Constructing a story is what "The Glass Rabbit" has tried as well. Sadly, it did not really succeed.
The movie is about Toshiko, the daughter of a skillful guy who runs a glass factory. He is doing quite well, the family is obviously happy, but war is already present in their lives. And when it finally breaks out, Toshiko is thrown into a series of trials she has to overcome - or, well, a series of deaths and betrayals.
The sad thing is, the first half of the movie is actually quite decent. It's not so much about Toshiko but rather about the whole family trying to cope with the harsh reality of war and persevering somehow. The have to cut expenses, they have to move around, they have to separate a few times, they have to continue their life just like before - all that has made me somehow interested in what would happen next and there are only a few things to complain about, but then the movie starts to get worse.
It does so right at the point where the focus shifts from the family in general to Toshiko in particular and her long path of "suffering". With each death you notice more how it's all about shock value, as if there wasn't enough suffering before. There are some points in the movie where it basically says "Look, it's war, we need to be as cruel as we can get". Near the end the movie seems to forget all that made it watchable (much like it forgot the titular glass rabbit) and when the war finally comes to an end it's not only a sign of relief for the characters but for the viewers as well.
There isn't much to say otherwise. This is neither a new nor a big productoin, so you won't notice both the animation (which there isn't much of) and the sound. The characters are pretty one-dimensional for the most part, as you may have already guessed. Many of them are background characters anyway, serving either the purpose of dying or bullying Toshiko. Really, the only thing of actual worth in this movie is its historical value. Which there isn't much of, unfortunately. Oh, and the movie gets the message of "war is super bad, never think otherwise" across.
To sum things up, this is not a good movie. Your time is better spent with things like "Grave of the Fireflies" which may be not a good movie as well, but at least it's of actual value, since the movie and the novel it was based on were born of survivor's guilt. Or you can even watch "Chocchan's Story" instead which is not good as well, but at least it shows people who were relatively well-off during the war and didn't suffer horrible tragedies. This fact alone is pretty refreshing.
