Photo/Illutration An online post advertises “Grave of the Fireflies,” now streaming globally on Netflix. (From the “Netflix Anime” official X account)

A Japanese anime movie hailed as a masterpiece when it was first released decades ago is winning rave reviews around the world once again after it recently began streaming for the first time.

Critics at the time warned audiences that “Grave of the Fireflies,” directed by Isao Takahata (1935-2018), had a tragic storyline and was best viewed only once.

The film was released by Studio Ghibli Inc. in 1988.

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Distributed by Netflix Inc., the video streaming service provider, the film can be viewed in more than 190 countries, almost the entire world, although Japan is not among them.

“Grave of the Fireflies” is based on an original short story by Akiyuki Nosaka (1930-2015), who won the prestigious Naoki literary prize for the work.

It portrays a pair of war-displaced siblings--a boy and his younger sister--who strive to survive in the western Japan port city of Kobe in the waning days of World War II.

Netflix began streaming the work simultaneously across targeted countries on Sept. 16.

The film has received acclaim on movie review websites across the English-speaking world since it started streaming.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s escalating war in the Gaza Strip appear to account partly for the way the work continues to touch the heartstrings of people so many years after the film was made.

One reviewer wrote that bombings are conducted like 3-D games and that people who watch the film will know what innocent Ukrainians and Palestinians are going through nowadays.

“Those were 90 of the most depressing minutes I’ve had in a while--in a good way, of course,” said another. “It breaks your heart, but it’s also important not to forget.”

A third reviewer said: “I found myself most emotional at scenes that show the two kids just having fun and being children. There must have been many stories not told or people forgotten from that time.”

A Netflix representative told The Asahi Shimbun that the company is grateful for the prompt and huge response from audiences and is hoping the movie will prompt filmgoers to watch other works of Japanese anime.

Netflix has been working, for some time now, to expand the lineup of Japanese anime films that it offers.

It has streamed 22 anime works from Studio Ghibli’s library in various countries since 2020. “The Boy and the Heron,” the latest Ghibli offering, was added to the list on Oct. 7.

Netflix, however, has never streamed, and has no plan to stream, any of those works in the Japanese edition.

INSPIRATION AT CANNES FESTIVAL

The decision to stream “Grave of the Fireflies” was inspired by developments at the Cannes Film Festival this past May, where Studio Ghibli was awarded the honorary Palme d’Or, according to officials of Shinchosha Publishing Co., which holds the copyright for the work.

The film was shown in a preview, and a booth was set up to advertise the work, during the festival. Both were very well received.

Shinchosha had previously only allowed “Grave of the Fireflies” to be shown in one-off broadcasts overseas and similar events. The company changed its mind and decided to have it streamed globally after it rediscovered how highly the work is appreciated, the officials explained.

“I am happy to learn that people of all nationalities and ethnic groups are watching the film at this time of incessant war,” Shinichiro Yashiro, head of Shinchosha’s content business office, told The Asahi Shimbun. “The work is likely sinking gradually into the minds of audiences rather than prompting them to clench their fists to cry out against war.”

Apart from the streaming on Netflix, Shinchosha also has plans to broadcast  the work on TV and show it in theaters in more than 50 countries, including the United States and those in Europe as well as Southeast Asian nations, Yashiro added.

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