History YMMV / Graveofthefireflies

** A mass-scale example, as Takahata wanted the viewers to think that Seita was being an overly prideful little boy for not simply apologizing to his aunt and asking to move back in. The majority of the audience, needless to say, saw him as one of the biggest victims in cinematic history - partially due to the lack of {{Jerkass}} moments compared to his aunt.

* AngstAversion: ''Grave of the Fireflies'' has a rightfully earned reputation as one of the saddest animated films ever made and one of the saddest ''films'' ever made, ''period'' – and there's no shortage of people who refuse to watch it for that very reason. A common quip is that it's a film that everyone should see... ''once''.

** Outside of Japan, some people often attribute this (and ''Anime/PomPoko'') to Creator/HayaoMiyazaki. He had little to do with this movie - even though thanks to Creator/StudioGhibli it does resemble some of his works.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Seita and Setsuko's aunt is technically just a woman in over her head in a war situation, with a family of her own to take care of - and is merely callous and mean to the two. It's actually Seita who leaves them, and the aunt just doesn't protest very much. But she's one of the most hated characters in anime history, precisely because her {{Jerkass}} moments drive the children out and lead to them dying.

* MemeticMutation: Going with the fact that the film originally premiered as a DoubleFeature with the LighterAndSofter BreatherEpisode ''Anime/MyNeighborTotoro'', people have been calling this double feature "the original ''[[Memes/Barbie2023 Barb]][[Memes/{{Oppenheimer}} enheimer]]''".

** Audiences are meant to side with Seita's aunt, not Seita himself. Instead, the reverse happened, with audiences sympathizing with Seita while his aunt is seen as TheScrappy.

* DeathOfTheAuthor: Even if it was not intentional, there's a reason why so many people see ''Grave of the Fireflies'' as an [[WarIsHell anti-war film]]. The film shows World War II exclusively from the perspective of children, and yet they suffer all the same in a war they neither started, fought in, or even understand all that well. There is [[WarIsGlorious no glory to be found]] in what happened to them, only pain, suffering, and loss. The fact that the story is based on what [[BasedOnATrueStory Akiyuki Nosaka]] actually went through as a child only drives the WarIsHell vibe home that much more. This is despite director Takahata insisting that the film "contains absolutely no such message" about being anti-war. While Takahata himself held anti-war political beliefs, it wasn't what he was going for with this movie.

* MainstreamObscurity: It's a famously brutal depiction of [[WarIsHell the horrors of war]], conveniently explaining [[AngstAversion why no one ever gets around to watching it]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Seita himself is divisive amongst viewers. Some viewers love him and considers him to be a sympathetic and desperate kid whose actions, while flawed and misguided, were understandable given the horrific circumstances he and his sister were living in, while others hated him and saw him as a prideful and selfish idiot who was TooDumbToLive?

* NightmareFuel:

* TrueArtIsAngsty: The film is undeniably Studio Ghibli's darkest and most depressing film to date, as it deals with two kids attempting to survive the end of the second World War on their own after the death of their mother, only to gradually succumb to malnutrition and illness over time, with no one to help them out. It's because of this dark and somber tone, however, that it is also regarded as one of Ghibli's best and most powerful films, with it being one of three Ghibli films to achieve a rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (the other two are ''Anime/OnlyYesterday'' and ''Anime/TheTaleOfPrincessKaguya'', which, coincidentally enough, were also directed by Creator/IsaoTakahata).

** Poor, sweet, little Setsuko. She was an innocent young girl who lost her mother to the bombings. She then forced to stay with her aunt, who resented both her and her brother. After Seita decided to run away, Setsuko would ultimately die from malnourishment just as Seita was able to feed her some watermelon.

