Grave Of The Fireflies

This classic animated anti war animated film laid the foundations for the boom of the next to decades, covering wildly different themes, thinking here Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle etc etc.
It is a fine film, and is indeed a deeply humane take on the oft-derided (in this sense) animated genre. It builds up nicely, and the animation of the fiery cities is beautifully inhumane. It is well paced, at once ponderous across time but sufficiently active and visceral when necessary.
Our problem with it was that the characters are not all that compelling or brilliant. The lead male is just idiotic, a boring person placed in a tragic situation. Setsuko is a basic sweet-little-kid cipher. Of course, the situation is tragic and we are moved by the situation we find these people in, but the people themselves add nothing special. Also, the event at the end is clearly a result more of the boy's idiocy regards his banking.
In short, a powerful film, though with a big hole in its centre where well made characters should be.