The Grave of The Fireflies | Hotaru no HakaDirector: Isao Takahata | Author: Akiyuki Nosaka

Presentation: Matthew Bosworth, Carrie Elmore, Mitchell Koblitz, Griffith Avery and Jodi Marshall.

Portland State University - 2012. For Educational Purposes Only

War is never a beautiful story. This is the same for the 1988 film Hotaru no Haka or Grave of the Fireflies by Isao Takahata. This Japanese anime masterpiece was an adaptation of a novel written by Akiyuki Nosaka of the same title. This story is unfortunately derived from a true story from the original author written as a way to help heal his emotional wounds from the death of his little sister as a result of malnutrition during WWII in Japan. The story itself is sad, but it is beautifully told.

Grave of The Fireflies Film. Full film (in Japanese with English subtitles)

http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=Wc4koluMnPU

(Isao Takahata, 1988)

Produced by Toru Hara.

The main character is fourteen year old Seita, the elder brother to four year old Setsuko. It starts on the day the Seita dies of malnutrition and journeys back to the moment when their lives were turned upside down when the fire bomb raids begin in their home town of Kobe. It chronicles Seita’s struggle to care for his young sister and himself in the midst of war, selfish relatives and a country under attack. Although the Japanese culture is one of family loyalty, respect and self humility, all is tested during WWII and many of the vulnerable were left unprotected. This is one of those stories.

Hotaru no Haka.Book

Akiyuki, Nosaka | 10/8/1930 |

Also known as Yukio Aki.

Before it was made into an anime film in 1988, Grave of the Fireflies was a novel. It was written by Japanese novelist Akiyuki Nosaka. Nosaka was born in 1930, in Kamukura, Kanagawa, and grew up with his sisters. While growing up, his father died during the bombing of Kobe (1945) in WWII. Two of sisters also passed away from sickness and malnutrition. These events are ultimately what caused Nosaka to write Grave of the Fireflies, as well as a series of other novels about war. He notes that Grave of the Fireflies is actually a written apology to his younger sister. It was originally published in a literature magazine in Japan, and eventually became so successful that Nosaka was awarded the Naoki Prize, a prestigious Japanese literary award.

Author's Homepage:

http://nosakaakiyuki.com/index.html

Book continuedThe novel was written in 1967, “during a period of high economic growth.” Nosaka stated that humanity felt slightly off to him in this era, and that he wished to depict the humane qualities of a brother/sister relationship, or ultimately a “man and a woman.” Nosaka also chose to place Seita in a situation where he had to grow up very quickly,which is actually much like the situation that the author was put in himself. The novel is very much like the movie overall, including the death of his sister which Nosaka states was “an exact match with the novel.” Main characters include Seita, the brother, and Setsuko, the sister. 

Japanese Culture

Structure of Japanese SocietyJapanese society during WW2 was intensely patriarchal. The emperor was viewed as a god and one was expected to follow orders without question, be they orders from colonel to major, or from parent to child. The film portrays thiswith the general populace’s patriotism and unwavering faith in the government, which is exemplified in a scene that takes place shortly after a firebombing, when a civilian begins to salute and shout “long live the emperor!” to nobody in particular.

Fireflies in Japanese Culture

Japanese society looks fondly upon fireflies, and they have been used as metaphors for impassioned love since the 8th century. However, their lights are also considered to be the souls of soldiers who’ve died in war. Going by this the title of Grave of the Fireflies could represent Seita and Setsuko’s father (who is assumed to have died in the war), or it could also be a reference to the death of Seita’s love over the course of the film. This occurs literally as you watch Setsuko’s death towards the end of the film, and metaphorically as you see his enthusiasm and his cheerful attitude wasting away throughout the entirety of the film.

Studio Ghibli Production.Akiyuki Nosaka wasn’t the only one involved in the making of the film who could relate to its protagonist; the director, Takahata Isao was separated from his family during firebombing in WW2. When the film was being made, he had Setsuko’s age changed from 16 months (the actual age of Nosaka’s sister) to four years old. His reasoning for the change was that a four year old character could communicate her wants and needs more easily and more directly.

