Just because a rating agency says something doesn’t mean its appropriate, they have strict guidelines, these guidelines revolve around obscenitys, violence, drugs and similar, they don’t go on “may not be appropriate for children because the story itself is dark and sad” 12+ would be a ok rating in my opinion, again, its not meant for children, German fairytales aren’t either, even though they are classified differently.
Kids below a certain age cant even comprehend the story.
Grave of the Fireflies isn’t about the nukes its about the firebombings and the part with fiction vs reality means that they don’t understand that this was a long time ago. As said its appropriate for 12+ in my opinion. But below its just not.