Barefoot Gen, Volume Two by Keiji Nakazawa

Inspired by Tezuka’s 1948 Shin-Takarajima, or New Treasure Island, as well as by his late father’s artistry, Keiji soon showed real talent for drawing at school. Keiji was forced to grow up overnight and help his mother and new baby sister survive the horrors and hardships of a devastated, defeated Japan.Īs a boy, it was a relief for him to escape into the first successful manga by Osamu Tezuka, the father of the post-war comics industry. In the ensuing nightmare, his father, brother and sister were not so lucky, trapped under their burning house. In Keiji Nakazawa’s case, only one mile from ground zero, he miraculously escaped with only minor injuries along with his pregnant mother. Perhaps creating stories about this massive, unique trauma to a nation’s psyche offers one way to deal with these painful memories and their legacy.

This may explain why their shockwaves continue to reverberate in numerous manga and anime fantasies set in post-apocalyptic dystopias, from Akira and Nausicaa to Dragon Head and many more. Mercifully no nation apart from Japan has had to endure atomic bombings and their insidious radioactive after-effects. In an instant, Keiji and thousands of other residents of Hiroshima were hit by an atomic bomb. 43 seconds later, a bomb nicknamed ‘Little Boy’ exploded 1,800 feet above him. Looking up, he was surprised to see an American B-29 bomber flying over head. It seemed like just another ordinary summer day as six-year-old Keiji Nakazawa made his way to school.

Barefoot Gen, Volume Two by Keiji Nakazawa