Studio Ghibli Production.● Studio Ghibli: the film is visually stylistically characteristic of the studio, it's scenery and human

characters reminiscent of those seen in Spirited Away.

● American influence on Japan : The animation of the film is also a great example of the results of the American Occupation of Japan. The characteristic style seen in anime films (such as Grave of the Fireflies) can be traced back to American animated shorts and films (early Disney) brought over during the occupation.

● Historical Japanese influence: The detailed yet compressed landscapes that make up as much of a part Grave of the Fireflies as the characters are reminiscent of those seen in classical prints by Hokusai.

HistoryWar

On it.

"Everything was Beautiful and nothing hurt." (Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut).

Firebombing and the severe toll it can take on a civilian population was a abominable product of World War II. Population bombed included residents of Dresden, Berlin, Tokyo and Kobe in both Germany and Japan and in the tragic air raids involved in the great Blitz of London.

Further reading: Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.

History War

Firebombing : Location Kobe, Japan World War II. (Specific to movie)

Examples of psychological effects of firebombing on civilian population

Military Strategy involved : General MacArthur in the Pacific Theater.

Generally viewed as the man that sent many a young men to their untimely deaths in the South Pacific.

See Island Hopping Tactics.

USAF: General Curtis E. LeMay :Absolutely brutal commander. Threatened to court martial crews that missed targets.

Decisions to attack civilian populations to weaken moral, war effort. Widespread psychological effects on population.

Cost of Island hopping, Effectiveness of Firebombing. Decision to drop the bomb.

Every Purple Heart issued in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan is overstock from expected casualties as a result of a mainland Japan invasion.

First use of Atomic Weapons - in Nagasaki and Hiroshima

Firebombing Cities : Targets

Aircraft Carriers.

Naval|Air Warfare : Game changing. Reasons why we have the highest number of Aircraft carriers than any other country and why Japan was second highest.

Allied: London, Coventry, Chongqing

Axis: Dresden, Berlin, Tokyo, Kobe – Almost every major Japanese city. See: Location of the US Pacific Fleet – Considering length of missions, pilots crews effect on.

Western : Kurt Vonnegut – Slaughterhouse Five “Everything was Beautiful and nothing hurt”.

Nationalism : Japanese People: Dehumanization in Propaganda. View them as inhuman to achieve end result.

Supremacy of A Nation, Race, Ideologies.

War changes, people dont

Bibliography.“Film and Video Programs.” MoMA 2.7 (September, 1999): 15-30.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4420385

Greenberg, Raz. “The Animated Text: Definition.” Journal of Film and Video 63.2 (Summer, 2011): 3-10. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jfilmvideo.63.2.0003

Imamura, Taihei. “Japanese Art and the Animated Cartoon.” The Quarterly of Film, Radio and Television 7.3 (Spring, 1953): 217-222. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1209818

Newitz, Annalee. “Magical Girls and Atomic Bomb Sperm: Japanese Animation in America.” Film Quarterly 49.1 (Autumn, 1995): 2-15. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1213488

Roger Ebert on why anime was an effective choice for the film version of Grave of the Fireflies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU3mZT0a9Rw

Wendy Goldberg. “Transcending the Victim’s History: Takahata Isao’s Grave of the Fireflies”. 2009 Mechademia Vol 4 Project MUSE http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/mec/summary/v004/4.goldberg.html

Hotaru no Haka, dir. Takahata Isao (1988); translated as Grave of the Fireflies, subtitled DVD (Central Park Media, 2002).

Nosaka Akiyuki, “A Grave of Fireflies,” translated by James R. Abrams, Japan Quarterly 25, no. 4 (1978).

Brian McVeigh, Wearing Ideology (New York: Oxford, 2000), 86–87.