10 Best Anime Films Of The '80s
7. Grave Of The Fireflies (1988)
Two years after the release of their first film, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Studio Ghibli was riding high. Their first official release had earned them critical acclaim and absolutely crushed it at the box office, catapulting the studio into immediate stardom.
Grave of the Fireflies was a decidedly different breed of film compared to Laputa. The story is a dark, unflinching portrayal of life in Japan during the closing months of World War II, written and directed by the late Isao Takahata. It went on to win several awards, has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and is often said to be one of the greatest anti-war films of all time.
It also regularly tops lists as one of the most depressing films ever made, a tour-de-force of despair that only worsens as the film continues. It's not a great first date film, take my word for it.
Even though the film was successful in Japan, it got poor sales in the rest of the world due to the lack of an English translation. Luckily, Studio Ghibli also released My Neighbor Totoro in the same year, stabilising the company's financial growth by selling millions of Totoro and Catbus plushies.