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Studio Ghibli has made plenty of anime films that are considered legendary within the medium, with many of them diving into universes that help to make viewers feel good. On the flip side, the production house also hasn’t been afraid to venture into territory that can show the rougher side of the human experience. One of the saddest entries in Ghibli’s history, Grave of the Fireflies, remains a harrowing story of how war can tear a family apart. In a surprising twist, while the 1988 film is considered one of Ghibli’s best, the original version of the film had been discovered in Japan.
The outlet known as NHK, which routinely works with Studio Ghibli in the East, has unearthed both a booklet that contains the first iteration of the film, along with a short video that contains seventy-four seconds of footage for what Grave of the Fireflies might have looked like. Specifically, the scenes in the unearth test footage include the older brother being beaten for stealing food for his younger sister, and the heartwrenching scene of Seita creating a fire to burn his deceased sister’s body. While the footage has yet to be officially released by Ghibli, they have released the booklet of the first iteration that you can check out below.
The First Fireflies
Grave of the Fireflies is not for the faint of heart, as it is a brutal tale that shows just how much war can destroy the lives of those unfortunate enough to experience it. Unlike entries such as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, The Boy And The Heron, and Kiki’s Delivery Service, there is nothing whimsical or supernatural to see in the story of Seita and his young sister Setsuko. When the siblings’ parents are both killed as a result of World War 2, the brother and sister find themselves on a doomed path of survival and earn their place as one of the most depressing movies in any era. If you have never seen Grave of the Fireflies, the Ghibli film is available to stream on Netflix.
As for the unearthed footage from the first take on the depressing anime film, Ghibli has yet to confirm that this new material will be released to anime fans. In the past, the prolific production house has released some unseen animation, though one major sequel has never made its way to North America. Specifically, Studio Ghibli previously showed Japan the My Neighbor Totoro sequel, Mei and the Kittenbus, which was a fourteen-minute segment that returned to this beloved anime universe. The sequel has only aired in Ghbili locales such as Japan’s Studio Ghibli Museum and the amusement park known as Ghibli Park. Since the Grave of the Fireflies segment is only a little over one minute long, seeing it hit streaming services seems like a long shot, though arriving at the Ghibli locations would make sense.
What do you think of this massive find from Studio Ghibli’s past? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the Forum!
Via NHK
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