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.