Grave of The Fireflies: A Haunting Reminder of Today

Grave of The Fireflies within the western hemisphere is most well known for its poignant, haunting and heart rendering animated 1988 feature-film adaptation produced by Studio Ghibli. Seldom mentioned however, is the original short story, composed by Akiyuki Nosaka on which the film is based. 

Set within the final act of the Second World War, Grave of the Fireflies follows a pair of siblings, an older brother Seita and his much younger sister Setsuko, as they traverse the events surrounding the bombing of Kobe and its immediate aftermath.  Effectively orphaned, the pair are then set adrift within a new chaotic and graphic landscape, whilst struggling to survive. At its core, Grave of the Fireflies is a tribute to the countless war orphans who perished during the conflict, who much like Seita and Setsuko, never found home again. 

A deep sense of dissonance lingers for the duration of the story. Locations, which the pair were acquainted with earlier in their lives, are either transformed into hellish landscapes, or tainted by the ravages of war. This corruption of the world they once knew, is a key theme of the piece: perfidy. 

Seita and Setsuko trust is constantly and relentlessly betrayed. Whether it be physical structures, institutions, adults or even their own country. Seita and Setsuko are systematically and surgically cut-off from the rest of the world, piece by piece. Juxtaposing this tragedy is the strength of the relationship between the siblings, which directly opposes the attitudes held by the adults in this piece. Seita, himself is forced to take on the role of both mother and father, abandoning his childhood and morals to try and ensure Setsuko’s survival.

Seita and Setsuko throughout are symbolic of childlike purity and virtues, which have been cast aside by the wider world in order to favour self-preservation. In the end, the pairing of Seita and Setsuko meets a preventable, bitter and morose end. Gut-wrenchingly, neither of their deaths are mourned; they die alone and are very much forgotten. 

The greatest tragedy of Grave of the Fireflies is that it is not merely a piece of fiction; but a semi-auto-biographical retelling of Akiyuki Nosaka’s own experiences during the war, including the death of his own sister. In this context, the novel reads as a reflection of the author's guilt surrounding the death of his own sister; in addition to coming to terms with the shared tragedy held by the Japanese during this period. 

Takemori's respectful and masterful translation of this work is to be highly commended.  It preserves, in its entirety, the blunt rawness of war, which unfortunately still very much exists today. 

Grave of the Fireflies
By Akiyuki Nosaka
ISBN: 9780241780213 

 

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