#setsuko

I first saw grave of the fireflies when i was in middle school. i was much more apathetic that time than now but i can still remember not being able to hold back the tears and be left with this horrible sadness for days after watching. I thought to myself i dont want to see this movie again, but there was a showing in my local theatre, which barely happens so off i go.

its interesting that when i look up interviews with takahata regarding this, he said a lot of people told him they dont want to see the movie for a second time, but he thinks itll be great if you could, you should. and to my horror my second viewing was much much worse, i was practically crying the whole movie, even on the 'happy' moments.

the real seita grave of the fireflies was adapted from a book of the same name by nosaka akiyuki into a semi-autobiographical book. nosaka had been raised by his aunt and lost both his aunt and adoptive father in the firebombing of 1945 in kobe. his sister, aiko received horrible burns and had to be hospitalized, leaving 14 y.o nosaka and his adoptive sister keiko who was only 16 month old. keiko died due to malnutrition, and nosaka felt partly to blame for eating her portion of food instead of taking care of her. the book was essentially an apology letter to keiko.

ive yet to read the book, nor will i i think, but from excerpt you can see moments that nosaka experienced that was put into the book. what he did, what he went trough was what seita did and went trough as well.

seita's flaw

"criticism towards seita's character would not have surprised me, and i even hoped to hear it. but i didnt get this kind of feedback"

-takahata isao

takahata was intrigued by the way the main character; seita, acted. as he believes it closely resembles modern day kids rather than kids of his generation that had to endure war. seita is spoiled, naive, didnt think realistically and ahead. his greatest sin, was that he was a kid in war who had just lost his mum, not sure why his dad in the army havent replied yet and living with an aunt who couldnt care less about them. and just wants to keep his sister happy, and that is the tragedy of this movie for me the aunt

as a child i was judged unfairly, and so as an adult i feel the responsibility of educating kids rather than judging them. explaining things to them instead of passive aggressively attacking them. no matter how annoying, or stupid, or naive they are, theyre still just kids. if even adults has a hard time of sustaining themselves in tough times, reading between the lines, can you imagine how hard it must be for the kids?

takahata also mentioned how he feels modern-day japanese citizens had started being more lone-wolf and the connection and ties to help each other had diminished more and more. this is purely conjecture on my part but i wonder if how the aunt acted would also fall into that category.

she was only nice to the seita and setsuko when seita brought back food and amenities that he had buried before his house burned down

instead of helping him find work or taking the time to explain to him why he needs to work (i.e to secure food for his sister) she just scolded them and got offended from what a 4.yo had said

from my understanding, seita and setsuko's father is her brother. she doesnt seem bothered one bit that theres a chance her own brother could have died

the family card

as an asian, i feel like when its convenient people will use the "but we're family" card. often to get a family member to share their debt or other burden, or to guilt someone into not holding a grudge after being abused/treated badly by a family member. but when its time to actually make sacrifices for another family member, suddenly its selfish. although not a 1 to 1, i sort of see this double standard executed by the aunt as well. grave of the fireflies is a double suicide story

there was an interview with nosaka and takahata where they referred to the story as such. taking into account how nosaka wrote the book as an apology for his sister's death, feeling guilty for surviving, and feeling partly responsible for taking her share of the food. i wonder if "dying after her and reuniting with haste" was an alternate he thought about often. i dont know how well or bad nosaka took care of his sister, but for all the wrong actions seita took it was out of love for setsuko. he just wants to give her happy moments and to stick together. in a way, them barring themselves from reality and the outside world was a way to survive. and can you blame them? to me, seita was also waiting for word from his dad, because he felt that as long as he can hold out until his dad came then everything will be alright. but then he had to found out the hard way that his dad had also died in war along with japan losing. that was not the case for nosaka, after being thrown into a cell for delinquents and orphans after being caught stealing, it was his dad that ended up fetching him. he said that he proceeded to 'forget' all about his traumas following the bombing. seita was nosaka's worst ending scenario, and its like in an attempt to beg for forgiveness he puts a part of himself in it.

-

Day 4:

1. Dandadan

2. Ranma 1/2

3. Blue box

4. Grave of the fireflies