I normally would hate to do. The story and all was great and touching at points but it just didn't strike me as a masterpiece or anywhere near great or wonderful and my standards are usually very low. Orkel said: Setsuko pissed me off though, what a brat. Ahh, same. But considering her age and their situation, it's probably how all of us would have acted. |
| I loved the movie, great story... made me want to cry though, it's really sad. |
| ^.^ |
| Being an older brother who has raised a sister, this movie hits me HARD. Never have I wept so hard at a damn movie. The masochist in me wants to see this again, but I don't know if my heart can put up with the tragedy. |
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| total masterpiece ! must see 100% |
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| I recently purchased and watched this movie based on recommendations here and elsewhere. Ultimately, I wasn't impressed. After the destruction of his home and the death of his family, Seita has an obligation to care for his little sister. His singular reason for living should be to support her. After he moves in with his relatives, he also has an obligation to pull his own weight. The guy is fourteen years old. He can make decisions for himself. Instead, he shirks his responsibilities, does whatever he feels like, and expects handouts from his relatives. It's hard to sympathize with a mooch. Of course he notices that his darling imouto is getting sickly and weak. Does he swallow his pride, go back to his relatives and promise to help out in exchange for food to give the sister he so loves? Does he take it like a man and lay down his pride to save her? No, I'm afraid he's above that. Instead, he becomes dishonest and a thief and ultimately allows his sister to starve to death. War is a horrible thing, and consumes the lives of many innocent people. However, I think that the same circumstances would have occurred regardless of the war. If his family was killed and his house destroyed because of different circumstances, I'm convinced that, in the end, the same thing would have happened. He's still a mooch. He still wants handouts. That's his character. The only innocent one here is the sister. Thus, it was hard to start the waterworks for me during the course of the anime. Yeah, it was sad that she died, but he let her die. I certainly wasn't sad when he died. Maybe I missed something, some kind of symbolism or metaphor or something, but I certainly wasn't moved by this movie. |
Smallboss said: I recently purchased and watched this movie based on recommendations here and elsewhere. Ultimately, I wasn't impressed. After the destruction of his home and the death of his family, Seita has an obligation to care for his little sister. His singular reason for living should be to support her. After he moves in with his relatives, he also has an obligation to pull his own weight. The guy is fourteen years old. He can make decisions for himself. Instead, he shirks his responsibilities, does whatever he feels like, and expects handouts from his relatives. It's hard to sympathize with a mooch. Of course he notices that his darling imouto is getting sickly and weak. Does he swallow his pride, go back to his relatives and promise to help out in exchange for food to give the sister he so loves? Does he take it like a man and lay down his pride to save her? No, I'm afraid he's above that. Instead, he becomes dishonest and a thief and ultimately allows his sister to starve to death. War is a horrible thing, and consumes the lives of many innocent people. However, I think that the same circumstances would have occurred regardless of the war. If his family was killed and his house destroyed because of different circumstances, I'm convinced that, in the end, the same thing would have happened. He's still a mooch. He still wants handouts. That's his character. The only innocent one here is the sister. Thus, it was hard to start the waterworks for me during the course of the anime. Yeah, it was sad that she died, but he let her die. I certainly wasn't sad when he died. Maybe I missed something, some kind of symbolism or metaphor or something, but I certainly wasn't moved by this movie. I agree that Seita made some bad decisions, but I think you're making him worse than he actually is, and the aunt better than she is. Seita had no where to go, with both his factory and school destroyed. He couldn't really do anything. Plus, when his mother's kimonos were sold off, the aunt did what she wanted with the rice that rightfully belonged to him. I'm not saying Seita should have run off, but it's understandable why he did. You should check out the interview with the director in the bonus features of the DVD. He talks about Seita's mistakes and why they were there. I think you'd find it interesting. Also, please don't pretend that it would have worked out the same way had this not been war time. That's incredibly delusional. Nearly every issue is created by the war, and Seita's attempts at solving these issues are thwarted by the war itself. Whether its his mother's lack of treatment because she can't get to a hospital, or his inability to buy food leading to his stealing it, or his aunt's stinginess and greed, everything was created by the war. |
