Grave of the Fireflies is arguably Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata’s magnum opus. As the Empire of the Sun crumbles upon itself and a rain of firebombs falls upon Japan, the final death march of a nation is echoed in millions of smaller tragedies. This is the story of Seita and his younger sister Setsuko, two children born at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and now cast adrift in a world that lacks not the care to shelter them, but simply the resources. Forced to fend for themselves in the aftermath of fires that swept entire cities from the face of the earth, their doomed struggle is both a tribute to the human spirit and the stuff of nightmares. Based on the retellings of survivor Akiyui Nosaka, the film exemplifies the power of animation. Indeed, Nosaka received many offers to create a film version of his story ultimately concluded that it could not be told in any other medium.