Grave of the Fireflies
“Why do fireflies have to die so soon?”
In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.
Genres
Animation, Drama, War
Studio
Studio Ghibli
Language
ja
Status
Released
How Grave of the Fireflies performed
Budget
$3.7M
Worldwide Gross
$842,132
Gross Profit
−$2.9M
Return
0.2× budget
Opening Wknd (est.)
$90K
Source: TMDB. Domestic/international split (~38/62, genre-typical) and the opening-weekend figure (28% of the domestic run, typical for Animation) are MoviesRankd estimates. Profit is gross revenue minus production budget and excludes marketing — studios typically need ~2–2.5× budget to break even.
Where to Watch
Cast
Seita (voice)
Tsutomu Tatsumi
Seita (voice)
Setsuko (voice)
Ayano Shiraishi
Setsuko (voice)
Mother (voice)
Yoshiko Shinohara
Mother (voice)
Auntie (voice)
Akemi Yamaguchi
Auntie (voice)
Woman who takes care of Setsuko (voice)
Masayo Sakai
Woman who takes care of Setsuko (voice)
Obayashi Chairman (voice)
Kozo Hashida
Obayashi Chairman (voice)
Cousin (voice)
Kazumi Nozaki
Cousin (voice)
Gosaku (voice)
Yoshio Matsuoka
Gosaku (voice)
Aunt's House Guest (voice)
Masahiro Kanetake
Aunt's House Guest (voice)
Patrolman (voice)
Kiyoshi Yanagawa
Patrolman (voice)
Man who arrests Seita (voice)
Hajime Maki
Man who arrests Seita (voice)
Person in Bank (voice)
Atsuo Omotem
Person in Bank (voice)
If you liked Grave of the Fireflies
In This Corner of the World
2016
Mirai
2018
The Boy and the Heron
2023
When the Wind Blows
1986
The Sky Crawlers
2008
The Breadwinner
2017