* GeniusBonus: The ending is meant to be at least somewhat uplifting, as the spirits of Seita and Setsuko are happily reunited and look down on the modern, rebuilt city of Kobe. The only problem is, this is the Kobe that existed before the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995.]] The movie itself is tragic, but if you happen to have lived in the area when the earthquake happened (or lost a relative/loved one, which was not uncommon considering the number of deaths), that’s an extra, albeit unintentional, punch to the gut.

** The closing scene is of Seita and Setsuko looking over what was, at the time of the film's production, modern-day Kobe. A few years after the film was released, Kobe got hit by Japan's worst earthquake since the 1920s, killing over 6,000 people and causing over 10 trillion yen in damage. Among the landmarks of “modern” Kobe is the Hankyu Sannomiya Station building, with its trademark arch spanning the railway tracks. The structure was damaged beyond repair in the earthquake and subsequently torn down, although it was rebuilt (without the arch) in 2020.

** Seita and Setsuko do not die in a nuke. The crux of the film is them dealing with the aftermath of firebombings, which were common around the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: This is undeniably Studio Ghibli's darkest and most depressing film to date, as it deals with two kids attempting to survive the end of the second World War on their own after the death of their mother, only to gradually succumb to malnutrition and illness by the end, with no one to help them out. It's because of this dark and somber tone, however, that it is also regarded as one of Ghibli's best and most powerful films, with it being one of three Ghibli films to achieve a rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (the other two are ''Anime/OnlyYesterday'' and ''Anime/TheTaleOfPrincessKaguya'', which, coincidentally enough, also happen to be films directed by Creator/IsaoTakahata).

* TrueArtIsAngsty: This is undeniably Studio Ghibli's darkest and most depressing film to date, as it deals with two kids attempting to survive the end of the second World War on their own after the death of their mother, only to die of malnutrition and illness by the end. It's because of this dark and somber tone, however, that it is also regarded as one of Ghibli's best and most powerful films, with it being one of three Ghibli films to achieve a rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (the other two are ''Anime/OnlyYesterday'' and ''Anime/TheTaleOfPrincessKaguya'', which, coincidentally enough, also happen to be films directed by Creator/IsaoTakahata).

* AnimationAgeGhetto: There had been many offers to make a live action adaptation, but Ayuki Nosaka felt it would be impossible to properly recreate the way Japan was at the time and that contemporary child actors would struggle in the role. He was surprised when an animated offer was made but, once he saw the storyboards, realised the story could [[SubvertedTrope only be told in animation]]. Its universal critical acclaim saw further aversion. This was subverted when [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_of_the_Fireflies_(2005_film) a live-action adaptation was made]], differing in a lot of ways.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Seita himself. Was he a sympathetic and desperate kid whose actions, while misguided, were understandable given the horrific circumstances he and his sister were in? Or was he a prideful and ultimately selfish idiot who was way in over his head and was TooDumbToLive? Some (including the author himself) see him as the latter, but many fans do sympathize with him and view him as the former.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: An odd and possibly [[ZigZaggingTrope zigzagged]] example:

** Averted in the case of the Australian DVD release, which is rated M: recommended for audiences 15 and up.

* TheWoobie:
** Poor, sweet, little Setsuko.
** Setsuko and Seita's mother also counts.

* AngstAversion:
** ''Grave of the Fireflies'' has a rightfully earned reputation as one of the saddest animated films ever made and one of the saddest ''films'' ever made, ''period'' – and there's no shortage of people who refuse to watch it for that very reason. A common quip is that it's a film that everyone should see... ''once''.
** According to legend, back in the 1990s, an anime club in Australia scheduled both ''Grave of the Fireflies'' and ''Anime/{{Windaria}}'' at the same meeting. The screening schedule was changed at the last minute for fear that club members would end up slashing their wrists in the car park.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The plot can be resumed in "Two siblings became orphans in the World War II devastated Japan, and then ItGetsWorse". The movie can get extremely uncomfortable to watch, specially since its TakeThatAudience tone and its infamous DownerEnding has entered ItWasHisSled territory among anime fans and movie buffs. The highest irony is that it was premiered in a double feature with the much LighterAndSofter film My Neighbor Totoro...as a way to help Totoro find an audience.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The film may be more considered an adult anime internationally due to how bleak it is, but it is still considered an all-ages family film in Japan, specifically targeted towards [[ShounenDemographic adolescent audiences]] as the message of the film is most important towards them. But on the other hand...

