Movies Like Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Grave of the Fireflies is a 1988 animation, drama, war film from Isao Takahata with a MovieMagicScore of 8.4/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Hope and Glory and Barefoot Gen.

Animation Drama War

Hope and Glory

1987

A middle-aged man recalls his childhood growing up in and around London during World War II.

6.9

MagicScore

Barefoot Gen

1983

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

7.5

MagicScore

Letters from Iwo Jima

2006

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

7.5

MagicScore

The Thin Red Line

1998

The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.

7.4

MagicScore

The Notebook

2013

In a village on the Hungarian border, two young brothers grow up during war time with their cruel grandmother and must learn every trick of evil to survive in the absurd world of adults.

6.5

MagicScore

LOLA

2023

Sussex, England, 1938. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Thomasina and Martha Hanbury, two ingenious sisters, create LOLA, a miraculous machine.

6.4

MagicScore

Lore

2012

After being abandoned by their Nazi parents at the end of World War II, five German siblings embark on a harrowing journey across their war-torn country. Led by the eldest, 14 year-old Lore, the children are forced to confront their parents’ actions and the reality of a new world.

6.8

MagicScore

Westfront 1918

1930

A group of German infantrymen of the First World War live out their lives in the trenches of France. They find brief entertainment and relief in a village behind the lines, but primarily terror fills their lives as the attacks on and from the French army ebb and flow. One of the men, Karl, goes home on leave only to discover the degradation forced on his family by wartime poverty. He returns to the lines in time to face an enormous attack by French tanks.

6.6

MagicScore

The Boy and the Heron

2023

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."

7.4

MagicScore

#10

The Bridge

1959

A group of German boys are ordered to protect a small bridge in their home village during the waning months of the second world war. Truckloads of defeated, cynical Wehrmacht soldiers flee the approaching American troops, but the boys, full of enthusiasm for the "blood and honor" Nazi ideology, stay to defend the useless bridge. The film is based on a West German anti-war novel of the same name, written by Gregor Dorfmeister.

7.5

MagicScore

#11

In This Corner of the World

2016

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…

7.9

MagicScore

#12

The Wind Rises

2013

A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.

7.8

MagicScore

#13

Platoon

1986

As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.

7.7

MagicScore

#14

36 Fillette

1988

Lili, a pouty and voluptuous 14-year-old, is caravan camping with her family in Biarritz. She's self-aware and holds her own in a café conversation with a concert pianist she meets, but she has a wild streak and she's testing her powers over men, finding that she doesn't always control her moods or actions, and she's impatient with being a virgin. She sets off with her brother to a disco, latching onto an aging playboy who is himself hot and cold to her. She is ambivalent about losing her virginity that night, willing the next, and determined by the third.

4.9

MagicScore

#15

Critters

1986

Carnivorous aliens arrive unannounced at a Kansas family farm; two intergalactic bounty hunters soon follow, determined to blow them off the planet.

6.5

MagicScore

#16

Run Silent, Run Deep

1958

The captain of a submarine sunk by the Japanese during WWII is finally given a chance to skipper another sub after a year of working a desk job. His singleminded determination for revenge against the destroyer that sunk his previous vessel puts his new crew in unneccessary danger.

6.9

MagicScore

#17

Midway

1976

This war drama depicts the U.S. and Japanese forces in the naval Battle of Midway, which became a turning point for Americans during World War II.

6.6

MagicScore

#18

They Were Expendable

1945

After a demonstration of new PT boats, navy brass are still unconvinced of their viability in combat, leaving Lt. "Rusty" Ryan frustrated. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, Ryan and his buddy Lt. Brickley are told they can finally take their squadron into battle. The PT boats quickly prove their worth, successfully shooting down Japanese planes, relaying messages between islands, and picking off a multitude of enemy ships.

6.5

MagicScore

#19

Bataan

1943

During Japan's invasion of the Philippines in 1942, Capt. Henry Lassiter, Sgt. Bill Dane and a diverse group of American soldiers are ordered to destroy and hold a strategic bridge in order to delay the Japanese forces and allow Gen. MacArthur time to secure Bataan. When the Japanese soldiers begin to rebuild the bridge and advance, the group struggles with not only hunger, sickness and gunfire, but also the knowledge that there is likely no relief on the way.

6.4

MagicScore

#20

The Sea Chase

1955

As the Second World War breaks out, German freighter captain Karl Ehrlich is about to leave Sydney, Australia with his vessel, the Ergenstrasse. Ehrlich, an anti-Nazi but proud German, hopes to outrun or out-maneuver the British warship pursuing him. Aboard his vessel is Elsa Keller, a woman Ehrlich has been ordered to return to Germany safely along with whatever secrets she carries. When Ehrlich's fiercely Nazi chief officer Kirchner commits an atrocity, the British pursuit becomes deadly.

6.1

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Grave of the Fireflies?

The top films similar to Grave of the Fireflies by MovieMagicScore are Hope and Glory (6.9), Barefoot Gen (7.5), Letters from Iwo Jima (7.5). Each shares animation/drama/war themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Grave of the Fireflies worth watching?

Grave of the Fireflies holds a MovieMagicScore of 8.4/10 from 6,793 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Grave of the Fireflies?

Grave of the Fireflies (1988) is a animation, drama, war film directed by Isao Takahata, starring Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara.

Where can I find more recommendations like Grave of the Fireflies?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more animation recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Hope and Glory Movies like Barefoot Gen Movies like Letters from Iwo Jima Movies like The Thin Red Line Movies like The Notebook Movies like LOLA

About movies like Grave of the Fireflies

This ranked list pairs Grave of the Fireflies (1988), a animation and drama and war film from Isao Takahata, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Tsutomu Tatsumi take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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