Takahata always maintained that Grave of the Fireflies is not an anti-war film.Word of God: There are two common interpretations of this film, both of which were denied by Takahata:.Takahata hoped to use more experimental animation techniques, but the release schedule was far too tight to allow it.When Ghibli made an offer to do an animated adaptation, he was quite surprised, but quickly grew enthusiastic and declared it was the only possible way it could have been done. Numerous offers had been made to do a live action film adaptation of the original short story, all of which were rejected by author Akiyuki Nosaka as he felt it would be impossible to recreate the backdrops of his childhood that he'd drawn on.They eventually did get the theatrical rights to it about a year after they got the rights to the rest of the Ghibli films from Disney.
Screwed by the Lawyers: When GKIDS acquired the license to all the Ghibli films, they weren't able to license Grave of the Fireflies since the film's rights are owned by Shinchosha, meaning that it's not available to watch on HBO Max with the other Ghibli films.New fans often find it jarring that the studio not only created a film so grounded and dark, but that it was made so early in their history. This is the second film to be released by the studio, but Ghibli eventually became known for whimsical films that had a downplayed edge, starting with their next films My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. Playing Against Type: For animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli, in retrospect at least.No Export for You: While Grave of the Fireflies has been streamed on HIDIVE in the United States, it never had a digital streaming release in Canada.Enforced Method Acting: Since Studio Ghibli wasn't used to having Ayano Shiraishi's lines pre-recorded given her age, they tried to avoid angles from where her mouth could be seen.
GKIDS has the theatrical rights in North America, and their screenings include the 2012 dub. The UK and Australian Blu-rays contain only the 1998 dub. The 1998 dub was still included as a bonus feature for its historical significance. It didn't help that the original dub always had a mixed reception, and the new one was, at the very least, considered an improvement. note With Adam Gibbs as Seita, Emily Neves as Setsuko, and featuring Shelley Calene-Black, Rob Mungle, Blake Shepherd, David Wald, David Matranga, and Luci Christian. A new dub was made in 2012 by Houston-based Seraphim Digital for Sentai's Blu-ray because the original dub audio couldn't be remastered in HD. After CPM's closure, ADV Films released it to DVD in 2009, and then Sentai Filmworks put out a remastered release in 2011. Robert Spencer as Seita, veteran anime voice actress Corinne Orr as Setsuko, and early work from Crispin Freeman, Veronica Taylor, and Dan Green. One was made in 1998 by Central Park Media and New York-based Skypilot Entertainment that was exclusively used for all VHS and DVD releases as late as 2011. Black was only used when absolutely necessary. Brown is harder to animate than black, as it doesn't contrast as well. This had never been done in an anime before, and was a great challenge to the animators.