Now Viewing: hotaru_no_hakaTag type: Copyright 火垂るの墓 An iconic 1988 war drama anime created by Studio_Ghibli and written and directed by Takahata Isao. The music was composed by Mamiya Michio. It was released on April 16, 1988. It is the studio's darkest and most depressing work to date and is a radical departure from the lighthearted and whimsical anime the studio is known for. It was also released as a double bill with the much more lighthearted Tonari no Totoro which came out the same year. It is based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical novel by Nosaka Akiyuki which won the Naoki Prize for best literature. Nosaka wrote the book, based partly on his own experiences living through wartime Japan, in the middle of Japan's economic growth. Nosaka felt somewhat alienated at the time, feeling that the spirit of humanity had changed and through this story he wanted to show what he felt the spirit of humanity should be like. Nosaka was also inspired by the guilt he felt over his actions during wartime Japan and wrote Seita doing things that Nosaka wished he had done at the time. Nosaka received many offers to turn the novel into a live action film but he rejected all of them due to him feeling that a live action film could not properly convey the novel's story. He was surprised when he received an offer to turn the novel into an anime film but when he saw the storyboards for the anime, he was convinced that animation was the only way his story could be properly told. Although he had previously rejected proposals to turn the novel into a live action film, two live action films, one in 2005 and the other in 2008, were eventually made. The anime film received a strong positive reception critically. The 2005 film changes the perspective of story to that of the protagonists' cousin telling the story of her mother, the protagonists' aunt who is a supporting character in the 1988 anime movie and the original book. Unlike many war stories that focus on soldiers, Hotaru no Haka focuses on two children, Seita and Setsuko, who have their peaceful life cruelly taken away from them once their home is firebombed and their mother is killed in the attack. Seita, the older brother and a teenage boy, is suddenly thrust with the difficult responsibility of taking care of Setsuko while struggling to survive in Japan in the final days of World War II. Seita tries to keep his own and Setsuko's spirits as high as possible, but the burden of what Seita has to deal with grows increasingly heavy. . . The film is known for frequently being interpreted as an anti-war film, but although Takahata has expressed anti-war views in real life, he insists that condemning war was not his intention with his adaptation and that he merely wanted to have the audience feel for the struggles that the main characters had to go through. Cast: Main Characters: Seita Setsuko Other Wiki Information Last updated: 09/03/19 1:26 AM by jojosstand This entry is not locked and you can edit it as you see fit. |
     
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