Hadashi no Gen

What does the "Barefoot Gen" tell us about? About the horrors of war? Yes. About the nuclear nightmare? Also yes. However, it still seems to me that one of the main, if not the core idea of the “Gen” is the need to have your own position and be critical of the dominant social norms and standards, no matter how difficult it is. Therefore, this anime is political not only in the aspect of anti-war pathos, but also in the aspect of critical positioning of a person in relation to the authority and validity of government actions.

It seems that the key words of the film ... were spoken by Gen's father shortly before the bombing: "Traitor, coward... I'm proud if they want to call me those things... You know, sometimes it takes more courage not to fight than to fight, to don't want to kill when everyone around you are calling out for blood... If you boys remember nothing else that I teach you I hope you'll remember that...".

And this is not just a youthful senseless “rebellion for the sake of rebellion” or decoration of one’s own permissiveness with a beautiful word like nonconformism - this is a conscious position in life - it must be said that it is a very difficult and thankless position, requiring enormous willpower and courage. Especially in Japanese society, with its total contextualism and “kawaii-repressive” elimination of significant personal differences. Perhaps this idea is what, for me, distinguishes the "Barefoot Gen" from other anime - where the standard of Japanese moralizing is "inclusion in context", "Gen" asserts a critique of context. Again, this is not as easy as it seems. To imagine the complexity and danger of such a position, it is enough to look at the political reality around us or try to transfer such criticism of the context to, say, Russia, North Korea or Iran.

The visual design of the anime is also of interest. I am glad that there is no fashionable “stylization” of death. The aestheticization of the inhumane within the framework of “dehumanized art”, I think, is a sign of the era - even, perhaps, a sign of a serious illness of the era. Not so in the "Barefoot Gen". The “childish” style of drawing, which at first creates a carefree mood, sharply contrasts with the spectacle of a nuclear explosion that burns out eyes, melts skin and turns “cute” anime people into disgusting walking corpses. I think everybody who watched "Gen" was struck by the image of the girl crashed by a slab, on whose face the contrast “childhood innocence” - “terrible death” is clearly shown. Perhaps, the “end of childhood” brought about by a nuclear explosion shows the viewer the need to think about their carefree life and the fact that this carefree life can end at one moment, including due to the thoughtless conformism and infantilism of the viewer himself. Let's not draw parallels here, they are too heavy.

It seems that the Japanese are not being allowed to forget the cruel lessons of history. And they are not told that the Americans are to blame, or even the stupid “Japanese government,” although the guilt of both is undeniable. No, the main reproach, it seems to me, is addressed to Japanese society: “This war can’t be right, but it’s only the cowards like me who dare say it. If there were only a few more of us.” But the fact of the matter is that among the Japanese there were no critical mass of “cowards” capable of saying “no!” to the war. And this is the problem and fault of society itself.

Nevertheless, the "Barefoot Gen" is a life-affirming anime. The strength of spirit of the main characters is simply amazing. Episodes involving carp fishing and caring for an irradiated artist are indicative. The belief that “the wheat will break through” is simply implanted in the audience’s heads. And dead relatives will be “reborn” in a stray boy or even in a hopeful tuft of hair on his head.

Perhaps, the advantages of the "Gen" give rise to its shortcomings - the protagonist's family is shown too idealized. Although, perhaps, this is exactly how his family is seen by a seven years' old. It’s difficult to give an unambiguous assessment of the “Barefoot Gen.” It seems to me, that this anime falls out of the usual range of “creations” of Japanese animation, the “value” of which can be measured. The “Barefoot Gen” is beyond comparison and is its own criterion and assessment and, I think, is worthy of being watched by everyone who expects something more from anime than entertainment and another immersion into the dream world.

One of the defining features that molded anime as a medium used to be the raw depictions of violence and death. Unlike western cartoons which were seen as comedy skits or family-friendly adventures, anime could depict a lot more edgy material without restrictions. Even there, though there were still some topics the animators were having a hard time dealing with. Up until this movie the effects of the Hiroshima bombing on the people of Japan was a sort of taboo nobody was allowed to speak about openly because it was causing them big grief, plus the country was trying to recover from WW2 for a ... long time. They were still showing it indirectly through sci-fi in the form of Godzila, alien invasions, and huge robots leveling cities. They were their idealized fears and dreams, in a childishly understood way, masked through titles such as Godzilla, Mazinger, and Ultraman.

Eventually they got to be more direct about it (the actual bomb instead of giant lizards), and this is the first famous example. This movie is based on a very old manga, drawn by an actual Hiroshima survivor who experienced the whole ordel first-hand and created a highly dramatic depiction of the horror of the bombing’s aftermath. And he went in rather hard and symbolically since it is filled with scenes of utter gloom, death, suffering and complete human ignorance. It exists to make you feel nauseated through the suffering of survivors, rotting and dying like dogs. It is not entertainment in the sense you watch it to have fun. Don’t expect the Hollywood formula of most disaster/survival movies. There are no cool characters outrunning explosion bursts, jumping around severed electric cables and saving people in distress with mambo jumbo acrobatics, before the cavalry arrives to save the day with high tech helicopters and medicine supplies.

It is also not aiming to be miseryporn or body horror as many titles eventually end up being, since there is nothing erotic about the whole deal. I say that because most anime creators can’t help themselves and insert their fetishes in works that are meant to be pure tragedies and not deviant porn. I am looking at you, Elfen Lied, Akame ga Kill, and Made in Abyss, you overglorified goreporns.

