Grave of the Fireflies

is a live-action TV drama adaptation of Grave of the Fireflies, made by NTV in Japan. It was produced in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. The drama aired on November 1, 2005. Like the anime, the live-action version of Grave of the Fireflies focuses on two siblings, Seita and Setsuko, struggling to survive the final days of the war in Kobe, Japan. Unlike the animated version, however, it tells the story from the point of view of their cousin (their aunt's daughter) and also deals with the issue of how the war-time environment could change a kind lady into a hard-hearted woman. The film stars Nanako Matsushima as the aunt and Mao Inoue as the cousin (who also portrays the cousin's granddaughter). Plot The film is something of an epilogue, set in 2005, 60 years after the Second World War ended. It opens at a crematorium in Kobe, Japan, where a family is paying their respects to Hisako Sawano (Seita and Setsuko's aunt), who has just passed away at the age of 95. The funeral director comments how a person who lived through the Meiji, Taishō, Shōwa, and Heisei periods has finally gone to rest. After the funeral, Natsu (Seita's and Setsuko's cousin), Hisako's eldest of four children who is now a grandmother herself, sorts through her mother's belongings with her teenage granddaughter, Keiko. Keiko unexpectedly finds the metal fruit-drop tin and asks why it is important. Natsu begins to tell her about the family's struggle to survive during the Second World War, and the emotional scars that it left. Just prior to Seita's death in September 1945, someone informed Hisako and Natsu that he was still alive, though with no sign of his sister Setsuko and living near the central railway station in Kobe. Hisako and Natsu go to the station in hope of finding Seita, but cannot. Natsu asks a janitor if he saw "a third-year middle-school student, Seita Yokokawa, from Kobe 1st Middle School", wearing a school cap and with his little sister. This triggers another janitor's memory and he recalls that the previous night, the two of them had found a dead boy matching Seita's description in a corner of the station. While carrying his corpse to be cremated, a metal fruit-drop tin fell from his clothes and thinking it rubbish, the janitor tossed it into a field.