dereksilva's review
4.0
The first volume of Barefoot Gen focused on Gen's life before and as the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. This second volume focuses on Gen's struggle to find his way (with his mother and newborn sister) right after the bomb is dropped.
Gen struggles to accept that most of his family was killed in the bombing, but it's amazing to see how Gen, through everything, continues to be a boy of very strong character. He struggles to find food but when he finds a delicious-looking peach, he gives it to someone else because he thinks they need it more. He goes out of his way to prove that his mother is innocent when someone accuses her of theft.
There are difficult parts. For example, there are people with skin hanging off their bones and people filled with glass from exploded windows. However, Nakazawa does well to walk the fine line of showing what conditions were really like without making Barefoot Gen too difficult for the reader to stomach.
This volume is a great continuation of Gen's difficult journey and Barefoot Gen continues to be an incredibly powerful story.
Gen struggles to accept that most of his family was killed in the bombing, but it's amazing to see how Gen, through everything, continues to be a boy of very strong character. He struggles to find food but when he finds a delicious-looking peach, he gives it to someone else because he thinks they need it more. He goes out of his way to prove that his mother is innocent when someone accuses her of theft.
There are difficult parts. For example, there are people with skin hanging off their bones and people filled with glass from exploded windows. However, Nakazawa does well to walk the fine line of showing what conditions were really like without making Barefoot Gen too difficult for the reader to stomach.
This volume is a great continuation of Gen's difficult journey and Barefoot Gen continues to be an incredibly powerful story.
timshel's review
4.0
Barefoot Gen: The Day After, the second book in the Barefoot Gen series, picks up right where its predecessor left off. Nakazawa left many of the horrors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima for this second volume. Though there are many journeys and themes in this volume, it seemed more cohesive than Volume 1. The severity of the situation has set in for both the reader and Gen, and this gives significance to every event, leaving little room for comic mischief. Though the two are very similar in style and story, I'd say The Day After is a slight improvement on the previous volume.
moleodonuts's review
2.0
Stupid manga historical account of Hiroshima. This the 2nd volume deals with the kid-hero, Gen, on the day after the bombing. You could more or less remove the whore bombing thing and have the same comic book; Makazawa seems to just ad images of people's skin melting off periodically to give the manga the disguise of literary value.
bkgunderson's review
5.0
The narrative is engaging, so the reader is encouraged to continue the story. But it is a sorrowful read in some ways. However, one takes comfort in the fact that Gen does not give up, despite the loss of loved ones and the cruelty of the war mongers and his fellow citizens.
w9gfo's review
5.0
Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen is incredible and terrifying. I think it should be required reading for students in high school. I'm not a big fan of required reading lists, but students today are so far from the history of WWII and the dropping of the bombs that it's difficult to understand not only what happened, but how affected people were by one another's actions. Barefoot Gen removes any possibility of someone not being able to identify with the horrors of using a nuclear weapon on a civilian community. Its reality is disturbing and the visuals haunting. As [a:Art Spiegelman|5117|Art Spiegelman|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206557373p2/5117.jpg] notes in his Introduction, the quirks and idioms of Japanese comics are different from those in the Western hemisphere, but that doesn't negate the fact that "we think in comics." Though there are some aspects of Kakazawa's work that take some getting used to, it is understandable, relatable, and you cannot tear your eyes away, as much as you would like to ignore the brutality contained within it.
cindyc3689's review
4.0
Dalam kesederhanaan guratan gambarnya, kengerian hari-hari setelah bom atom terlihat jelas. Neraka di bumi.