Hotaru no Haka // In war it is the innocent who suffer the most

Greetings The Anime Realm community, my name is Dina and for me it is a pleasure to make my first post here. I'm a person who mostly watches conventional movies and series, for some reason the Japanese animation genre is not among my biggest tastes, but I know it has a great potential and has a lot to offer to those of us who like to enjoy a good story in front of the screen, and well, maybe this is the beginning of a stage in which I will watch more Japanese content. Now, it's not that I have never watched anime, like most people my age, I watched Sailor Moon, Saint Seiya, Candy Candy, Dragon Ball, but I never went out of the conventional.

Recently came to me an animated film called Hotaru no Haka, or as it is mostly known “Grave of the Fireflies”, is an animated film by the famous studio Ghibli which I understand has made incredible works, the genre is war and is inspired by the events of the second world war. This film is from 1988 and was directed by Isao Takahata, although the authorship of the story is by Akiyuki Nosaka.

Before I give you my opinion and thoughts about the movie, I will give you a little context, I know that most of you have probably already seen it, but it is not superfluous to refresh your memory. Those were years in which Japan was suffering the consequences of participating in a war, as it is known, this country was a protagonist of the Second World War in which the main enemy was the USA. The city of Kōbe was one of the many that was frequently bombed and in that sense at a certain moment two children get separated from their mother while trying to flee from the bombing.

Thus begins a real ordeal for these children who, helpless, seek to survive at all costs in the midst of chaos, destruction and food shortages caused by the war. I should clarify that we are talking about two children, Seita and his four-year-old sister, Setsuko. I think it is not necessary to give you more details of what we see in the film, we know that war produces a lot of suffering and generates scenarios in which receiving a little help can be practically impossible, now, for two children this can be even worse. Seita and Setsuko live heartbreaking experiences, they are just homeless and hungry children trying to survive at all costs.

The first thing I am going to highlight about this film is how graphic the animation can be, although it is true that the film is from 1988, it has aged quite well, it has good colors, but beyond that, I want to highlight the raw scenarios that we see there, sometimes it seems that an animated film could not impact us with images that are close to reality, but the truth is that the film has the ability to convey that reality in a fairly integrated way to the point of becoming just as shocking as a live-action film.

So I was amazed with this film, but at the same time saddened by the terrible experiences of these two unfortunate children who are the living example of what countries and regions that are at war live daily, it is also a clear example that the most innocent are the ones who suffer the most and only for the simple fact that others made decisions that result in destruction and hunger.

I highly recommend this movie, I think it is for all audiences and a very interesting sample of what an anime can achieve when it is made with quality, now I understand why Studio Ghibli receives so much praise, no doubt they do a distinctive job. It was a pleasure to share with you, I hope to come back soon.