set up a Setsuko is symbolic of innocent victimhood, a manifestation of purity, humanity and pre-war normalcy callously thrown into desperation by a conflict she cannot even understand. She giggles and screams when riding on Seita’s back as they flee the burning city, as if it were a game, and delights in forming rice balls and dumplings out of mud, her childish creativity turning malnutrition into a game of make-believe.