tarheel91 said: I agree that Seita made some bad decisions, but I think you're making him worse than he actually is, and the aunt better than she is. Seita had no where to go, with both his factory and school destroyed. He couldn't really do anything. Plus, when his mother's kimonos were sold off, the aunt did what she wanted with the rice that rightfully belonged to him. I'm not saying Seita should have run off, but it's understandable why he did. You should check out the interview with the director in the bonus features of the DVD. He talks about Seita's mistakes and why they were there. I think you'd find it interesting. Also, please don't pretend that it would have worked out the same way had this not been war time. That's incredibly delusional. Nearly every issue is created by the war, and Seita's attempts at solving these issues are thwarted by the war itself. Whether its his mother's lack of treatment because she can't get to a hospital, or his inability to buy food leading to his stealing it, or his aunt's stinginess and greed, everything was created by the war. I can see your points though I really don't agree that much with it. Certainly Seita was in a tough situation there. But at no point do we see him even try to find something to do. He may have lost school and that factory, but does he even try to find other work? No he just goes off and goofs with his sister the entire time. The aunt was a mixed bag to be sure. She was overly harsh at times and the kimono situation looked bad on her. Yet instead of hanging in there Seita runs away and puts his sister's life on the line. He could have lessened the ammunition against them if he did more than just be a drain on resources. Both he and the Aunt are at fault, but I think a great deal of blame should be rightfully put on Seita. I think with Seita's personality things could have gotten rather bad in any circumstance. He had options and he just chose not to go after them. Before stealing he knew that it would be possible to go back to the Aunt's place. Yes she's pretty rough and greedy, but is his sister's life worth him being stubborn? Just bow your damn head until the war is over and your dad comes back. After all he didn't know at that point his father wasn't alive. I think the war's greatest impact was with the mother and hurting her chances for medical care. The war created the situation, but I feel Seita turned it into a personal disaster. Anyways personally I wasn't all that drawn into the movie. It was a sad situation, but I couldn't bring myself to care about the main characters. The movie really seemed to revolve around Seita and as you might expect I didn't like him. |
| I had mixed feelings feelings about the movie for some odd reason instead of just having one main feeling. In the beginning I felt sorry for that of Seita and his sister because their mother had died. Yet as FlareKnight had said that instead of dealing with his aunts cruelty he ends up running away with his sister and palcing her life on the line. I mean... If it were me and it was during war time I would of been appreaciative for having a place to stay during that period of time. Seita's aunt did have a point when he was not acting thankful for having a place to stay and he really should have gottena job like a responsible adult instead of putting everything on his aunt so that she could support them. |
FlareKnight said: tarheel91 said: I agree that Seita made some bad decisions, but I think you're making him worse than he actually is, and the aunt better than she is. Seita had no where to go, with both his factory and school destroyed. He couldn't really do anything. Plus, when his mother's kimonos were sold off, the aunt did what she wanted with the rice that rightfully belonged to him. I'm not saying Seita should have run off, but it's understandable why he did. You should check out the interview with the director in the bonus features of the DVD. He talks about Seita's mistakes and why they were there. I think you'd find it interesting. Also, please don't pretend that it would have worked out the same way had this not been war time. That's incredibly delusional. Nearly every issue is created by the war, and Seita's attempts at solving these issues are thwarted by the war itself. Whether its his mother's lack of treatment because she can't get to a hospital, or his inability to buy food leading to his stealing it, or his aunt's stinginess and greed, everything was created by the war. I can see your points though I really don't agree that much with it. Certainly Seita was in a tough situation there. But at no point do we see him even try to find something to do. He may have lost school and that factory, but does he even try to find other work? No he just goes off and goofs with his sister the entire time. The aunt was a mixed bag to be sure. She was overly harsh at times and the kimono situation looked bad on her. Yet instead of hanging in there Seita runs away and puts his sister's life on the line. He could have lessened the ammunition against them if he did more than just be a drain on resources. Both he and the Aunt are at fault, but I think a great deal of blame should be rightfully put on Seita. I think with Seita's personality things could have gotten rather bad in any circumstance. He had options and he just chose not to go after them. Before stealing he knew that it would be possible to go back to the Aunt's place. Yes she's pretty rough and greedy, but is his sister's life worth him being stubborn? Just bow your damn head until the war is over and your dad comes back. After all he didn't know at that point his father wasn't alive. I think the war's greatest impact was with the mother and hurting her chances for medical care. The