Barefoot Gen is a story by Keiji Nakazawa (1939-2012). It is about a boy who survived the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki along with his mother and an infant. All I can say is it was brutal watching it. I've decided to do some reading about the bombing of Hiroshima, I have to admit that was too much to handle. My chest feels like constricting. The film, which was animated like was supposedly rated for kids, was really sick and heartbreaking. I don't think the rating TV-13 was appropriate for it. I mean, the horrific sights for 13 years old or so was too much. Heck, I had to look away when we were watching it in the class. But I guess, that it was animated for less impact. I guess they still show it to children to inform and show them what really happened in their history. I think that is important.

Keiji Nakazawa, the writer, experienced it first hand so he was able to lay it down for what it truly was. I knew some of what happened based on what I learned past history classes but I never knew what happened after the bombing, the radiation that killed most of the people who were left. I could never imagine the pain of watching the people you love perish right in front of you. He remained strong after all the horror and moved forward and continued, even though he struggled. I think that it serves as a reminder that no matter how hard things might seem, there is always someone who has it much worse and has survived it.