Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light

Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light (Hotarubi no Mori e) is a romantic tragedy about a young girl who befriends a spirit ghost (in the shape of a teenage boy wearing a fox mask) who lives in a haunted forest. Hotaru, the little girl, is only six when she first meets Gin, the ghost boy, and continues to do so during her school summer holidays when she has to stay over at her aunt and uncle's house. By the time the Hotaru has grown into a much older teenager, their friendship matures into a deep longing and love for each other. But there's a terrible catch - the ghost cannot be touched by any human. To do so would mean the spell that holds him together will be broken and he will disappear from existence. As you can imagine, this puts a bit of a dampener on how far their relationship can go.

Some spoilers ahead...

Hotaru is only six when she first meets the spirit boy - I guess some viewers might raise eyebrows and question the motives of an older male figure being such close friends with a little girl but it all seems innocent enough. My take on it is that he's simply bored and lonely, trapped in this spirit world and unable to fraternise with other humans so she is a friendly and welcoming introduction into his life.

In the story, the Gin doesn't age as fast as humans, in fact throughout the film, he seems exactly the same each year - I reckon he's about 17 or 18 in the story, although his age isn't mentioned. The film depicts the passage of time - showing the girl grow from a bumbling and happy go lucky six year old into a day dreaming love-struck teenager. There is one scene where she just stares longingly at him as he takes off his mask and soaks in the summer atmosphere. There are many touching moments like this throughout the film - scenes that beautifully capture that innocent and all consuming rush of emotion from a very first love. The pinnacle of this love story must be the scenes where they go on a 'date' together at the forest spirit's summer festival. They are both so happy to be together free from any constraints (apart from the no touching thing.)

The interactions between the boy and the girl dominate most of the film but there are many other scenes that I loved. For example the scene where she lies on the floor of her uncle's house fanning herself and day dreaming. It perfectly captures the lazy summer days of youth where there isn't much to do but day dream and absorb the hear of summer. I also laughed at the watermelon scene, with old uncle spitting out the seeds. It reminded me of when I lived in China and everyone ate watermelon and happily spat out seeds wherever they stood (inside or outside, it didn't matter, seeds were spat on the floor everywhere).

I also loved the spirit creatures that live in the forest. They first appear in the film as rather sinister demons that scare the girl and generally float around the forest acting dark and mysterious. By the end of the film you see that they are actually a community of entities that are bonded together and were in fact the ones who rescued the abandoned baby Gin.

A film like this would not fulfill its duty as a romantic tragedy if it did not involve, well, tragedy. It's no surprise to learn that the two are doomed to never be together as regular lovers and of course every single minute of the film you are just waiting for that moment when she accidentally touches his skin and he dies. It's actually very painful to see her as an older girl so desperately longing to hold his hand but knowing that she cannot. In the end, it is another person, a human child running around in the forest that is the one who he touches. It's also fitting that the reason he does so is to save the running boy from falling over after tripping.

The dying scene is a sad but inevitable end to their relationship. When he does begin to disappear, Gin and Hotaru seize the opportunity to finally embrace and show their true love for each other. It is a credit to the writer that this scene is kept pretty short and free from too much melodrama. In fact it's a very positive and uplifting finale as he fragments into glowing embers that turn into fireflies - it really is a stunning and beautiful scene. When Hotaru recovers from her tears, she pays her respects to the other forest spirits and seems content. She uses her experience to form positive memories of her time with Gin. You get a sense that she'll be really fine in the outside world as she grows up into an adult and moves on with her life.


Concluding thoughts

This film reminded me a lot of some of Studio Ghibli's finer efforts - notably the depiction of the countryside in summertime and the idea of humans making friends with weird creatures ala My Neighbour Totoro. I even liked the constant churrrr of cicadas and croaking of frogs in the background of all the outdoor scenes - it's all made with so much care and attention to detail. At only 45 minutes in duration though, the only negative I can say about this film is that it feels a bit too short. They could easily have extended a number of scenes and I would still have loved every moment. I am going to check out the other work written by the writer - her series Natsume's Book of Friends seems like a good one to watch as it features similar story elements to this film.


9/10



.