[johnmark7]

O Lord, my wife and I watched Grave of the Fireflies. We still talk about never wanting to see that movie or any like it ever again.

What a perfect example of a culture that has no real hope at its core because it has nothing Judeo-Christian about it. Japanese and Chinese movies reflect a hopelessness and sense of ultimate futility that is unbearable.

[JenB]

Not all Japanese movies are anything like that! Grave of the Fireflies has a specific purpose and the bleak hopelessness is required for that story. Watch "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds" sometime. Or "Kiki's Delivery Service" or "Laputa" or anything else Studio Ghibli puts out.

I'm no cultural relativist but modern Japanese culture is no more hopeless or depressing than modern American culture. Just weirder.