war created the situation, but I feel Seita turned it into a personal disaster. Anyways personally I wasn't all that drawn into the movie. It was a sad situation, but I couldn't bring myself to care about the main characters. The movie really seemed to revolve around Seita and as you might expect I didn't like him. Japan in WWII isn't a standard capitalist economy. You didn't just go look for a job, send in an application, and get accepted. Everyone was assigned a factory much like they were assigned their school. When the factory was destroyed, you were simply out of luck. See, here's where the whole war causing everything comes from. It's easy to say that he should have gone back to his Aunt's place. Hindsight is 20/20. We know that option B didn't work. He couldn't at the time. Did you forget that neither of them were getting their fair share of food at their Aunt's house? As conditions got worse, their share was only going to get worse. The aunt is clearly selfish, and that selfishness is only amplified from Seita's point of view. Thus, not getting enough food was going to potentially be an issue wherever he went. I'm not saying his decision was the best one, but this isn't the no brainer you're making it out to be. Then, of course, he's forced to steal, not because he left his aunt's house, but because no one will sell him food. That is caused entirely by the war. Hell, his Aunt's greed is only an issue when there isn't enough food. Guess when there's not enough food? During wars. Perhaps the best way to look at this is as follows: what would normally be kids running away from home (wisely or not) because of the unkindness of their relatives and toughing it for a few days turns into a tragic story of two children's deaths because it happened during WWII. Something completely normal becomes completely tragic. |
| Woooow. Such a beautiful movie. Earlier this evening, when zapping through the channels on the tv, I found "Grave of the fireflies" airing and I was like "HOLY HORSE, I totally HAVE to watch this!!!". Glad I did.. Found myself drowning in my own tears at the end of it... |
| It was slow and boring. Ending was the only good part. |
| This movie is a masterpiece. It shows why wars and inhuman and why every country suck. Anyone who is proud of America, China or any other country (Japan) are just narrow minded and unrealistic. We're not toys, if you dont enjoy this movie go watch your daily shit. Everything in this movie was not realistic, it was REAL. It showed the dark side of the wars. The wars that your countries are so so proud of. This movie made me realise how much I hate the thing we call humans. |
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| When i watched this, I was looking for some anime to watch with a friend. Didn't read too much on this to avoid spoilers, but knew it was highly rated and picked it up. We weren't prepared for what we were about to watch, to say the least. After it was over, I think we just stared at the screen for about 10 mins, mostly silent, jaws agape. With the occasional "fuck..." and "damn...". It's a brilliant movie and well worth a view as everyone should understand the impacts of war on people. And I will never watch it again. It was the complete opposite of entertaining. |
alphabeast18 said: I will give the movie its credit, it was absolutely real but i cant feel any pity for the characters. In fact i sort of laughed a little when his sister died just because it was a spite to him. I have seen the defenses of seita but I feel they just don't justify his stupidity. Yes, the aunt was being rude to him, but as it has been said he was a mooch not pulling his weight. Yes, he lost his school and his factory but in that time he could have started helping put out the fires from the bombing and I am sure that the aunt would have let it go if he did that at least but he chose to do nothing. When it got to the point where he was stealing the crops it was justifiable in a sense because as someone has already said nobody would sell him food but his stupidity(im not going to call it ignorance because he knew a way to make it out alive for sure) caused his sister to become malnourished and nothing else. At the point where he took her to the doctor and the doctor told him that all she needed was FOOD he could have went back to his aunts house and had a food supply for her and him yet he chose not to go back because he was stupid. The movie ended the way it did because he chose not to heed the warnings to swallow his pride and beg for forgiveness. Yes this movie is a tragedy. It is a tragedy because all the actions were initiated by war and propagated by stupidity and greed. This is a quite frequent complaint about the film. I'd say it's just a problem of perspective. I think many people blame Seita for "not saving the day" and don't have in account that he is, say, 13 or 14? One of the things this film does instead of many others is present characters who do act like people their age. So Seita is an immature, spoiled, ignorant and impulsive brat and that drives many of his actions. Consider also he comes from a -supposedly- well-off family with a strong military tradition; he is not used to this kind of emergency situations and many times acts as if the events happening were not with him, he forces an image of maturity to help his sister... That's probably the most touching of the points this film makes, as makes the character overcomed, not only by his situation, but his own flaws. When Seita refuses any help from his aunt, he is being arrogant and stupid, I agree with that. But then again, his father was a military. He has a strong sense of honor, because he's been educated in that way. And if he sees as an humiliation to ask his aunt for food, hey, you can't ignore your own system even in the most extreme of the situations. |
