Talk:Grave of the Fireflies

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Contents 1 Bizarre writing? 2 Cultural background? 3 Story's Message 4 Release Suspended in Korea? 5 DVD releases 6 Schindler's List/Privat Ryan and Steven Speilberg 7 WP:GA then WP:FA

[edit] Bizarre writing?

I'm not sure why but someone who wrote what side of Japanese culture have written a completely bizzare piece of writing that offered a deformed view of what this movie showed. Have that writer even seen the movie itself? Revth 18:18, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

It all seems pretty accurate to me; I've encountered reference to the Hidoma/firefly legend in a number of different sources.--Centauri 07:54, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

The writing is bizarre Im currently watching the film now for the second time in three days and know that the brother survives and only the younger sister dies.... where as in this it is constantly mentioned that they both die.... If that were true then how could it be writern from the writers life if the writer acctually died during WWII? Im currently editing and correcting all the instances where it says that both brother and sister die. -Matthew Carr 01:48, 15 Aug 2006 (UTC)-

That is true in the novel but not in the film. Seita dies at the train station at the beginning of the film. The rest is a his spirit's flashback. Did you not notice the ghostly Seita and Setsuko who board the train? Finite 02:31, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the animated version starts with Seita saying "{date}...boku wa shinda" and then the train officials going through his stuff, about to clean him up. (It's been a while, I forgot the date). The live-action version also includes him dying at the train station, with the cousin accusing her mother of killing them. Not bothering to log in, not that important. 207.91.15.10 15:04, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cultural background?

Hello! I have lived in Japan for eight years and I LOVE this movie, but I had no idea that fireflies stood for death--interesting! Perhaps someone should say "It STOOD as a symbol of death" rather than "It STANDS for death." This is just me, though--I'm only 16--so I might be wrong. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.41.84.110 (talk • contribs) .

It seems to be a pretty central idea in the film, so maybe you should ask an older Japanese person. --Centauri 07:50, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Story's Message

I've added this part, it is absolutely true. It has driven me crazy that this article focuses so much on the wrong interpretation of the story. The whole section is basically just a translation of the Japanese Wiki article for Hotaru no Haka which is much more accurate description of the movie's meaning. I live in Japan and whenever I discuss this movie with anyone they point out how well the stroy illustrates the danger of pride. I was unable to find a source for a quote, but I have been told that Nosaka himself said he had failed to get his message across as so many people misinterpreted this movie as being an anti-war story. If you don't believe me feel free to research this, you'll draw the same conclusions. Also see here: http://anime.mikomi.org/series/63.html —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.112.22.253 (talk • contribs) .

• Hi, while I'm not particularly disagreeing with you I wonder if it is the job of a Wikipedia article to interpret a film. I'm just not entirely sure if it's appropriate or NPOV to have a section on the story's message. Surely the same film can mean different things to different people and I suppose I've always thought that once an author puts a story out there they lose control of it. If everyone takes it an as anti-war film then that's what it is?... For the record, I always took it as the story of a boy who made a mistake, it may be set in the war but I never thought it was about the war. -- Lochaber 16:38, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

• Hi, you make some good points and I have changed the article accordingly. I have renamed the secion Story's Origin and Interpretations and presented the pride message as being an alternative interpretaion and the anti-war theory as the more common interpretation. I think given how much the anti-war message is discussed prior to that section they are given equal attention.

I believe you are right in saying that we should not force one interpretation, but I would disagree that we cannot present any interpretation. Look at this quote from the Wiki Animal Farm article "The book is an allegory about the events following the revolution in the Soviet Union, and in particular the rise of Stalinism and the betrayal of the revolution which basically replaced one dictatorship for another." Any article which discussed Animal Farm would be greatly lacking if it did not mention the interpretation and significance of the work. Especially when you have evidence to support that interpretation. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.112.22.253 (talk • contribs) .

Takahata makes the same comment in an interview about Grave of the Fireflies (I have a 2 DVD edition, and the interview is one of the "extras" on the 2nd disc. (It's actually playing now, I'll type out an (almost) verbatim transcript of what the subtitles said...)

"...Many people in Japan sympathized with Seita. I was actually quite suprised by this. When I was making it, I saw him rather like the children of today. He saved money and thought he could manage on that, which is quite strange for those days. So he doesn't obey his aunt. He thought he could live without relying on her. ...He felt he could manage to live. Just like children of today, he didn't try to get along with others... even if he was humiliated. He had his sister to protect. He was short-tempered too, and had no perseverance. ... (Seita) thought money could buy anything and solve everything. But in reality, in those days, money didn't help much... There were so many people that survived by peservering...even under much harsher circumstances. But Seita wasn't patient enough. He thought he could live on like that. (The Japanese audience) only felt sorry for Seita. Criticism towards Seita's character would not have suprised me, and I even hoped to hear it, but I didn't get this kind of feedback."

I trimmed it a bit, but to me, his meaning is still clear, in that Takahata considers that Seita's actions are what caused his sisters - and ultimitely his own - untimely death.--Johnmc 12:00, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Release Suspended in Korea?

Is there a reference for that? According to IMDB, the movie seems to have a rating in South Korea. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.169.41.46 (talk • contribs) .

[edit] DVD releases

Does anyone know anthing about the film's DVD releases outside the U.S. ? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Finite (talk • contribs) .

I'm not sure about DVD releases, though I do own a Chinese version of Grave of the Fireflies released by Universe Laser & Video as a VCD in Hong Kong. It's not pirated, but there does seem to be a disrepancy in its title, which is 'Tombstone For Fireflies' - no doubt caused by the open-endedness of the Japanese title as in the article. It has the original Japanese version as well as a near-accurate Cantonese dub and Chinese subtitles.--Dagari 03:25, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

It was released in Australia by Madman Entertainment on 10/2/2004 http://www.madman.com.au/actions/catalogue.do?releaseId=2506&method=view 211.30.69.12 13:08, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Schindler's List/Privat Ryan and Steven Speilberg

Now I recall reading somewhere, but I can't rember where, his personal thought's on this film. I've noticed it was refrenced in both Schindlers and Private Ryan. Anyone know how more about these, willing to contribute? --ShortShadow 03:10, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

There's an old rumor that Spielberg praised Cagliostro, but I've never seen a reliable source for it. I've never heard of Spielberg praising Grave, and I'd tend to think it's just another unfounded rumor. Also, I don't remember noticing any Grave references in either Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan. Are you sure that they unambiguously reference Grave? (I just realized that you might be talking about the IMDB entry. Unfortunately IMDB doesn't give any details about movie references, and like Wikipedia it's built from user contributions; I'd tend to think that this is a failure of peer review.) -- BenRG 19:28, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] WP:GA then WP:FA

Starting perhaps a couple weeks from now, I'm gonna take this article on as a serious development project. If anyone else wants to help, then join in. :-) --Ling.Nut 23:36, 13 December 2006 (UTC)