With very little in the way of action or combat scenes, Grave of the Fireflies is easily one of the most harrowing and riveting war movies ever made. Based on Akiyuki Nosaka's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, Grave of the Fireflies is an examination of the horrors that war can inflict, even far away from the battles between soldiers. At the same time, it's a heartfelt look at a bond between a brother and sister that can't be broken, even by death. Like Keiji Nakazawa's autobiographical Barefoot Gen, Grave of the Fireflies is remarkable in that it clearly and sympathetically presents the victims of American actions on Japanese civilians, yet never veers into finger-pointing or national shame. Rather, the movie is an indictment of selfish civilian behavior during wartime, and an admonishment against the wars that create these conditions in the first place. It's interesting to note that in Japan, the movie was originally double-billed with Hayao Miyazaki's postwar fable My Neighbor Totoro.