Barefoot Gen is a 1983 Japanese animated film about a boy named Gen who lives in Hiroshima during World War II. It starts by depicting his everyday life, where his family faces poverty and social pressure because his father opposes the war. When the atomic bomb strikes Hiroshima, Gen’s life is shattered in an instant. The film then focuses on his struggle to survive with his mother amid hunger, injury, and the devastation surrounding them.
Watching the film is incredibly intense and emotional. It portrays the bombing and its effects in a direct and realistic manner, especially from a child's perspective, which makes everything more personal and heartbreaking. Many scenes emphasize survival over action, showing people searching for food, coping with injuries, and trying to stay alive in a ruined city. Gen’s responses to loss and suffering deeply resonate, particularly as he continues to push forward despite everything he loses. The tone remains heavy throughout, leaving a lasting emotional impact by not shying away from the consequences of war.
by Kiroo—__—
25 Comments
One of the best film I hv ever seen in my life.
wow. I wonder how this compares to *grave of the fireflies* for soul-aching grief.
In This Corner of The World is a beautiful movie but the bombing scene is also very sad: https://youtu.be/2TGPJgU2flw
Great movie.
Too bad Japan never made such movie about Nanking. Heh.
Childhood trauma https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/s/PhBWwb3tYw
The bombing scene gave me nightmares for a week, as great as Barefoot Gen, i’ll never watch it again.
the nukes werent the worst thing that happened to japan in ww2, but its easier to demonize
I am sorry, bu this definitely needs a NSWF tag, because of how horrifying the animation is
important movie, heartbreaking scene, but no idea how politics plays into this and what the message is supposed to be. Really unneccessary
Reject fascism so nobody drops nukes on you?
I see movies like this and wonder how so many people honestly believe animation has to be for children. I mean I saw the movie when I was about 12, but still there is nothing childish about any of this.
Why are you brining up politics? By this point in japanese history they were a dictatorship by the military. There was nothing the Japanese people who were interested in politics could even do.
Are you blaming the us? Most american by this point were sick of the war and couldn’t care less if the bombs were killing civilians. Before you blame racism Americans were chearing when they bombed german cities and created a fire tornado that would suck up air that would result in 50,000 german civilians dying. By this point nobody cared. Like what is this supposed to mean? How is this related with politics? By this point nothing would have changed.
This must be woke slop. We saved so many people by vaporizing these men, women, and children. /s
“Oooh, that’s cool, You can really feel the dread and destruction without seeing the effects. The black and white gives it a ‘past thing’ effect, even without showing the- ”
” Oh. “
War bad. Really makes you think
Most of the anime movies leaves something in my mind.
And it might not even be the most depressing thing that happens in that movie.
When are the Japanese going to do a cartoon realistically depicting what they were doing during WW2? This stuff is so one sided.
“During World War II, Imperial Japanese forces committed severe war crimes and crimes against humanity, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 3 to 10 million civilians and prisoners of war. These atrocities included massacres, unethical biological experimentation, forced labor, sexual slavery, and the use of chemical and biological weapons.”
Japan has war memorials to celebrate its war criminals. So even today they won’t admit their mistakes.
Holy shit dude
The heartbreaking thing is that this cost less lives, both Japanese and American, than not dropping the bomb in the long run. Japan was ready to arm those same women and children in the scenario of an American invasion. We haven’t made any more Purple Heart medals since WW2, because so many were made in expectation of the allied invasion of mainland Japan, our supply still hasn’t run out 80 years later.
Is it just me, or is it really dumb to suggest that Hiroshima might not have been bombed if its people cared more about politics?
My father showed me this when i was a child and just paused a bit too late
This is very sad. Amazing animation. WWII was so utterly tragic in so many impossible ways.
Some context here: for every 1 Japanese civilian death in Asia during WWII, there are 18 non-Japanese civilian deaths.
This probably goes hard if you’re 14.