Customer Reviews

Barefoot Gen, Vol. 3: Life After the Bomb

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This is an incredibly moving graphic novel. In order to earn money to feed his mother and infant sister Gen agrees to take care of Mr. Seiji, an artist burned head to toe by the bomb. Mr. Seiji is kept in a room and left to die by his brother and his brother's family. The way in which Mr. Seiji's family treat him, calling him a monster, wishing he would would die so they could stop being incenvenienced, is in direct contrast to the way in which Gen takes care of his mother, and the orphan Ryuta who looks like his dead brother. The story is a perfect metaphor for humanity, civility, and the way in which people treat each other when times are difficult for everyone.

The artwork his excellent. Nakazawa's somewhat cartoony style makes the horrors seem that much more horrific. The burn victims, both living and dead, the maggots crawling through a living person's dead flesh, people vomiting blood, all have an amazing stomach turning impact.

And yet mixed in with all this is Gen's childish love, hope, and optimism. Despite the setting, he and Ryuta manage to find humor and sing songs.

This is a fictional story, but it is based on Kaiji Nakazawa's real life experiences which he went through as a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing. The names of some of the characters are the names of his family. The stories he tells are harsh and real and painful and good. Literature, in any medium, doesn't get any better than this.