The Glass Rabbit (Garasu no usagi) is a typical drama film about the horrors of war. It is a story that has been told a thousand times before in cinema, and this movie is another addition that follows the usual pattern, resulting in a movie that, while it isn't bad, doesn't have any unique elements that make it stand out.
The story follows the little Toshiko an the rest of her family as they deal with the effects of war. The first minutes of the movie shows Japanese people facing the war with pride, as the news of each successful attack makes them sure they will win. However, as the war progresses, Tokio is bombed, and people that otherwise was unknowing about the real effects of war realize that maybe the war isn't a good thing. This is important, as the movie begins with a somewhat pro-Japanese tone (is Japanese animation, after all), as them being the war victims and the Americans the only bad ones. However, as the movie progresses it shows a universal anti-war message, as both sides suffer and inflict a lot of damage.
The story shows the usual terrible things- death, violence, loss, hardship- in a way that, even though we know what is about to come, is still moving and sad. It's the usual sequence of "one bad thing happens, then another, and another" but tries to end in a somewhat hopeful way. Other aspects of the movie are okay- it features some nice backgrounds and decent animation. The editing is somewhat uninspired, some scenes end rather abruptly and the story is just shown linearly in little vignettes. So, in brief- the production is just so normal that it falls flat sometimes. The movie works, but it is not a masterpiece- it doesn't try to be, either.
