In the 1940s, children in war-torn Japan would hear warning sirens and look skyward with dread, fearing a firebomb attack from enemy aircraft. But for young Jiro Horikoshi in The Wind Rises, airplanes mean ‘beautiful dreams’ and self-actualisation. Animation films like The Wind Rises (The Wind, 2013), In this Corner of the World (This Corner, 2016), The Boy and the Heron (The Boy, 2023) and Grave of the Fireflies (1988) focus on children’s agency in confronting Japan’s conflicts regarding memory, national identity, and pacifism. The Wind explores Japan’s historical paradoxes, juxtaposing pride in innovation with a pacifist critique of militaristic nationalism. This Corner emphasises the plight of quotidian existence during wartime, highlighting collective memory and trauma. The Boy examines grief and healing through fantastical allegories, underscoring the significance of imagination in coping with trauma. This paper applies Igarashi’s theory of ‘absence presence,’–referring to Japan’s self-protective absence of exploring the war’s haunting memories–Andrew Hoskins’s ecology of memories, and Michael Rothberg’s ‘multidirectional memory’ to contemplate the intricacies of nationalism in Japan. The paper explores these films within the context of national and international reactions to how Japan confronts its wartime past in the context of its postwar pacifist identity.