Anime Review: Barefoot Gen

Review Barefoot Gen

Gen is a boy in wartime Japan, specifically Hiroshima. He lives with parents, his younger brother and older sister. He lives in poverty and despite his young age worries about his mother since she is about the give birth. All of these problems become trivial on August 6th, when an atomic bomb rips Gen's life apart forever. Faced with one disaster after another how will Gen make it through all of this, let alone help take care of his family in their hour of need?

Barefoot Gen is an extremely powerful movie about the effects of war. The big reason why this movie is so hard hitting is that it is based on the manga series by Nakazawa Keiji, who was a survivor of the real Hiroshima bombing. It shows not only the immediate effects of the bomb blast but all of the after affects as well. One thing to note is that despite the fact that America was the country that dropped the bomb there is no America bashing in this movie. In fact, Barefoot Gen is rather critical of the Japanese government and it's actions during the war.

The animation for barefoot Gen is quite old as the movie was made in 1983. While the animation isn't the greatest you don't watch this movie for eye candy. In fact I am in a way glad that some of the gruesome scenes in the movie weren't even more vividly detailed.

Barefoot Gen is an exceptional movie that will leave many people in tears after watching it. The one odd thing is that I recommend that you rent this movie instead of buying it. Barefoot Gen is simply so sad that I will have a hard time ever watching it again. I give Barefoot Gen a rating of very good.