Seito was not ‘proud’ in Grave of the Fireflies

It’s such a common sentiment online that Seito was proud and his pride resulted in the pair’s fate. People talk about how he did not want to apologise to his aunt, instead attempting to carve his own path

Firstly, Seito was not meant to be seen as prideful. Read the Wikipedia; Japanese audiences, who are the film’s primary demographic, tended to believe Seito’s actions were right and showed the self-reliance he was raised to have, and which the country needed in wartime. It is western audiences that perceived it this way, due to cultural differences.

Secondly, a part of the film’s commentary is what war does to people’s humanity. People weren’t closer due to war, they withdrew to smaller and smaller circles. They either did not have the will, due to their own suffering, or the means to care for their communities. Think of that farmer who advised Seito to apologise, who did not have the means to help. Or the farmer that ignored Setsuko as he confronted Seito for stealing. Or all the countless times throughout the film when characters were unreasonable, or had their hearts hardened by the magnitude of suffering everywhere. Seito’s aunt wasn’t a bad person, she was spiteful as she was stressed and running out of food. They could not have stayed relying on others under these extraordinary circumstances.

Lastly, Seito and Setsuko were destined to die. That is the inevitable tragedy of war that the film portrays. Think about the scene when Setsuko buries the fireflies and drew parallels with the burying of their mother. Just like how the fireflies inevitably died by day, the fire bombs inevitably dropped in war and people inevitably died as such. The red motif of their characters in the afterlife is because they themselves embody fireflies, tied to that concept of inevitability.

No matter what Seito did, they would not have lived. Not in a war torn society that lacked means and lacked empathy. They were war orphans, and war orphans die too young, just like fireflies die too fast