Barefoot Gen Review: The Hiroshima Manga Everyone Should Read Once
A full review of Barefoot Gen, Keiji Nakazawa's autobiographical account of surviving the Hiroshima bombing and the years that followed.
By Web Admin
Some books you recommend because they are fun. Barefoot Gen is not one of those books. Written and drawn by Keiji Nakazawa, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, it is a semi-autobiographical account of what a six-year-old actually lived through on 6 August 1945 and in the brutal years afterward. First serialized in Japan in 1973 and completed across ten volumes, it is one of the most important works of comics ever made in any country. This is our full review of a manga that is hard to read and impossible to forget.
We are going to be honest about the violence here, because you deserve to know what you are picking up. But we will also tell you why, decades on, we still hand this series to anyone who wants to understand what the medium can do.
What is Barefoot Gen?
Barefoot Gen (Japanese title Hadashi no Gen) is a manga written and illustrated by Keiji Nakazawa (1939 to 2012), who was six years old and roughly 1.2 kilometres from the hypocenter when the bomb fell. He lost his father, an older sister and a younger brother in the blast and its immediate aftermath. Years later he turned that experience into fiction that stays extraordinarily close to fact, following a boy named Gen Nakaoka and his family before, during and long after the bombing.
The series ran from 1973, beginning in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump before moving to other magazines, and was eventually collected into ten volumes. The English translation, produced by the volunteer group Project Gen and published in full by Last Gasp of San Francisco between 2004 and 2009, is the definitive edition. Each softcover volume runs roughly 250 to 300 pages and costs around US$15.
Content warning: this is graphic, and it should be
Read this before you buy. Barefoot Gen contains some of the most harrowing depictions of violence in any comic: people burned alive, bodies melting, radiation sickness, mass death, and the slow social cruelty inflicted on survivors afterward. There is also domestic violence, starvation and suicide. Nakazawa refused to soften any of it, because softening it would be a lie. This is not gore for shock value; it is testimony. But it means the series is genuinely upsetting, and we would not hand it to a young child without an adult reading alongside them.
The story before the bomb
One of the smartest choices Nakazawa makes is spending the entire first volume with the Nakaoka family before the bombing. We meet Gen, his pregnant mother, his siblings and his outspoken pacifist father in a wartime Hiroshima already crushed by hunger, propaganda and the persecution of anyone who questions the war. By the time the bomb falls, you know these people. That is what makes the blast unbearable rather than abstract, and it is a lesson in structure that any storyteller can learn from.
The art: cartooning against catastrophe
Newcomers are often surprised by the art. Nakazawa draws in a rounded, almost slapstick style descended from Osamu Tezuka, with big eyes and rubbery expressions. That cartoonishness is not a mistake. The gentle style makes the horror land harder by contrast, and it lets a child narrator carry scenes that a photorealistic approach could never survive. When the bomb detonates, the same pen that drew comic pratfalls a page earlier draws the unspeakable, and the whiplash is the point.
Gen himself: rage as survival
Gen is not a saintly victim. He is loud, furious, stubborn and often funny, and his refusal to lie down and die is the engine of the whole series. Nakazawa uses him to argue, again and again, that survival is an act of defiance and that anger at injustice is healthy. In later volumes Gen fights black marketeers, corrupt adults and a society desperate to forget what happened. That living, kicking energy is what keeps ten volumes of tragedy from becoming a dirge.
Why it matters beyond Japan
It is difficult to overstate this book’s influence. It was one of the first manga ever translated into English, it has been rendered into many languages by volunteer translators specifically so the world could not look away, and it is taught in schools across Japan and elsewhere. Alongside Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust memoir, it is one of the two works most often cited when people argue that comics can bear witness to history. If you care about that tradition, see our Maus review and our roundup of the best nonfiction comics.
Pros and cons
Pros
- First-hand testimony from an actual Hiroshima survivor
- Brilliant structure that makes you care before the blast
- Gen is a fierce, unforgettable protagonist
- Affordable, complete and always in print
Cons
- Extremely graphic and emotionally punishing
- The cartoony art can feel jarring at first
- Ten volumes is a serious commitment
How the volumes and editions break down
The Last Gasp edition is the one to buy. Here is how the series is laid out and what your options cost.
| Edition | Collects | Format | Approx. price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume 1 (single) | The pre-bomb story and the blast | Softcover, ~280 pp | ~US$15 |
| Individual volumes 2 to 10 | The aftermath, year by year | Softcover | ~US$15 each |
| The full ten-volume set | The complete story | Softcover set | ~US$120 to 150 |
We suggest starting with Volume 1 alone. It is a complete emotional arc in itself, and if it grips you the way it grips most readers, the rest of the series is easy to find.
AmazonCheck price on AmazonHow it compares to other war and history comics
If you are exploring comics as a way into difficult history, a few titles keep coming up. Here is how Barefoot Gen sits beside them.
- Maus by Art Spiegelman gives the Holocaust through a son interviewing his father; it is more reflective and formally clever.
- Barefoot Gen is more visceral and immediate, told from inside the event as it happens.
- For the wider field, our best war comics guide and our list of the best comics for history buffs round up the essentials.
Within manga specifically, it stands as a landmark. It appears near the top of nearly every serious ranking, including our own best manga of all time. If you are building a manga shelf, browse the full manga hub for where to go next.
The verdict
Everyone should read at least the first volume once, the way everyone should read certain novels once. That said, this is a book for older teens and adults who are ready for its subject matter. If you want the historical weight without the same relentless intensity, our Parasyte review covers a very different manga that also uses horror to ask serious moral questions.
Fifty years after it began, Barefoot Gen remains one of the most powerful things the comics medium has ever produced. It is not entertainment in the ordinary sense; it is a survivor asking you to look, and to remember. We do not recommend it lightly, but we recommend it completely. Give it the attention it demands and it will stay with you for the rest of your life. It earns its place on any list of the best graphic novels ever made.
Frequently asked questions
Is Barefoot Gen a true story?
It is semi-autobiographical. Keiji Nakazawa survived the Hiroshima bombing as a six-year-old and based the family and events closely on his own experience, though names and some details are fictionalized.
How many volumes of Barefoot Gen are there?
The complete story runs to ten volumes in the Last Gasp English edition, translated by the volunteer group Project Gen and published between 2004 and 2009.
Is Barefoot Gen appropriate for children?
It is taught to schoolchildren in Japan, but it is extremely graphic. We would only give it to younger readers with an adult reading alongside them, and it is best suited to older teens and adults.
Where should I start with Barefoot Gen?
Begin with Volume 1. It covers life before the bomb and the bombing itself, and works as a complete arc on its own before you commit to the full series.
For more on comics that bear witness to history, read our Maus review or explore the wider manga hub.
