Delving Into ' Grave of the Fireflies' with Alex Dudok de Wit

It is probably not an overstatement to say that many view the films produced by Studio Ghibli to be the gateway for the Japanese animation craze gaining traction across the globe.

Easily accessible in foreign countries and boasting universally engaging and uplifting storylines, works like Spirited Away or My Neighbour Totoro directed by Hayao MIYAZAKI have become household names worldwide. However, the contributions of the other creative giant for Studio Ghibli, Isao TAKAHATA, have sometimes slipped under the radar; in particular those works with storylines which cannot necessarily be classed as fantasy or family friendly.

One such film is Grave of the Fireflies, directed by TAKAHATA and based on an autobiographical story by NOSAKA Akiyuki. The film follows two Japanese children orphaned by a catastrophic air raid in Kobe, portraying their struggle to survive the last days of the Second World War with an unflinching realism rarely seen in animation. But why has this film been left out of the frenzied consumption of Studio Ghibli’s works?

In conjunction with the release of the first book-length study of the film in English, Grave of the Fireflies (BFI Film Classics) in May, we invite the author, Alex Dudok de Wit, a journalist with expertise on Japanese anime, to explore his findings and the significance of this title. With critical analysis contextualised by the film’s production background, he will focus on Isao TAKAHATA’s contribution to the animation genre, moving away from the more common spotlight on Hayao MIYAZAKI’s work. His presentation, which will include live reading of short passages from the book, will be followed by a conversation with Dr YOSHIOKA Shiro, lecturer in Japanese Studies at Newcastle University, who specialises in MIYAZAKI and Studio Ghibli’s animation.