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Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Directed by Isao Takahata · Cinematography by Nobuo Koyama

88 min63 frames

AnimationDramaWar

Why do fireflies have to die so soon?

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Stills, screencaps & shots from Grave of the Fireflies

16 of 63 frames — the full set is searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, color and mood with a free account.

Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: establishing — A dark cityscape at night is illuminated by widespread fires and falling red flares. Large…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: wide — A crowded train carriage at night contains many passengers in 1940s Japanese military uniforms. A…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: wide — A man and a small child stand on a darkened ridge overlooking a village. They watch the clustered…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: fullbody — A Japanese family stands together in an orchard filled with blooming cherry blossom trees.…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: wide — A lush green rice paddy borders a path under a blue sky with clouds. A young boy pulls a small…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: wide — A stone bridge with rusted metal wreckage sits over a calm, murky canal. Several small figures in…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: medium — A man and a child are inside a round wooden tub at night. They play with a white ball while…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: closeup — A dark, nondescript room serves as the setting for this quiet moment. A young boy smiles while…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: medium — A small child stands beside a rustic structure overgrown with tall green grasses. She holds a…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: wide — A rural village path runs between wooden houses and rice paddies in the rain. A lone figure…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: fullbody — A war-torn landscape features displaced people scattered along a rural dirt path. A young…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: medium — A teenage boy stands in complete darkness. He wears a simple red uniform and a matching…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: establishing — A decimated landscape of charred wooden debris and ruins under a dark, smoky sky. Rain…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: wide — A rural landscape at night features an empty wooden swing suspended during heavy rain. Thick…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: closeup — A doll wearing a bonnet lies on a dark, dimly lit surface. A small glowing firefly rests on the…Grave of the Fireflies (1988) movie still: wide — A dark, wood-framed entranceway is surrounded by dense, shadowy vegetation at night. Two people…
Grave of the Fireflies (1988) — © Studio Ghibli

Grave of the Fireflies — official trailer

What is Grave of the Fireflies about?

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

Grave of the Fireflies is a 1988 Japanese animated war film written and directed by Isao Takahata. It stars the voices of Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara, and Akemi Yamaguchi. Based on Akiyuki Nosaka's 1967 semi-autobiographical short story of the same name, the film is set in Kobe shortly after its bombing by the U.S. Army Air Forces, and follows two orphaned siblings who desperately struggle to survive during the final months of the Pacific War.

Second paragraph from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where can you watch Grave of the Fireflies?

US availability for Grave of the Fireflies (1988). Data by JustWatch, listings on TMDB. Availability changes — check the provider for current listings.

Who stars in Grave of the Fireflies?

Who made Grave of the Fireflies?

What does the cinematography of Grave of the Fireflies look like?

Across 61 sampled frames, Grave of the Fireflies builds its coverage from wide compositions (38% of the sample), with medium shots (28%) carrying much of the rest. Cinematographer Nobuo Koyama keeps 59% of it in naturalistic light. 54% of the frames play at night or in the failing light of dusk. Deep focus keeps foreground and background readable at once in 90% of the frames. The production design places the film in the 1940s.

What is the color palette of Grave of the Fireflies?

The dominant colors across the sampled frames of Grave of the Fireflies (1988) are #2f312f, #51524d, #13110f, #cfb393, #4a332e, #334e51 — measured from the per-frame color data FrameThrower extracts for every film.

  • #2f312f
  • #51524d
  • #13110f
  • #cfb393
  • #4a332e
  • #334e51

See the full Grave of the Fireflies colour palette — every hex with its share, plus warmth, saturation and luminance.

Grave of the Fireflies ranks in

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