Barefoot Gen 2, an animated film produced by Hirata Toshio in 1986, is a sequel of Barefoot Gen, which has generated tremendous influence on disaster representation by focusing on the expressive depiction of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Both of the films are adaptations of the manga series Barefoot Gen (Hadashi no Gen) started in 1973 and concluded in 1985 by Nakazawa Keiji based on his real experience (Hongo, 2013).
Barefoot Gen 2 tells stories of lives of ordinary people – especially orphans – three years after the atomic disaster: what they had been continuously suffering from and how they managed to survive and recover. With a nine-year-old boy Nakaoka Gen as its hero, the film highlights not only physical but also mental reconstruction. It shows how orphans helped each other out by regrouping as a family; how Gen fought against the disease caused by radiation and rumors on its infectivity by taking care of his mother and friends; how children struggled between the moral fault of stealing and the lack of money; how people tried to recollect courage from memories of their times with now dead family members, etc. More on Wikipedia
Watch Barefoot Gen 2 (1985) Japanese Anime Film
English subtitle
Adult Animation Film