The movie does a good job at showing how ignorant people were back then regarding radiation. Since the atomic bomb was used for the very first time in a civil area, people had no knowledge of it. They didn’t know the fallout would kill them if they remained around the bombed area. They didn’t know drinking contaminated water was instant death. They didn’t know the reason why their hair and teeth were falling off, or what was killing their babies. Heck, half of them didn’t even know how to read and write. Their ignorance makes this mess even worse and adds to the drama.

The movie also has its positive aspect, as it constantly shows the will of the protagonists to survive and find the courage to overcome all the obstacles they encounter, but that part is on the cartoony side of things, a weak aspect that is there just to mitigate the horror. If you know plenty about the survivors, you will know they were treated horribly by the rest of the Japanese, and suffered all sorts of diseases all their lives.

You would also know they were all a bunch of xenophobic, racist bigots because of the decades of propaganda they were being fed by the military. You don’t see that here; there is no mention of WHY the bombing took place. The people are presented like they do not care about the war, something that is a lie. The Japs were in reality quite cocky back then, since they were assured their army would conquer all of Asia. The bombing is depicted like it happened without a reason when in fact it happened because the Japs “had it coming” because of their overconfidence. Pearl Harbor was viewed as a great victory and not as a merciless attack on the most powerful nation in the world. All that is sweeped under the rug, resulting to the Japanese people being presented as victims in an unjust war they had no part in, and the Americans get a cameo appearance as generic villains without motivation. I never said it was a perfect depiction of how things were. Far from it; it’s just the first popular example.

Now come the negatives in the production. The animation is obviously dated and uses rather simple character figures, which can become hard for most spoiled-by-sakuga viewers to watch it. This ain’t Demon Slayer, it is crude-looking and a guaranteed pass if you haven’t been raised with old titles. Just imagine that the visuals in the original manga were twice as ugly. There is nothing cool about the animation, and it’s nowhere near the detailed artwork of Ghibli films when it comes to the slice of life segments.

Voice acting is generally terrible; the voice actors were no pros and the delivery of the lines can be jarring. The mangaka and original author not being the greatest when it comes to dialogues, but just a simple survivor who wanted to tell the story, is also part of the issue.

Sound effects are masterful at making you feel like life has lost its meaning with a few simple acoustic tricks. Eerie sounds, rumblings, moans and many similar creaks that give you the goose bumps.

The scene that pops out (literally) the most is the bombing sequence which is a nightmareish mindfuck of people deforming and then getting blown away to bits. If you are not used to such scenes, it can scar you for life. This is also a detriment to characterization, since that scene tends to completely overshadow the characters. Gen and his family are as simple as they can get, they never had much of a personality and they are just reacting to the bombing, thus the viewer ends up caring about what they are going through, instead of who they are. The terrible voice acting and their too-goody attitude is only making things worse.

As a whole, the movie is now more important for the history of the medium it is part of, than for its content. There have been vastly superior works with a similar theme in later decades, the most popular being Grave of the Fireflies and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. It is more of a curiocity nowadays, since all its good points have been replicated and its bad points have been filtered out in other anime. It has its sick charm, but nothing about it can be considered a must-watch anymore.

I can sum my Barefoot Gen experience up in one word: ANNOYING.

It was so damn annoying! I was ripping at my hair as Gen ripped at his!

So why was it so irritating?


First, Gen's voice. He has the most annoying voice I've heard in any anime to date. I don't know if people liked hearing voices like this in 1983, but from a 2010 viewpoint, I couldn't stand it. It's loud, obnoxious, and stays that way all throughout the movie.

I'm sitting here, trying desperately to see the emotional qualities of the movie, and this voice comes out of nowhere, blasting at my ... ears and detracting from what little sentimental elements there are.


Which leads into my second point. The characters are distant. This is no After Story. The characters aren't shallow, yet they seem to be hopelessly so! How is this possible?

Well, the first half hour is spent trying to connect us with the characters. But it fails. It fails horribly. Part of this is due to Gen's horrific voice, but part of this is due to the not-so-autobiographical nature of the movie - my third point.


Yes, this is based on Nakazawa's own experiences, but it is (quoth Wikipedia) "loosely based." That means it shouldn't be taken as 100% true. And thank God it's not, since there are so many stereotypes in it. The old man lets you get away with the fish? Oh goody. I could care less. The woman suddenly changes her mind?

Because it's both autobiographical and fiction, there's an incompatible mix of the horrors Nakazawa experienced and the stereotypes he didn't. Even if he did witness them, I'm sure they weren't as awkwardly presented as in the film. The old man stares Gen down for what seems like a whole hour while Gen and his brother try desperately to guilt trip him. Huh. Is that really how it goes in real life? The woman changes her mind in two frames. Woah, now that was fast. I wonder if she even had time to think!


But enough about Barefoot Gen's faults. Let's see what good things it has to offer:

1) The horrific sights and sounds of Hiroshima. I didn't find it hard to watch, but it sure is something. I especially liked the accuracy of the storytelling (dropping the bomb on the T-bridge, the rain, the water, the dead and half-dead, even the maggots). If you've never learned about WWII or the bomb, this is going to be a wake-up call. If, like me, you already know about what happened, this might not be as shocking, but it's still worthwhile to see.

2) There's nothing else.


Barefoot Gen is essentially an animated documentary of the bomb. That's all there is. If you want to see a good WWII anime, go watch Ushiro no Shoumen Daare or Grave of the Fireflies. Don't watch Barefoot Gen. If you want to see a drama, don't watch Barefoot Gen. If you want to see a story, don't watch Barefoot Gen. If you want to see an anime, don't watch Barefoot Gen.

But if you really want to watch Barefoot Gen, skip to 30:00 and leave it on for ten minutes. You'll be blown away (very mean-spirited pun unintended). Just don't watch any more, or you'll be painfully disappointed.