* AnimationAgeGhetto: There had been many offers to make a live action adaptation, but Ayuki Nosaka felt it would be impossible to properly recreate the way Japan was at the time and that contemporary child actors would struggle in the role. He was surprised when an animated offer was made but, once he saw the storyboards, realised the story could [[SubvertedTrope only be told in animation]]. Its universal critical acclaim saw further aversion. Subverted when [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_of_the_Fireflies_(2005_film) a live-action adaptation was made]], differing in a lot of ways.
* CommonKnowledge: Outside of Japan, some people often attribute this (and ''Anime/PomPoko'') to Creator/HayaoMiyazaki. He had little to do with this movie - even though thanks to Creator/StudioGhibli it does resemble some of his works.
** No, Seita and Setsuko do not die in a nuke. The crux of the film is them dealing with the aftermath of firebombings, which were common around the end of WWII.
* DeathOfTheAuthor: Even if it was not intentional, there's a reason why so many people see ''Grave of the Fireflies'' as an [[WarIsHell anti-war film]]. The film shows UsefulNotes/WorldWarII exclusively from the perspective of children, and yet they suffer all the same in a war they neither started, fought in, or even understand all that well. There is [[WarIsGlorious no glory to be found]] in what happened to them, only pain, suffering, and loss. The fact that the story is based on what [[BasedOnATrueStory Akiyuki Nosaka]] actually went through as a child only drives the WarIsHell vibe home that much more. This is despite director Takahata insisting that the film "contains absolutely no such message" about being anti-war. While Takahata himself held anti-war political beliefs, it wasn't what he was going for with this movie.

* PlatonicWritingRomanticReading: Seita and Setsuko's relationship has some IncestSubtext to it at times.[[note]]Due to the nature of the story, some fans are offended by the mere suggestion of this idea.[[/note]] WordOfGod has even acknowledged it in the original short story, claiming that in some ways Setsuko becomes Seita's lover, as she functions as his MoralityPet.
* RealismInducedHorror: The film does not shy away from the realistic consequences of peoples' actions as a result of the war, which is done for the sake of being scary or shocking.
** Seita and Setsuko's mother dies from the bomb raid of Kobe that burned down the town. She's burned practically beyond recognition and covered in bandages when Seita finds her. She doesn't survive much longer, including getting infested with maggots as a result of so much blood in one place.

* ValuesDissonance: In an early scene, the mother of the two main characters goes off to a shelter to seek safety without her children, leaving her son to carry his younger sister around while the town is under attack from the air raid bombs. While Westerners would consider this to be reckless endangerment, the original intention was that Seita was the man of the house since his father was away serving in the Navy. Since he was old enough, his mother trusted him to finish securing the house and watch over his little sister. According to the bonus material, this behavior was also explained by the fact that previous American bombings had been relatively light and aimed at industrial sites only, so nobody was worrying too much until the bombs starting attacking residential areas.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Director and writer Isao Takahata asserting that the film is not an anti-war film is a little baffling considering the subject matter. [[note]] His reasoning being that he didn’t want the movie to be used as propaganda. [[/note]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Director and writer Isao Takahata asserting that the film is not an anti-war film is a little baffling considering the subject matter.

* RelationshipWritingFumble: Seita and Setsuko's relationship has some IncestSubtext to it at times.[[note]]Due to the nature of the story, some fans are offended by the mere suggestion of this idea.[[/note]] WordOfGod has even acknowledged it in the original short story, claiming that in some ways Setsuko becomes Seita's lover, as she functions as his MoralityPet.