A review by w9gfo
Barefoot Gen, Volume Two: The Day After by Project Gen, Keiji Nakazawa

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.