Grave of the Fireflies (2005 film)

Grave of the Fireflies
Live-action version of Grave of the Fireflies.
Based on	Grave of the Fireflies by Akiyuki Nosaka
Screenplay by	Yumiko Inoue
Directed by	Tôya Satô
Starring	Hōshi Ishida Mao Sasaki Nanako Matsushima Mao Inoue Tsuyoshi Ihara
Theme music composer	Kan Sawada
Country of origin	Japan
Original language(s)	Japanese
Production
Producer(s)	Mamoru Koizumi Ken Murase Toshiaki Nanba
Production company(s)	Nippon Television Network
Release
Original release	November 1, 2005 (2005-11-01)

Grave of the Fireflies is a live-action TV drama of Grave of the Fireflies, made by NTV in Japan. It was produced in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. The drama aired on November 1, 2005. Like the anime, the live-action version of Grave of the Fireflies focuses on two siblings struggling to survive the final days of the war in Kobe, Japan. Unlike the animated version, it tells the story from the point of view of their cousin (the aunt's daughter) and deals with the issue of how the war-time environment could change a kind lady into a hard-hearted woman. It stars Nanako Matsushima as the aunt, as well as Mao Inoue as their cousin.

The film is something of an epilogue; set in 2005, 60 years after the war, it opens at a crematorium in Kobe, just after the aunt, Hisako Sawano, has died at the age of 95. The funeral director comments how a person who lived through the Meiji, Taishō, Shōwa and Heisei eras had finally gone to rest. After the funeral, Natsu (Seita's and Setsuko's cousin), who is now a grandmother herself, sorts through the aunt's belongings with her granddaughter, who unexpectedly finds the metal fruit-drop tin. When her granddaughter asks why the tin is important, Natsu begins to tell her about the family's struggle to survive during the Second World War, and the emotional scars that it left.

In the anime film, Seita's aunt is his father's sister, while in this film, Seita's mother is the first cousin of the "aunt".

Just prior to Seita's death in September 1945, someone let his aunt and cousin know that Seita was still alive, though with no sign of his sister Setsuko and living near the central railway station in Kobe. The aunt and cousin go to the station in hope of finding him, but cannot. However, Seita's cousin finds a janitor, and asks him if he saw "a third-year middle-school student, Seita Yokokawa, from Kobe 1st Middle School", wearing a school cap and with his little sister. This triggers the memory of the janitor, who recalls that the previous night, he and another janitor had seen a dead boy matching Seita's description in a corner of the station. While carrying his corpse to be cremated, a metal fruit-drop tin had fallen from his clothes; thinking it rubbish, the janitor had tossed it into a field.