Grave of the Fireflies/Release

Grave of the Fireflies initial theatrical release in Japan was accompanied by Hayao Miyazaki's much more lighthearted My Neighbor Totoro as a double feature. In commercial terms, the theatrical release was a failure. While the two movies were marketed toward children and their parents, the extremely depressing nature of Grave of the Fireflies turned away most audiences. However, character goods of Totoro, particularly the stuffed animal of Totoro and Catbus, sold extremely well after the film and made overall profit of the company to the extent that it stabilized subsequent productions of Ghibli studio.

The release of the film in South Korea was delayed indefinitely because authorities feared it would be thought of as justification for Japan's role in World War II.

It was the only Studio Ghibli film before 2011 that Disney never acquired the rights to due to the fact the film was not produced by parent company Tokuma Shoten, but by Shinchosha, the publisher of the original novel. Disney however later acquired the Japanese Home Media rights and reissued the movie there.

North America
Grave of the Fireflies was released in the U.S. first by Central Park Media on 2 June 1993 on VHS, which get re-released on September 1, 1998. The first release on DVD cames October 7, 1998 which re-released on December 7, 2004.

Central Park Media released the film also in a two-disc set on October 8, 2002. The first disc contains the film uncut in both an English dub and the original Japanese with English subtitles as well as the film's storyboards. The second disc contains several extras, including a retrospective on the author of the original book, an interview with Director Isao Takahata, and an interview with well-known critic Roger Ebert, who has expressed his admiration for the film on several occasions.

Following the 2009 bankruptcy and liquidation of Central Park Media, ADV Films acquired the license to Grave of the Fireflies and re-released it to DVD on 7 July 2009. Following the shutdown and re-branding of ADV in 2009, their successor, Sentai Filmworks, rescued the film and released a remastered DVD on 6 March 2012, and plans on releasing the film on digital outlets. A Blu-ray edition was released on 20 November 2012, featuring an all-new English dub produced by Seraphim Digital.

United Kingdom
Studio Canal released a Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 1 July 2013, followed by Kiki's Delivery Service on the same format.

Australia and New Zealand
Die letzten Glühwürmchen