GKIDS has finally arranged to release the long-excluded Studio Ghibli film from 1988, Grave of the Fireflies, to their licensed Blu-Ray and DVD series. The film, as many of us know, tells the story of a teenage boy and his little sister who endure the painful loss of their mother and their home, as well as facing the famine and poverty that overtakes Japan during the final months of World War II. The screenplay is adapted from the semi-autobiographical novella by Akiyuki Nosaka.

The announcement of the home media release is something which many Studio Ghibli film fans have longed for. However, the Blu-Ray publicly lists having only the older English dubs, produced by Central Park Media in 1998 and Sentai Filmworks in 2012 respectively, meaning it is mainly just a rebranded version of the latter release. These dubs have notoriously sub-par voice acting. If anything, dub that should be included is newest one made by Dubbing Brothers as featured on Netflix.

I bought the lowest-priced membership on Netflix, just so I could watch this new remaster, and after seeing it I must say I recommend it. This Netflix-exclusive dub not only features vocal performances by actual children and a few known screen actors like Ren Hanami and Andrew Kishino, but also it is provided with probably the most accurate script translation possible. Many sentences that were previously lost in translation are now made clear. And besides that, its new master has a topnotch picture and sound quality. As recent and vaguely known as it is, once you've heard it, you just might agree. This is clearly the English adaption that collectors and home media audiences deserve to hear.

Therefore, I am sending this message to implore that Shout! Factory and GKIDS come to terms and acquire the rights to the Netflix-exclusive English dub of the film, if they are to include it in the official Studio Ghibli collection. Please say you support this too. Let's allow all audiences to hear the newest English dub of Grave of the Fireflies.