Cormier Grave of the Fireflies

So in Grave of the Fireflies, a 14 year old boy, Seita, and his 4 year old sister, Setsuko, are in the midst of World War II. Their town is unfortunate enough to suffer from several air raids throughout the film and their mother is killed during one. One of the aspects of the movie that I really enjoyed was the fact that Setsuko, in a way, was mature for a child. Even though Seita refrained from telling Setsuko that their mother had died, Setsuko already knew. And even though she was upset, she never openly had a breakdown like any normal 4 year old child would. The fact that Setsuko was under circumstances that no child should ever have to endure, she handled her situation fairly well. In society (especially American society), we really don’t give children credit for understanding things labeled as “for adults.” But children ask a lot of questions and that in itself shows that they want to learn things. Even though they don’t always understand the answers, the question “Why?” is a huge one. Such as when Setsuko asks, “Why do fireflies live so shortly?” or something along the lines of that.

I also feel as if Seita isn’t given enough credit for what he does throughout the movie too. I suppose the age of 14 can still be considered to be a “kid” right? But Seita does so much to take care of Setsuko. He finds food, plays with her, carries her, cooks, bathes her, and everything else their aunt was too much of a “b-word” to do. Like she was steady complaining about how he never did anything, but he was taking care of his sister! Honestly, I wish someone would tell me that. Seriously. But the love that they had for each other was so sweet. The movie was so good in that aspect and I actually wish that I cried. But it was horrible how Setsuko’s ashes were tossed away carelessly by the guard man and Seita was never properly buried or cremated. A really unfortunate end for two lovable characters. R.I.P.

Gah, they're so adorable

But on an ending note, it was really sad to read that the author of the novel, The Grave of the Fireflies, based the novel on his own experiences and that it was a way of relieving himself of the guilt he felt for the death of his baby sister. So sad.

I wouldn't know how to feel about a live action version, but I LOVE this picture :')

Cormier Harp of Burma

So this week’s anime was Harp of Burma. I actually liked it compared to Botchan, which I think is also in like the “Anime Classics” dvd. In the film, a group of World War II soldiers are assigned in Burma until they learn that the war is over and Japan surrendered. One member of their squadron, Mizushima, goes on a mission to get a group of fellow Japanese to surrender but gets wounded while on assignment. When he finally recovers and takes on the guise of a monk, he sees the decaying bodies of all the Japanese soldiers who died fighting in the war and he is unable to cope. Rather than going back to Japan with his team, he dedicates his life to burying the bodies.

Overall, I’d say that it’s just interesting to see the Japanese view of death. Since the Shinto religion doesn’t really promise an afterlife, the Japanese seem to celebrate their lives. Suicide is only valid if it’s honorable, such as the death of Kuribayashi, who was mortally wounded in battle. Suicide to escape punishment or the harshness or life or something of the like is deemed cowardly. From what I’ve seen, there aren’t any examples of “honorable” suicide in America because it’s generally frowned upon here. And maybe that’s because we have such a Christian background that really denounces suicide and even calls it a sin.

Kuribayashi from Letters From Iwo Jima

The best thing I read out of the chapter was probably about the fact that in anime, characters can die at any time or place. Even lead characters. But in America, the good guys always win and main characters usually don’t die. One thing I’ve noticed is that death is also somewhat unacceptable in American literature. If you think about certain books like Lord of the Flies (where the most sensible boys on the island both get killed), A Separate Peace, The Great Gatsby, and Of Mice and Men, lead characters have all died and these books have all ended up on the banned books list. Maybe their banned status isn’t linked to the deaths of lead characters, but it’s something a lot of banned books have in common. Just some food for thought :)

Lenny and George from Of Mice and Men, "LENNY, WE AIN'T GOT NO KETCHUP " 

Cormier Vampire Hunter D

So for Vampire Hunter D I can't say that I enjoyed it much. Most of the movie was spent wishing it would end. I had never heard of spaghetti westerns before watching this movie and I know little to nothing about vampires, but it was interesting to see the connection between Vampire Hunter D and western movies.

Doris, who lives in a small country town, is a bit of a typical damsel-in-distress who gets bitten by a 10,000 year old vampire who is bored with his life. Then D, the mysterious vampiel who's the biological son of Dracula, comes to help her. And of course they fall in love. But I thought it was so strange that D just rode away at the end and Doris just waved back at him. Did they totally forget that they were in love?

A semi-interesting character was Lamika, another vampiel who believed she had noble blood. I wish it was stressed more in the movie about the vampires' ancestry and the tainting of their family line. But overall I think that Vampire Hunter D is like a western and supernatural (sort of) at the same time.