Studio Ghibli’s ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ Sets Netflix Release Date

Netflix has picked up streaming rights to Studio Ghibli’s Grave of the Fireflies, which will be available from September 16 in over 190 countries, excluding Japan.

Grave of the Fireflies joins Netflix’s current library of 22 Studio Ghibli films, which are available globally, excluding the U.S. and Japan.

Ghibli titles available on the streamer include Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle, Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro and Porco Rosso, among others.

The streamer also added other Japanese animated films like Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume and Takehiko Inoue’s The First Slam Dunk earlier this year.

Based on Akiyuki Nosaka’s Naoki Prize-winning short story, Grave of the Fireflies is set in Kobe near the end of World War Two and depicts the tragic fate of war orphan siblings and the horrors of this period.

Grave of the Fireflies first premiered in 1988 and was directed by the late Isao Takahata, who was one of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli.

The initial Japanese theatrical release of the film was paired with Hayao Miyazaki‘s My Neighbor Totoro as a double feature for Studio Ghibli.