There are very few anime series that can ever take up the claim of successfully reducing me to tears…. actually the exact number of series is “1” and that series is Grave of the Fireflies. Sentai Filmworks, a North American distributor of English subtitled and dubbed anime series have just released their digitally remastered and restored release of the film on DVD.
The series is one of the earlier titles from Studio Ghibli and directed by Isao Takahata. It is a total of 89 minutes long, includes both English and Japanese dubs and has a suggested retail price of $19.98.
As the Empire of the Sun crumbles upon itself and a rain of firebombs falls upon Japan, the final death march of a nation is echoed in millions of smaller tragedies. This is the story of Seita and his younger sister Setsuko, two children born at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and now cast adrift in a world that lacks not the care to shelter them, but simply the resources. Forced to fend for themselves in the aftermath of fires that swept entire cities from the face of the earth, their doomed struggle is both a tribute to the human spirit and the stuff of nightmares. Beautiful, yet at times brutal and horrifying. Based on the retellings of survivor Nosaka Akiyuki and directed by Iaso Takahata (co-founder, with Hayao Miyazaki, of Japan’s legendary Studio Ghibli,) GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES has been universally hailed as an artistic and emotional tour de force.
