Grave of Fireflies

“On the night of September 21st, 1945, I die.”

This is the first script of the movie grave of fireflies.

A raggedy boy at the age of 14, breathing feebly, lying, at the station, is walking to the terminal of his life.

In a trance, he sees his younger sister who has already passed away and that night in summer when the sky is filled with fireflies...

At that time, he and his sister are very happy. There are so many beautiful things to keep you away from sadness: tin box full of candies, fireflies that are dancing in the sky, brother and sister hand-in-hand running, the bell's giggle of sister...

The air attack begins, in which his mother dies. Facing this, as a brother, all he could do is to conceal mother’s death from his sister. So the brother performs playing with horizontal bar to comfort the sister who is crying for mum, by the sunset the two little children appearing to be thin and weak. Maybe this is the time when the brother tries to shoulder all the sadness, and is determined to give sister "a sunny sky" above the ruins left by the war.

The brother and the sister then turn to their relatives. However, war just makes remote relatives remoter and the lack of food and necessities makes people cooler to each other. More and more cold eyes as well as less and less food in the bowl suggests that they have got to leave. Brother finally decides to move away with his sister to find a house that really belongs to them. But when they leave happily singing songs, he is not aware that war has more sadness in store.

Fireflies dance again while bad things happen to the brother and the sister again and again. Among all the difficulties, hunger and disease bother them most. Brother has to steal things while air attacking in order to get something to eat. Every time he finds a little food in the house people in which has already run away, he is extremely happy.

In the dark, deserted air-raid shelter, the brother catches some fireflies into the mosquito net. Now light, now dim, the fireflies are dancing in the sultry night. The brother embraces tightly the sister who is asleep, afraid that the instant he looses his hands, he would lose his sister. Only 14 years old, he doesn't know that war means losing.

Actually, the sister already knows that her mother has passed away. Young as she is, she knows what death and grave means. Little dead bodies of fireflies drop down from the sister's hands, mix with earth and then become the motes, which reminds the brother of mother's death. Tears falls down from his eyes maybe for mother, maybe for fireflies or just for the weak lives that can't stand even a small strike.

The life of a firefly is short. In the dark sky, they dance beautifully and then fall down quietly... Due to the adverse circumstances, the sister gets eczema, but they can't afford to see a doctor nor can they buy medicine...In the end, the sister, suffering from both starvation and disease, dies miserably at a young age.

The sky at the night when the sister leaves is also filled with thousands of fireflies. She smiles, in the most beautiful scenery trying to seek for the happy life that can only be found in dreams.

Now the fireflies dancing again, the tin box full of candy, the girl with bell's giggle, fireflies dancing in the sky...all of these leave you nothing but sadness and pity.

All the things seem so cruel as if all the wonderful dreams become useless when it comes to the war. In order that he and his sister can survive in the war, the brother is almost exhausted. Nevertheless in the end he loses his sister.

Despair coming with the night while the fire dying out, fireflies dance for the brother. Small shining dots go up and the light in the faraway sky form a warm smile——and that is all the war takes away from him.