| It was real, and it was fucking painful, but you simply could not stop watching! It hurt you heart knowing that the pair was slowly starving to death throughout, crying and clinging to the fact that on of their parents may still come back home. And the worst part of it all, it was just so realistic...So realistic and you know war efforts were just this bad, worse, and twice as disgusting and heartrenching. I learned later after I'd watched it that it was based upon a true story, and I lost it. Setsuko, darling precious little Setsuko was real, her brother and herself, and she truly did die; in the same way, starved and miserable. It's enough to make you want to throw up with how upset you are. Truly a deep and touching story that makes you look at yourself as well as others, and reflect on the future of this world. |
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| Just watched it and I truly found it as one of the most haunting things I had ever seen. Truly one of the saddest things I have saw in my life and my eyes were watering throughout. Cried at the ending. Masterpiece but its gonna be difficult to pick up the DVD at a later date and rewatch. Probs not gonna happen. Geez, some of these images are still clearly burned in the back of my head while typing this :'( |
BUTTHURT said: It was slow and boring. Ending was the only good part. |
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| I cried like a boss |
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OminousFlare said: I think the end credits scene, shown without any further explanations or messages, was the most beautiful part of the movie. most japanese literature ends open ended haha. |
| This movie was extremely boring for me. Everything felt forced and contrived, and there were no likable characters. Setsuko is excused because she's a little kid, but Seita was a moron. This, however, is a case of reality being unrealistic. I think in the end, the movie did its job: it got me to hate Seita, and showed me that pride is a useless thing in such situations. And that is what it wanted to teach me. I did not like this movie, but the movie didn't want me to like it in the first place. And I respect that. |
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jal90 said: alphabeast18 said: I will give the movie its credit, it was absolutely real but i cant feel any pity for the characters. In fact i sort of laughed a little when his sister died just because it was a spite to him. I have seen the defenses of seita but I feel they just don't justify his stupidity. Yes, the aunt was being rude to him, but as it has been said he was a mooch not pulling his weight. Yes, he lost his school and his factory but in that time he could have started helping put out the fires from the bombing and I am sure that the aunt would have let it go if he did that at least but he chose to do nothing. When it got to the point where he was stealing the crops it was justifiable in a sense because as someone has already said nobody would sell him food but his stupidity(im not going to call it ignorance because he knew a way to make it out alive for sure) caused his sister to become malnourished and nothing else. At the point where he took her to the doctor and the doctor told him that all she needed was FOOD he could have went back to his aunts house and had a food supply for her and him yet he chose not to go back because he was stupid. The movie ended the way it did because he chose not to heed the warnings to swallow his pride and beg for forgiveness. Yes this movie is a tragedy. It is a tragedy because all the actions were initiated by war and propagated by stupidity and greed. This is a quite frequent complaint about the film. I'd say it's just a problem of perspective. I think many people blame Seita for "not saving the day" and don't have in account that he is, say, 13 or 14? One of the things this film does instead of many others is present characters who do act like people their age. So Seita is an immature, spoiled, ignorant and impulsive brat and that drives many of his actions. Consider also he comes from a -supposedly- well-off family with a strong military tradition; he is not used to this kind of emergency situations and many times acts as if the events happening were not with him, he forces an image of maturity to help his sister... That's probably the most touching of the points this film makes, as makes the character overcomed, not only by his situation, but his own flaws. When Seita refuses any help from his aunt, he is being arrogant and stupid, I agree with that. But then again, his father was a military. He has a strong sense of honor, because he's been educated in that way. And if he sees as an humiliation to ask his aunt for food, hey, you can't ignore your own system even in the most extreme of the situations. This is exactly my thoughts. I'd like to add that the family from which Seita left didn't exactly like them living there, Seita must have had horrible pressure because in the end they were no mother or father for him. So he thought he could run away his problems by living alone. Then he was too afraid to come back. :/ |
