This is another rare gem. This movie was not made to be overly sentimental or melodramatic. It was not made to display too much details that may be uneasy to watch. The events that were told from the main character's memory, were simply being told as they should, recollecting from memory.
But even despite the lack of creative storytelling techniques, the story itself has abundant amount of details rarely seen in other war-related anime or real life works. It is different because it was about a Japanese family trying to survive war time in Korea. I was impressed that the movie involved characters from both sides of the equation.
Some may compare this movie to Grave of the Fireflies. Though the latter was far more devastating in its take on war, in my opinion The former stood out better in terms of the degree of being realistic, or at least the characters were thinking rationally. I had a problem accepting the stubborn attitude of the main character in GoTF, as it did not make sense for a child to act spoilt in times of war.
But even despite the lack of creative storytelling techniques, the story itself has abundant amount of details rarely seen in other war-related anime or real life works. It is different because it was about a Japanese family trying to survive war time in Korea. I was impressed that the movie involved characters from both sides of the equation.
Some may compare this movie to Grave of the Fireflies. Though the latter was far more devastating in its take on war, in my opinion The former stood out better in terms of the degree of being realistic, or at least the characters were thinking rationally. I had a problem accepting the stubborn attitude of the main character in GoTF, as it did not make sense for a child to act spoilt in times of war.