Huynh Graves for Everyone

Grave of the Fireflies was a really touching movie, but the way it was presented was very monotone. It was monotone because the dramatic scenes and the action scenes were not as overly-emphasized as we are used to in today's movies. The fire bombings weren't filled with gigantic explosions and all, but they still had an impact on the movie's environment. This is probably how it truly went down in Japan during the war taken from the author's personal experiences. One moment there was an entire town, and everyone fleeing for safety, and the next there is nothing but rubble as far as the eye can see. The main point was brought across, just not in a way for entertainment, more like an educational sense.

Cover art taken from imdb.com

Throughout the entire movie, you can see the brother-sister bond holding strong through everything. Seita never once forgets about Setsuko's well being, and in fact, it's his entire purpose for the film. His survival depends on the survival of his last family member, Setsuko. From the beginning he is always carrying Setsuko and taking care of her, he also does all that he can to make sure she is happy. The small happiness that he runs out of is the fruit drops. Nearly all of them are eaten by Setsuko, which is fine with Seita because her happiness is his happiness. Seita even starts becoming desperate by stealing food for his sister, and looting houses as the residents evacuate for fire bombings. Setsuko feels the same for her older brother, as she always tries to help out around their home which is a bomb shelter. She cleans the shelter out, and makes mud food for herself and Seita. She doesn't know dirt is not edible, but despite that, she never forgets to make Seita a portion as well.
Society isn't as kind as the brother-sister relationship. You see that most people are indifferent to death during the movie, and it's probably caused by the war. Even children are not sheltered during the war time in this movie, because the aunt takes out her frustration on Seita and Setsuko. She gives them less food and crap quality portions at the dinner table. Even after Seita tell his aunt about he didn't want to tell Setsuko about their mother's death, she goes and tells Setsuko behind his back and complains when Setsuko cries at night. The aunt obviously can't piece two and two together. Another scene that illustrates this is when the farmer catches Seita stealing food, and even gives the reason and evidence that Setsuko is sick and needs food. The farmer goes on to beat Seita senseless, and even takes him to the police. The policeman doesn't do anything to Seita, which is good and bad because he didn't get arrested, but he also didn't get any help. A similar situation happens with a doctor who diagnoses Setsuko with malnutrition and that she needs is food, but he does nothing to help her get better.
The children are ephemeral and immortal because their lives are so short compared to the average life span of a human being, but they live on looking back on their past. The two children have extremely hard struggles during their short lives and eventually die without anyone caring except each other. "Mono no aware" comes into play here because the film is the last struggles of the two children, and it is a beautiful thing to see. The film shows them looking back on the past and future, just observing. This is a way to say that even though we don't remember them, they remember us. Eventually people will all die because it's an inevitable fact, so somewhere in the world, there are graves for everyone.