Movies like Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Name: Grave of the Fireflies
Released: 1988

10 films to watch after Grave of the Fireflies, ranked by how well they match its tone — not just its genre.

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

1

In This Corner of the World (2016)

Fit 82%

Shares Animation, Drama and War with Grave of the Fireflies.

Japan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at home. Inhabited by an ancestral wisdom, Suzu impregnates the simple gestures of everyday life with poetry and beauty. The many hardships, the loss of loved ones, the frequent air raids of the enemy, nothing alters her enthusiasm…
2

Barefoot Gen (1983)

Fit 80%

Shares Animation, Drama and War with Grave of the Fireflies.

A story about the effect of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.
3

When the Wind Blows (1986)

Fit 74%

Shares Animation, War and Drama with Grave of the Fireflies.

With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II.
4

The Island on Bird Street (1997)

Fit 74%

Shares Drama and War with Grave of the Fireflies.

Alex is an 11-year old boy who, during WWII, hides in the Jewish ghetto from Nazis after all his relatives have been sent to the concentration camp. The movie portrays the ghetto through his eyes.
5

Giovanni's Island (2014)

Fit 73%

Shares Animation and Drama with Grave of the Fireflies.

In the aftermath of the most devastating conflict mankind had ever experienced, the tiny island of Shikotan became part of the Sakhalin Oblast... and on the unhealed border in this remote corner of the world, friendship among children from two different countries timidly blossomed, striving to overcome language barriers and the waves of history. Inspired by true events.
6

The Breadwinner (2017)

Fit 69%

Shares Animation, War and Drama with Grave of the Fireflies.

A headstrong young girl in Afghanistan, ruled by the Taliban, disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.
7

Waiting for Anya (2020)

Fit 59%

Shares Drama and War with Grave of the Fireflies.

During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
8

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

Fit 55%

Shares Animation and Drama with Grave of the Fireflies.

While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."
9

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)

Fit 49%

Shares War and Drama with Grave of the Fireflies.

After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labour chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts and moves with his newlywed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.
10

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959)

Fit 45%

Shares War and Drama with Grave of the Fireflies.

Kaji, sent to the Japanese army labeled Red, witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against a fellow recruit. He also sees his friend Shinjô defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.