Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13304 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-08-23
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL
• Original language: English, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 120 minutes

Synopsis
A Japanese boy of 14 and his 4 year old sister, attempt to seek refuge from the atrocities of World War II in the small city of Kobe. In post-World War II Japan, a janitor finds a metal sweet container beside a deathly ill boy. The janitor tosses the canister into the night, unwittingly beginning a most unusual tale of survival amid war. Brother and sister Seita and Setsuko, flee their disheveled home and deceased parents to make their bid for a new life. Before American troops begin to occupy their country, the children resort to dwelling in an abandoned bomb shelter in the countryside. Though these siblings later get a sense of safety, they realize necessities such as food and water will not be easy to come by. This stunning and emotional film comes from the studio that made SPIRITED AWAY.

Customer Reviews

Heart warming/heart breaking
This is a beautiful film, aching with sadness, beauty and love.

It's the saddest films I've ever seen - it was so sad that, when I watched Love Story two days after I found myself deeply admiring it but dry-eyed, having cried myself out over Grave of the Fireflies. The only film I've seen that allows so much breathing/grieving time is Japanese Story.

The best film review I've ever read describes this film perfectly: (paraphrasing) "It's about the endless capacity of the human spirit...to love." Indeed, it's as much a love story, albeit family love rather than romantic, as it is a war story or a tragedy. Why a tragedy? Because at the end of the day, it's Seita's fault, holding back their savings until too late and for leaving their aunt's home. (About which, I will point you to the scene in Battle Angel Alita: Angel's Ascension where a horse rips itself away from a carousel only to bleed to death. "Foolish horse. Had it stayed on the merry-go-round it would still be alive." / "I don't think so, father. The horse died travelling in the direction it wanted to take.")

It's about the foolish choices, admirable but disasterous, a brother made to protect his little sister from a callous, unfeeling aunt, providing for her above-and-beyond what you'd expect from a 14 year old but ultimately doomed by his own choices and by a society entirely aware of the siblings' problems but without the compassion, resources or will to help those outside the system.

Yes . . . I STILL CRY!!!!
This film was recommended to by by a Ghibli friend of mine, without explanation. He said "If you don't find this emotionally wrenching, I will pay you back the cost of buying it". I bought it - I watched it, enthralled - I sobbed for the children. I am a male, and consider myself quite resiliant. However, each time I watch this film, I go upstairs to my three little sleeping daughters, and give each of them a cuddle in the night. I have watched this story many times, and yes . . . I STILL CRY!!

Beautiful but profoundly upsetting - NO Spoilers
NO SPOILERS

I do like anime, the usual suspects Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Vampire Hunter etc......is this film anything like them; no it is not, not at all.

I watched this after a friend's recommendation and although i had been told in advance that it was "sad", nothing prepared me for the effect this film would have on me.

The best films do stay with you, you're mind whirls, you mull over the twist and turns, try to understand the symbolism, draw your own conclusions, sometimes feel happy, sometimes sad, occasionally confused.

This film makes anything i have seen before it pale into insignificance for pure and unadulterated emotional impact. But also on a number of levels.

The relationship between Sieta and Setsuko is so honest, beautiful and innocent. The film portrays one of the most realistic relationships between siblings i have ever seen and i found it deeply touching and poignant. You can feel the love between them seeping out of the screen.

I was angered by Sieta's prideful nature and stupidity, which i feel were the major contributing factor to the outcome of the film and indeed the war that provides the backdrop to the film. I had to keep remembering he was also a child.

I was completely draw into the character of Setsuko. Wonderfully portrayed in the original Japanese (eng subs). I have a 3 year old daughter and this made my appreciation for Setsuko all the more intense. Her mannerisms, the way she plays, simply sublime and so subtle.

And.....finally the upset this film solicits. Devastating. I'm no softy, a 35 year old normal man. I think the last film i cried at was 'The Champ' in about 1980 or something. Well i didn't just cry here, i lost the plot totally and for sometime afterwards too. No film has ever given that to me before.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this film, although it is certainly not for children. I will watch it again, maybe in a few years.

Simply a masterpiece of film making, 'cartoon' or otherwise.