Every Studio Ghibli Movie Ranked Worst To Best
4. Grave Of The Fireflies (1988)
1988 was the best year for Studio Ghibli, but the two movies they released couldn't have been farther apart in terms of tone and message. One was a timeless hit about childhood, the other was Grave of the Fireflies.
Isao Takahata's searing war drama is the most mature and heartbreaking of Ghibli films, a simple, devastating tale about two siblings who face starvation, moral decay, hopelessness and loss in the waning years of WWII.
Gripping in its grittiness and stark assessments of war's toll, Grave of the Fireflies features two of Ghibli's most unforgettable characters in Seita and Setsuko, a pair of lost souls whose love for each other keeps them moving along.
There's no magic here; no talking cats, or floating worlds. Everything about Grave of the Fireflies is vital viewing, haunting and painfully human. It will leave you reeling for days, whilst you comprehend the horrors faced by those left broken by war.