Synopsis
Grave of Fireflies is the animated movie between two orphaned children, fourteen year old Seita and his young four year old sister Setsuko who managed to survive during the Kobe fire bombings in the end of the World War two.

Themes
Every movie is based on some or the other real life instances and movies mainly focuses on a particular point similarly this movie reflects about the result of war or effects on the people due to war, lot of people were dead and many people lost their families.
The relationship between Seita and Setsuko is the key theme of the movie. This tells us about how brother Seita took responsibility of his sister Setsuko in spite of the way his aunt treated them after they lost their mother who was badly injured during the fire bombings. The sacred love between brother and sister continues.

Characters
Seita:
The responsibility taken by Seita at a very young age towards his little sister was apparent throughout the movie. His commitments towards his sister even more increased after his mother’s death and the way they were treated by their distant aunt. The caring love he showed to his sister was ultimate; he even carried her on his shoulders when she was unhealthy in spite of fire bombings and difficulties he faced during the bombings. He always tried to give his best to her. He lonely took his sister to the doctor for the treatment but he could not keep her alive as he was not having enough money and the doctor was also not so kind.
If he had made any incorrect decisions, it was because of his innocence and pride.

Setsuko:
A four year old girl (sister of Seita). She is innocent cute little girl who is not aware nor she is capable of things happening around her. She blindly believes her brother’s words. This indicates the love she had towards her brother. Most of the time she will be smiling. When ever she is hungry she asks her brother to get her a candy. This indicated that she likes candy very much. This all reflects that she was fully dependent on her brother Setsuko.

Techniques
Isao Takahata has no qualms in telling the audience that he intends to kill off the main characters right from the start of the movie. This move potentially prepares the audience to detach themselves from the characters subconsciously, which is risking the central goal of telling the story through the eyes of these two characters.
The sense of sound is extremely well exploited, with music to accompany the audience through the range of emotions in the film, be it as reminiscence of the times of peace where ‘life’ takes a different meaning. Laughter of Setsuko is a reflection of hope and happiness.
Instead of adopting the tried-and-tested formula or glorifying the heroic struggles of Seita, Isao focused almost entirely on the personal tragedies of the duo.
This risks losing the audience who cannot relate to the two characters, thus failing in the entire approach.

Critique
This is one of the saddest films I've ever seen. Made all the more so by the small moments of happiness depicted in the film Setsuko playing, the children sharing food and making a life for themselves in their shelter - we know from the first frame that our protagonists are doomed but because of these happy scenes we can almost hope that Seita will find a way to overcome their situation or that their father will return from the war or... but such hope is in vain; the children are doomed as their nation is and for the same reasons.