In Kobe, Japan near the close of World War II a teenage boy dodges the constant fire bombings ravaging the city while contending with desperate neighbors and relatives and combatting the pitiless starvation that plagues him, his sister and the rest of the countryside. From Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli and director Isao Takahata, Grave of the Fireflies is dark, beautifully poetic, and all around masterful animated storytelling.