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| (Finally got around to watching it) Very well writen and well acted (even though it's anime) - the time progression and heavy focus on the characters was needed in a bleak story like this, which is unfortuntely too real. This is one of my 'once in a lifetime masterpiece' films, a brilliant 10/10 film I'll only ever watch once. |
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tarheel91 said: Smallboss said: I recently purchased and watched this movie based on recommendations here and elsewhere. Ultimately, I wasn't impressed. After the destruction of his home and the death of his family, Seita has an obligation to care for his little sister. His singular reason for living should be to support her. After he moves in with his relatives, he also has an obligation to pull his own weight. The guy is fourteen years old. He can make decisions for himself. Instead, he shirks his responsibilities, does whatever he feels like, and expects handouts from his relatives. It's hard to sympathize with a mooch. Of course he notices that his darling imouto is getting sickly and weak. Does he swallow his pride, go back to his relatives and promise to help out in exchange for food to give the sister he so loves? Does he take it like a man and lay down his pride to save her? No, I'm afraid he's above that. Instead, he becomes dishonest and a thief and ultimately allows his sister to starve to death. War is a horrible thing, and consumes the lives of many innocent people. However, I think that the same circumstances would have occurred regardless of the war. If his family was killed and his house destroyed because of different circumstances, I'm convinced that, in the end, the same thing would have happened. He's still a mooch. He still wants handouts. That's his character. The only innocent one here is the sister. Thus, it was hard to start the waterworks for me during the course of the anime. Yeah, it was sad that she died, but he let her die. I certainly wasn't sad when he died. Maybe I missed something, some kind of symbolism or metaphor or something, but I certainly wasn't moved by this movie. I agree that Seita made some bad decisions, but I think you're making him worse than he actually is, and the aunt better than she is. Seita had no where to go, with both his factory and school destroyed. He couldn't really do anything. Plus, when his mother's kimonos were sold off, the aunt did what she wanted with the rice that rightfully belonged to him. I'm not saying Seita should have run off, but it's understandable why he did. You should check out the interview with the director in the bonus features of the DVD. He talks about Seita's mistakes and why they were there. I think you'd find it interesting. Also, please don't pretend that it would have worked out the same way had this not been war time. That's incredibly delusional. Nearly every issue is created by the war, and Seita's attempts at solving these issues are thwarted by the war itself. Whether its his mother's lack of treatment because she can't get to a hospital, or his inability to buy food leading to his stealing it, or his aunt's stinginess and greed, everything was created by the war. I think the rice for the kimono was a good enough exchange for living in her home, and getting her own cooking and care as well. Seito didnt even do the damn dishes. The main reason the aunt was mad at him was because he was essentially dead weight that did not help out at all. I think a 14 year old boy that has seen his own mother die in front of his face can comprehend what kind of position he is in. The aunt even suggests what he can do, "help out with the fire squad or some shit". But no he just leaves. He doesnt get kicked out. He also becomes a thief. Which is somehow more prideful than apologizing. I understand that he is just some spoiled kid from a well off and decorated war family, so he cant be expected to pick the smart choice. But he is definently not the victim to his aunt. The aunt should have been more tolerant, but you cant expect her to. Its war time, rations are low. 2 non productive mouths to feed arent helping anyone. But the fact still stands that she was always there for the 2. Seito was just too prideful to accept it. |
| The very start you know they're dead. Towards the end, probably even further back, you know half of it is brought on by a moronic protagonist. It's hard to get completely invested in these characters when you know the story is making all the wrong turns for the sake of making wrong turns. Beautifully animated and touching narrative. Just wish it wasn't so transparent....but 8/10 tho. |
| The guy was really arrogant, lazy when it counted, and he let his sister die because let's just save money till we are bones. Like. He could use that money for the better, but nah, he was too mistrusting and cocky. Didn't like him at all. Felt bad for his sis. |
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| The animation was hands down beautiful, I loved the first 15-20 minutes, but then it went downhill. |
"At some point, I stopped hoping." |
| Main character was unlikeable as fuck. What a brat. I have a little sister and sometimes is better to swallow your pride in order to protect the ones you love. They both could have survived. Setsuko's death was the only thing impactful. Anyway the movie wasn't that great to me. 7/10. I guess it could have been mind blowing for people watching it 20 years ago. |
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