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Comment by ninjin | Hacker News Reader

Indeed, “Grave of the Fireflies” was the first ever, and so far only, movie that has brought me to tears. If anyone ever questions if an animated movie can ever convey emotions like “real” movies, think of this masterpiece.

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you know what’s weird? In Europe and America we consider animated films “cartoons”, say they are for kids, and generally don’t see them as a serious storytelling medium. But in Japan, an animated film is not seen in this manner. In fact, animated films enabled movie directors in Japan to depict scenes that were simply impossible or prohibitively expensive to create with cameras and actors. So back when movie cameras were just starting to capture a decent frame rate and resolution, there were already excellent stories being told via hand-drawn animations and voice. The Japanese animators really embraced the creative freedoms that animation enables and you can see it in the wonderful storytelling value of their animated works.

TLDR; in Japan an animated movie is a real movie.

I wrote a long reply to this but then realised maybe you meant that it's the first and only _animated_ movie that brought you to tears?

The best part is, those that deny the power, can prove it by watching the movie.

Experience says there won't be a repeat viewing.

> was the first ever, and so far only, movie that has brought me to tears

What about "Life is Beautiful" and/or "It's a Wonderful Life"?

“It’s a Wonderful Life” has never failed to elicite tears from me at some point in the film. They’re never quite tears of sadness though. They’re this moving, so full of emotion, happy/ sad/ overwhelmed tears that actually feel like a cathartic experience when done.

I used to live in state college, pa.... the State Theater (name of the cinema, not a state run theater ) there would have showings of it around Christmas time. I would highly recommend.

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