Barefoot Gen or Grave of the Fireflies?

for me, Grave of the Fireflies is a much more powerful, emotional and tragic movie while Barefoot has an undercurrent of hope punctuated with comedy. The main characters in Grave become not only victims of war (incendiary bombings) but more poignantly from apathetic family, neighbors and a demoralized and impoverished community. It's a tragedy because the plight of the boy and his sister could have been avoided in spite of the bombings. Grave tells us that war brings out the worst in humanity. Barefoot tells a story of how a child can persevere and endure and succeed, not only through a strong personal will but also through the collective effort of a humanistic community. Barefoot tells us that war can bring out the best in humanity. It's been over a year since i saw Grave and its power has stayed with me. It's been a week since i saw Barefoot and its power has already faded quite a bit. I have to say that Grave is the saddest movie i've ever seen.

the comparison of the two is quite interesting... while they both follow the same premise, they're both told in very different ways. i see GOTFF more about the story and emotions, and gen more about the facts. they're both powerful films though and should be watched.

I've seen both. Both are great and approach the story of a big brother trying to save his all but doomed baby sister in very different ways. In the end, I preferred Barefoot with its message of hope through tragedy.

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"House. My room. Can't walk. My medal. My father. Father, don't!"

Fireflies caused me to cry like a baby at the end. I'm usually quite emotionally detached when I'm watching a film regardless of the subject matter and can deal with gore and death as though it were almost nothing, but something about the hopelessness of their situation and the beautiful way in which is was portrayed had such a powerful impact upon me, much more so than Barefoot Gen.

GOTFF hit me much harder. I found it to be much sadder. I think because the animation was softer (less overwhelming) and all the yelling in BG kinda irritated me. No doubt GOTFF.