So I recently had an assignment over at AwardsCircuit on war movies so I asked a friend of mine who’s a history buff (and film buff) what his favorite war movies were. Before he gave me this suggestion, he said that his list was a little more obscure and and acquired taste and he was right. He suggested that I take a look at “Grave of the Fireflies.”

Before watching this one, I had no idea what it was about…had never heard of it nor did I know that it was an animated film (for some reason, I’m not super keen on animated films, with the exception of like “I Lost My Body,” “Toy Story,” and “Spider-Man: Into the Multiverse”…but I’ll watch them…animated TV shows like “American Dad,” “Family Guy,” “Bob’s Burgers,” “Archer,” “South Park” are a whole ‘other story…love those!). But my friend did mention that the war was only the backdrop and not the main focus of the story.

“Grave of the Fireflies” is the story of a young boy and his little sister fighting to survive on their own during WWII in Japan. It’s a touching story, but don’t go looking for a happy ending or a fairytale story. This one is heart-wrenching, but worth the watch if you’re looking for something good. But take my suggestion and watch it with the subtitles which I unfortunately did not do SMH…the voice actors were a little too American and it was sometimes distracting and took me out of the movie.

Currently streaming on Hulu.