36 Years Later: The significance of Grave of the Fireflies being released on Netflix

Fig. 1 - Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata, 1988.

In 2020, the American streaming giant Netflix acquired global streaming rights (excluding the United States and Japan) for the films of Studio Ghibli. Audiences have since been enjoying a collection of the world-famous Ghibli animation films from My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988), Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2002), and Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki, 2008) for nearly 5 years. But there was one exception. The 1988 film Grave of the Fireflies, directed by the co-founder of Studio Ghibli Isao Takahata was on the waiting list for 4 years, before finally arriving onto the platform on September 16, 2024. The film is based on the short novel written by Akiyuki Nosaka, and its plot is set in Japan during the final months of World War II. The film shows 14-year-old Seita and his 4-year-old sister Setsuko struggling to survive the city of Kobe in warfare. While being acclaimed as "best-in-class anime" by the platform, it took nearly 4 years for its users to get access to Takahata's devastating film due to Studio Ghibli not owning the film’s ownership (owned by Nosaka and Shinchosha, the publisher of the original novel). This blog post asks what made Netflix finally break the deadlock, and what the significance is of Takahata’s film finally appearing on their platform now.

Fig. 2 - Bombs drop in Grave of the Fireflies.

To begin with, what kind of experience is Netflix aiming for its users to have from Takahata’s film? Whether you are using the app on your phone, tablet or laptop, Netflix traditionally gives you a sneak peek of films and shows when their thumbnails catch your eye. For Takahata's film, Netflix samples a few minutes from the first air-raid sequence of the film. Seita is seen carrying Setsuko on his back, coming out of his home and on his way to the shelter after the safety alert is issued. Bombs from the American aircraft set fire to the road and houses, and Seita gasps in shock while Setsuko clings to her brother's shoulder screaming his name in fear. Seita and Setsuko run away from their street (which is now on fire) and in the next shot the blue sky turns dark with smoke. The wide shot next shows countless bombs dropping like rain on the city behind the dark smoke. While crowds of people are running towards and running past them from the right to the left of the frame, Seita and Setsuko stand transfixed at the centre of the screen and see their town on fire. The colour and size of the fire and bombs are now more recognisable in the same setting but with darker lighting caused by smoke, which contributes to the sequence capturing the same event more clearly (Fig. 2). Seita and Setsuko soon escape from the centre of the city swallowed by fire to the seaside. However the sight of the entire shore opposite being engulfed in flames awaits them, and as Seita desperately sprints with his sister on his back he almost stops in awe.

Fig. 3 - The dreamlike quality to Grave of the Fireflies.

This sequence captures the fear of the film’s air raid sequence from three different angles. In the first part, Seita and Setsuko are all alone in the street under an air raid and bombs are dropped under the blue sky, which gives the sequence a surreal, unrealistic, and dream-like quality (Fig. 3). The next part not only shows Seita and Setsuko but also shows countless people running away and screaming or a carriage horse in panic which further emphasizes the emerging and developing terror. The final part is deliberately shot at a wider angle showing the catastrophic damage of the air raid. People including Seita and Setsuko are standing with their backs to the camera, and because the frame only captures the aftermath of the air raid, no emotion is visible. The film does not over-dramatise the terror of war, and the choice of Netflix selecting this air-raid sequence as their preview suggests that Netflix is expecting the audience to witness and experience the film’s convincing storytelling.

Fig. 4 - Seita’s collapses at the station.

Furthermore, the preview when combined with film’s introduction produces another message. After the studio logo, the film starts with Seita emerging from the darkness and his monologue; "On the night of September 21, 1945, I died." The opening reveals to the audience that the narrative, including what they have been previewed on the Netflix teaser, is from Seita’s posthumous retrospective perspective. Seita lit by the red light as he stares at himself dying, leaning against the pillar of the station before helplessly collapsing (Fig. 4). His dead body lays on the station floor when a fly stops upon his cheek. The station worker pokes Seita’s body with the broom and curtly says “Another one?” More bodies can be found around him and the worker says “This one’s dying too. You can tell by their empty gaze.” The acting of the worker being indifferent to the dead body suggests that the time has faded the fear of war depicted in the preview sequence away.

Malcolm Cook, Michael Cowan and Scott Curtis (2022) state “the dynamic and transformative nature of animation frequently meant viewers of useful animation (experts, students, or consumers) were made to think differently about the world and their relationship with it.” This allows us to see animation as an art/medium of persuasion and it especially becomes effective as a political medium. It can incite the audience’s emotions, pleasure, and non-instrumental qualities that can influence their attitudes and behaviours. We could suggest, then, that Netflix is seemingly alerting us about the risk of the awareness of warfare and conflicts today fading away, and through this most poignant of animated films encouraging us to keep taking action for a ceasefire.

**Article published: May 2, 2025**

References

Mitsuko, Setsu, Jun Yatsui, Kana Momonoi. 2024. “‘Grave of the Fireflies’ Streams on Netflix on September 16.” Netflix (August 20, 2024). https://about.netflix.com/en/news/grave-of-the-fireflies-streams-september-16.

Cook, Malcolm, Michael Cowan and Scott Curtis, 2022. “Histories of Useful Animation,” animationstudies 2.0 (January 31, 2022), available at: https://blog.animationstudies.org/?p=4319.

Biography

Born and raised in Nagoya, Japan, Yuki Fujiwara is a versatile journalist with a focus on music, film, and the arts. He explores the cultural and societal impact of creative industries. His work reflects industries from a various perspectives with deep curiosity and commitment to storytelling, shaped by their upbringing in a vibrant and culturally rich environment. https://yukiwantstowrite.wordpress.com / http://www.linkedin.com/in/yuki-fujiwara-07ba28336.