Review of Barefoot Gen

The problem with textbooks when they talk about the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is that they lack description of what really happened. Usually it just says the "bombing which ended the Second World War" but doesn't get more in-depth than that. What I love about Hadashi no Gen is that it shows the bombings to the perspective of a person living there. So you could correlate and feel empathy to each other. Basically, this movie makes it feel like your own hometown was bombed the atomic blast, what would you feel of that? From the disastrous air raids before the bombing, to the lone bomber thatdropped the bomb which ended the war. From the seconds after the appearance of the mushroom clouds, to the broadcasted capitulation of the Empire of Japan, this is a show that truly showed the horrors of the aftermath of the bomb, and how it casted physical, mental and psychological damage to the people living there. There isn't much shows that have these storylines.

The story line revolves around a boy named Gen who, with his family, is surviving current-era-war Japan, with rations low and his pregnant mother sick, things couldn't get any worse, right?

Then came the atomic bomb that killed thousands of people instantaneously upon its detonation. Now they have to survive the aftermath of the blast, and make sure they make it out alive.

The art was fair for an anime that showed during it's time. Nothing special here except for the grotesque visualization of those mutated from the blast, honestly they are more scarier than most jumpscares I've seen to date.

The characters in the film had their own characteristics and were fitting in the storyline and really enhanced the impression that the film had. The producers did a great job in doing that.

I've enjoyed the story from start to end. It may be from my fascination of the War in the Pacific, but I would presume that anybody would enjoy the movie no matter if you are fascinated or not.

To wrap it all up, Hidashi no Gen is one of the shows which is a hidden gem in the pile of coal. If you stumble upon this anime, and you are interested from reading the description alone, then I recommend that you watch this anime because you could learn something from it.

Also impress your history teacher by describing what those mutilated bodies looked like.