CultureBooksAnimeOct 21, 2026
A new book published in Japan draws on testimonies from people involved in making Takahata Isao’s anime Grave of the Fireflies, as well as the director’s notebooks, to explore the background to this heartbreaking classic.
- English
- 日本語
- 简体字
- 繁體字
- Français
- Español
- العربية
- Русский
Allowed Close Access
Terakoshi Yōko’s new book Takahata Isao and Grave of the Fireflies, recently published in Japanese, follows her documentary on the topic, which was broadcast on NHK’s educational TV service in August 2025. Drawing on testimonies from many of the people involved in making the film, and including a wealth of details that could not be included in the program, the book presents a meticulous account of the making of an anime classic.
Alongside Miyazaki Hayao (1941–), Takahata Isao (1935–2018) was one of the masters of Japanese anime. He graduated from the University of Tokyo and joined Tōei Animation in 1959. After working on The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun, he moved to another production company, where he made a number of anime series for TV including Heidi, Girl of the Alps and 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother. He also served as producer on Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and in 1985 co-founded Studio Ghibli together with Miyazaki and Suzuki Toshio (now the studio’s chairman).
Among the films Takahata directed at Ghibli are works like Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Only Yesterday (1991), Pom Poko (1994), My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999), and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013).
A man of few words, Takahata was uncomfortable with having journalists probing into the behind-the-scenes details of his productions. But the author of this book earned his trust and was the only TV director allowed to follow the production of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya at close quarters. In 2019, after Takahata’s death, seven notebooks containing his creative notes and ideas for Grave of the Fireflies were discovered in the garage of his home, providing the idea and materials for the NHK documentary.
“Not an Antiwar Film”
Grave of the Fireflies was adapted from a short story of the same title by Nosaka Akiyuki, based on his own wartime experiences. The fireflies of the title symbolize young lives cut short. The story is set in Kobe toward the end of the Pacific War, as the city is devastated by massive American air raids. After losing their parents, 14-year-old Seita and his 4-year-old sister Setsuko live for a time with an aunt. Unable to endure her discriminatory treatment, they decide to leave and make their own way in the world. The film tells the heartbreaking story of the two naïve, isolated siblings, swept up in the horrors of war with no one to help them.
Terakoshi had heard Takahata himself say that Grave of the Fireflies was “not an antiwar film.” This surprising claim prompts a series of questions. What were his intentions in depicting the war? Why was he so determined to turn this story in particular into an animated film? And what elements of the film were additions by Takahata, who had a reputation for being faithful to hising to achieve through these additions?
The search for answers to these questions is the subject of the book. Takahata himself had experienced the air raids in his hometown of Okayama as a child of nine, narrowly escaping with his life.
A Double Bill with My Neighbor Totoro
In 1988, Grave of the Fireflies opened on a double bill with Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro. The two films were initially planned to run for around 60 minutes each, but that would have made them too short for a stand-alone theatrical release, so a decision was made to show them together as a 120-minute double feature. In the end, the films each had a running time of nearly 90 minutes. The double bill opened with Japan in the midst of the bubble economy and awash in money.
I remember seeing the double bill at a cinema in Yūrakuchō, Tokyo. First came My Neighbor Totoro, a gentle, heartwarming fairy tale about the sisters Satsuki and Mei, who move with their father to a house in the country while their mother recuperates from an illness. There they encounter Totoro, a mysterious creature who lives nearby. Then came Grave of the Fireflies and the mood shifted suddenly to one of despair and darkness.
The imagery was so realistic it was hard to believe I was watching an anime. The film follows a brother and his innocent young sister as they flee desperately from the ravages of war. The tears came to my eyes as I watched their meager lives in a shelter, struggling to find food. One particularly heartrending scene showed them pouring water into an empty tin of hard candies, desperate for even a tiny taste of sweetness. By the time the emaciated Setsuko finally died of malnutrition, the sounds of sobbing could be heard from the seats around me.
A Masterpiece Shown Unfinished
Toward the end of the film, there was a brief shot in which the color suddenly disappeared, leaving line drawings against a white background. I assumed this had been a bold stylistic choice intended to create a dramatic effect. In fact, there had not been time to finish the film by the time of release.
My memory of which scenes were affected had become hazy over the years, but the book reveals that they include the scene in which Seita is beaten after being discovered stealing food from a field, and another where he places Setsuko’s dead body in a box and sets it alight. Color was added to these scenes later, and the version available today is the completed film. Drawing on testimonies from people involved in the production, Terakoshi reconstructs the story of how work on the film failed to meet the deadline.
Unlike Miyazaki, who likes to develop his ideas while drawing, Takahata did not draw himself. His method was to work out the progression of the story logically, filling his notebooks with ideas in his tiny handwriting, and repeatedly refining them. Although today, advances in filmmaking technology may make it possible to depict such scenes realistically even in live-action films, Takahata argued at the time that “only animation can depict a landscape reduced to ashes” and was convinced that “only animation can bring out the full power of this story.”
Since animation consists of drawings, Takahata would accept no compromise when it came to realism and accuracy, determined that the images must not “lie.” This refusal to compromise caused production to fall far behind schedule and made work on the film something of an ordeal. Today, most anime are produced digitally, but back then, every single frame had to be drawn by hand.
A Ghost Looks Back
The film opens with a voiceover: “On the night of September 21, 1945, I died.” Already gone from this world, Seita is a ghost looking back on his life during the war. This opening concept was Takahata’s own invention, absent from the original story. What did he intend to express through this addition? And why did he insist that Grave of the Fireflies is not an “antiwar film”? The book offers fascinating insights into these questions through the differing views of people involved in the production.
Takahata hoped that audiences would see the story as one that spoke to the present day and said that “young people today should be able to empathize with Seita.” Suzuki Toshio is adamant that the film is not about opposition to war but about the love between a brother and sister. Terakoshi, however, concludes that each answer is correct in its way, noting that “Takahata himself did not have just one answer.” She says that the important thing is that we continue to ask questions.
Terakoshi is convinced that Takahata’s involvement as director made Grave of the Fireflies such an enduring classic. This new book makes the case with clarity and conviction and is a heartfelt tribute to a master of Japanese anime.
Takahata Isao to “Hotaru no Haka:” Maboroshi no kyakuhon to nana satsu no kōsō nōto o yomitoku
(Takahata Isao and Grave of the Fireflies: Analyzing the Screenplay Drafts and Seven Development Notebooks)
(Originally published in Japanese. Banner image: The cover for Takahata Isao andGrave of the Fireflies. © Shinchōsha.)
