God, talk about emotional whiplash.
Also the crises in Totoro would be a lot heavier if you just watched a whole family die piece by piece.
“The response was different depending on which film was shown first. My Neighbor Totoro would make them happy, then this Grave of the Fireflies… Those who saw Totoro first didn’t want to see Fireflies to the end. Those who saw Fireflies first didn’t have that problem, and stayed to the end. The double featuring was a problem, I’d say.”