Hotaru No Haka—Grave of the Fireflies Grave of the Fireflies is a 1988 Japanese animated film written and directed by Isao Takahata and animated by Studio Ghibli. It is based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka who, like the drama's main character, was a boy at the time of the firebombings, whose sister died of starvation and whose life was marked by guilt. . It is believed to be the most serious and heartbreaking of Studio Ghibli's films. Grave of the Fireflies debuted on the evening of September 1, 1945, after Japan's surrender at the end of World War II. In a train station littered with various bodies of sick, dead or dying children, the main character, fourteen-year-old Seita, dies alone. This animated picture tells the story of two young children, Seita and Setsuko, who fight to survive in war-torn Japan during World War II. It follows the final death-and-starvation-plagued weeks in the brothers' lives before they succumb to their untimely deaths. The film showcases several defining aspects of Japanese cinema and anime, including unique character designs and visual emphasis, targeting teen and adult audiences, violence, and even a hint of surrealism. Japanese character designs and emphasis on visuals are obvious throughout Tomb of the Fireflies. Anime characters tend to have large, expressive eyes, a trait most evident in the character of Setsuko, Seta's much younger sister. Also noteworthy are the visual elements used in the film. Interestingly, before the animated film was created, the author of Grave of the Fireflies, Akiyuki Nosaka, felt that it would be impossible to create the barren, scorched land, which was supposed to be the backdrop... the center of the paper... There seems to be a sense of surrealism portrayed in the film. This is illustrated by the spirits of Seta and Setsuko, both of whom make several appearances throughout the film. We know that the children are both deceased at the beginning of the story, yet we see them throughout the film: always happy and well-fed, with clean faces and all their original clothes. They seem to be revisiting their personal memories of what they experienced before succumbing to death, and this is how the story is told to us, through these memories. Grave of the Fireflies received near-universal acclaim from film critics. Film review site Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 97% and offers the consensus: "A painfully sad anti-war film, Grave of the Fireflies is one of Studio Ghibli's most profoundly beautiful and disturbing works.".