It’s been awhile since we’ve done one of these, but after combing the web and doing some research we’ve found an old school anime title for you to check out (if you haven’t already)! For our Throwback Thursday segment we’ll be traveling back to the 80’s to a time during the final months of WWII with a title called Grave of the Fireflies! This title is not actually an anime series, but an anime war movie produced by the legendary studio known as Studio Ghibli. (And it’s also based on a book of the same name.)

For those who haven’t seen this anime movie classic just yet, here’s the overview of the story! On September 21, 1945 not long after the Second World War, a teenage boy named Seita dies from starvation in a train station in Kobe, Japan. Upon finding a candy tin while going through the boy’s possessions, a janitor throws the tin into a field, where the spirit of Seita’s sister Setsuko springs from the tin and joins Seita’s spirit before boarding the train. Months later their house is destroyed by a firebombing that takes out most of Kobe, leaving the two to move in with a distant aunt after their mother dies of severe burns after the bombing. Not long after the aunt starts resenting the children saying that they do nothing to bring in food as the number of refugees in the house begins to grow.

Seita and his sister eventually move to an abandoned bomb shelter where they have to live on their own and gather food for their survival. During air raids the elder sibling loots from the local farmers and brings it back to the bomb shelter, and is beaten because of it. When Seita’s sister falls ill, he takes her to the doctor to see what could be wrong with her. Upon hearing the doctor’s answer, Seita prepared for the worse…

With this title being a war story, you might want to have a box of tissues nearby. Its a heart-tugging tale of family, war, famine, and love, and if you’re looking for something of this caliber, then we insist that you check out this title!

Until next post, stay nerdy friends! 😉