Grave of emotions.

This will be the review of what was, quite possibly and realistically, the saddest movie I have ever seen.  The movie is called Grave of the Fireflies, an animated feature from Japan, and really is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. Being described to me as "the saddest movie you will ever see", and being drawn to that sort of movie in general, I felt like I would test the hyperbole of that statement by watching it today. Wow. It was a beautiful kind of sad unlike anything I have ever seen before. It has been several hours since I watched it and even now, as I reflect on various moments in the movie for this review, some of the lingering emotions still resonate deep within me. Seriously.

So... what do I say about it now? The animation is top-notch but nothing overbearing or flashy. Perfectly suited to the story. The music is perfectly complimentary as well. The pace was occasionally slow-ish but never annoying to me. The story is very life-like and tragic(not to say life is tragic, really) and the characters are powerfully realistic to me. It seems to be the story of how war deeply affects the most normal people. It was very easy to imagine myself in such a similar predicament despite my own lack of war experience.

Ultimately, I would give this movie as close to a perfect score as I can feel okay giving a movie... perhaps a 6 out of 7 fruit drops. Truly excellent filmmaking in every respect! I would highly recommend it to anybody who enjoys a high-quality tragedy for sure!