Grave Of The Fireflies (DVD)

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Video:
The 1.75:1 anamorphic widescreen image received the equivalent of a digital facelift. The sharpness has been increased noticeably, and film grain has been reduced as well. The transfer is blessedly free of compression artifacts. However, made in the late-1980s, "Grave of the Fireflies" lacks the fresh colors of today´s animated movies. The animated motions look vibrantly lucid, of course, but the ink is not as "wet" as what you see in, say, "Lilo & Stich".

Audio:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Japanese offers a pleasing listening experience but, understandably, does not dazzle your ears. A few directionality effects enliven the atmosphere, as do a couple of low-frequency surges. However, the best part of the track occurs late in the movie, when an elegiac aria mournfully drifts into the room, flooding me tears. Dialogue is clear throughout the movie.

There is a DD 2.0 stereo English dub track (the voice acting is pretty good, but go with the Japanese track for purity´s sake). Optional English subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
Originally released in a 1-disc movie-only edition (with video and audio problems), "Grave of the Fireflies" enjoys a second life on DVD in a Collector´s Series set with numerous extras spread across 2 discs.

Disc 1:
"Storyboards": You can choose to watch the entire film in storyboard format. With the audio running normally, you can see how conceptual art became the final version.

There are also a couple of previews for other Central Park Media titles.

Disc 2:
"Interview With Roger Ebert": Roger Ebert, film critic for the "Chicago Sun-Times", talks about his reactions to the film for about 12 minutes. Those of you who read his reviews or watch his TV show regularly will notice that he repeats a lot of comments from reviews of other Japanese movies (both live-action and animated). However, his discussion of "Grave of the Fireflies" touches upon many Japanese cinematic touches, so this bonus is a great springboard for ideas when it comes to scholarly discussions of films.

"Interview With Director Isao Takahata": In a rather old-looking video interview, the director briefly talks about his approach to a difficult source novel.

Akiyuki Nosaka mini-biography: A few text pages about the writer of the source novel "Grave of the Fireflies" (based in part on his own real-life experiences).

Isao Takahata mini-biography: A few text pages about the director´s life.

Promo for the film´s Japanese release: Basically, an extended trailer/production featurette.

Digital Video Noise Reduction featurette: A demonstration of the work done for the film´s new DVD release.

Art Gallery: A series of stills that advances on its own.

"Locations, Then and Now": This featurette compares the locations featured in the movie with the actual locations in present-day Japan.

Additional Storyboards: Storyboards that did not make it onto Disc 1 appear here.

A promo for the new DVD release: While the DVD cover art and the DVD menu calls this the U.S. trailer, it really is just a commercial for the special edition DVD. However, the Japanese theatrical trailer has been included.

"Historical Perspective" featurette: Professor Theodore F. Cook and Professor Haruko Taya Cook, authors of "Japan at War" and "Emperor´s War, People´s Wars", talk about how the film successfully captures the hunger, the desperation, and the desolation of war-ravaged Japan.

There are additional previews for other Central Park Media titles (not the same previews on Disc 1).

DVD-ROM features on Disc 2 include a Vocal Cast list, Reviews blurbs, an Awards list, an English translation of the script, a Stills Gallery (same pictures as accessed via a stand-alone DVD player), Production Credits, and weblinks.

--Miscellaneous--
If you take the cover art out of the keepcase, you will find additional liner notes printed on the reverse side of the cover art.

Entertainment Value:
I´ve always considered myself a member of the realist school of political thought. (The realist outlook advocates that states use war in order to maintain geopolitical balances.) However, after watching "Grave of the Fireflies", I now think that war is just about the worst of human inventions. Perhaps war may be a necessary evil, but the day that the human race rejects war as a method of solving problems is the day that we evolve into better beings.

When was the last time an animated movie changed your philosophical outlook?

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