One of the most beloved animated movies of all time has never been streaming on Netflix... before now, and so you can finally watch what's considered a bona fide classic.
Grave of the Fireflies is a 1988 war movie made by the legendary Studio Ghibli, based on a short story written by a survivor of World War Two. It was added to Netflix on Monday, September 16, in both the US and UK (and possibly more countries too), making it one of the best movies on Netflix to watch this month..
Set in Japan towards the end of the Second World War, Grave of the Fireflies is about two siblings who try to survive amidst the bombings and rationing as the land around them descends into ruin.
The movie is considered one of the best war films of all time, with a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and plenty of publications list it in round-ups of the best war-related or animated movies.
It's also known to be a tear-jerker, something you should know before you go in. This is something that audience reviews reflect, although some point out that it's not quite suitable for young viewers.
If released nowadays, Grave of the Fireflies could well have been up for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, if not for the fact that the award was first granted 13 years later, in 2001, for Shrek.
Grave of the Fireflies was Studio Ghibli's fourth movie, but the first not directed by the studio's beloved founder Hayao Miyazaki. Instead, it was directed by Isao Takahata who also helmed The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Only Yesterday and Pom Poko. It was released as a double feature alongside Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro and is considered the more "adult" of the two due to its themes.
If you've never seen Grave of the Fireflies before, then its addition to Netflix gives you a great opportunity to finally watch it.
In the US, most Studio Ghibli movies are on Max, so Grave of the Fireflies' addition to Netflix gives people who use this larger streamer, a way to watch it.
In the UK, it joins plenty of other Studio Ghibli movies on the platform including Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro — in fact there are 24 movies from the studio on the streamer, which is pretty expansive!
