Grave Of The Fireflies Symbolism

Premiering in 1988 under the direction of Takahata Isao, Studio Ghibli’s Grave of the Fireflies depicts the lives of sixteen-year-old Seita and his younger sister Setsuko as they attempt to survive during the final months of World War II. After losing their mother to a firebomb that destroyed their home and neighborhood, the two siblings move in with a distant aunt and her family, where they are treated poorly. Eventually, as food becomes scarce, Seita and Setsuko move into an abandoned bomb shelter, where they spend the final moments of their lives. Throughout the film, the recurrent appearance of fireflies around Seita and Setsuko, as well as the decision of the writer to use 火垂る, the characters for “fire” and “to suspend,” rather than 蛍 or 螢, both of which are characters for “firefly,” hint at a deeper message that Takahata had wanted to convey to his audience. To help him emphasize his message, Takahata uses Setsuko to ask, “Why do fireflies have to die so soon?” as tears run down her face. In this essay, I will examine this question of the symbolism behind the ephemeral lives of the fireflies as representations of the two main characters, and I

While Takahata does not seem to specifically state that the war is good or bad, he allows audiences to draw their own conclusions about the war through the gripping and moving animation of two young siblings trying to survive during the war era. Since the film’s debut in 1988, Takahata has allowed post-war generations to get a glimpse of what life during the war was like through an interesting medium: animation. Ultimately, Seita’s and Setsuko’s deaths serve as constant reminders of the true victims of the war in hopes that the post-war generations will appreciate how far Japan has