A heartbreaking Studio Ghibli movie with a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score is coming to Netflix next month

(Image credit: Toho)

Get the tissues ready – Studio Ghibli's Grave of the Fireflies is coming to Netflix.

The movie is set to arrive on the streamer on September 16 in over 190 countries (excluding Japan). It joins other Studio Ghibli titles on the streamer including My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, The Wind Rises, and Howl's Moving Castle.

Set at the tail end of World War 2 in the Japanese city of Kobe, Grave of the Fireflies follows orphaned siblings Seita and Setsuko and their struggle for survival. Based on the short story by Akiyuki Nosaka, it was written and directed by the late Isao Takahata and first released in 1988. It's regarded as one of Studio Ghibli's best and most heartbreaking titles.

Along with Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki, Takahata was one of the founders of Studio Ghibli. He also directed Only Yesterday, Pom Poko, and My Neighbors the Yamadas for the studio and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film for his final movie, 2013's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

The film was a hit with critics, boasting a perfect score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Our own five-star Grave of the Fireflies review, published 25 years after release, calls it a "powerful anti-war movie," which is "all the more harrowing for the care we invest in its beautifully drawn children".

Grave of the Fireflies arrives on Netflix on September 16. In the meantime, fill out your watch list with our picks of the other best Netflix movies streaming now.