Barefoot Gen Volume One A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima by Keiji Nakazawa

Keiji Nakazawa's semi-autobiographical Japanese comic book series Hadashi no Gen has been translated as Barefoot Gen in a 10-volume series. I read Volume 1, and I have immediately requested Volume 2 from my public library. 

Sometimes it's hard for me to sit in a social gathering listening to "normal" conversation when I think that humans have accumulated enough nuclear weapons to destroy themselves hundreds of times over. I hope I never lose that anxiety, and I don't understand people who are blasé about how close we are to destruction at our own hands.

People justifiably plan to avoid the risk to humanity from the climate emergency, new infectious diseases, asteroids and catastrophic volcanic eruptions. All of these require massive investment and research. Shouldn't we remove the most immediate risk humans face in a manner which requires neither cutting-edge scientific research nor exhorbitant spending? Isn't disarmament the low-hanging fruit of human progress?

Note that Gen is pronounced with a hard "G."

In 1983, Mori Masaki directed a movie based on the series. A fan made a teaser. There's also a 2007 mini-series. I haven't seen any of these adaptations.

Here's two frames I snatched from Volume 1.

Check out my review of the book Hiroshima by John Hersey.

P.S. 2021-Oct-22 - I finished volume 2. It is just as powerful.

P.P.S. The Columbia County Library in Evans has acquired volumes 1,2 and 4-10. So if you are a member of a Georgia PINES-participating public library, you can read all 10 volumes.