← Back

Grave of the Fireflies

Original title: Hotaru no haka · Turkish title: Ateş Böceklerinin Mezarı

“Why do fireflies have to die so soon?”

1988 · 1 h 28 min
Directed by Isao Takahata
AnimationDramaWar

Cast

Tsutomu Tatsumi Ayano Shiraishi

Credits

Written by: Akiyuki Nosaka

Plot

In the last months of the Second World War, in Kobe, Seita, a teenage boy, and his little sister Setsuko are left orphans when American bombing destroys their city and kills their mother. They try to survive on their own as food runs out and relatives turn them away. Isao Takahata's 1988 film, based on Akiyuki Nosaka's semi-autobiographical story, is a devastating anti-war animation.

Sinekatalog’s take

Takahata's animated war story follows two siblings struggling to survive in 1945 Japan. Devastating and unsentimental, it is one of the most powerful anti-war films, though a very painful watch.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 8.5 / 10 (398,703 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

If you liked this

Picked by director, genre, era and shared cast. Titles only, no spoilers.