Keiji Nakazawa (中沢啓治; Nakazawa Keiji) was born in Hiroshima and was in the city when it was destroyed by an atomic bomb in 1945. All of his family members who had not evacuated died as a result of the explosion after they became trapped under the debris of their house, except for his mother, as well as an infant sister who died several weeks afterward. In 1961, Nakazawa moved to Tokyo to become a full-time cartoonist, and produced short pieces for manga anthologies such as Shōnen Gaho, Shōnen King, and Bokura. Following the death of his mother in 1966, Nakazawa returned to his memories of the destruction of Hiroshima and began to express them in his stories. Kuroi Ame ni Utarete (Struck by Black Rain), the first of a series of five books, was a fictional story of Hiroshima survivors involved in the postwar black market. Nakazawa chose to portray his own experience directly in the 1972 story Ore wa Mita, published in Monthly Shōnen Jump. The story was translated into English and published as a one-shot comic book by Educomics as I Saw It. Immediately after completing I Saw It, Nakazawa began his major work, Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen).This series, which eventually filled ten volumes, was based on the same events as I Saw It but fictionalized, with the young Gen as a stand-in for the author. Barefoot Gen depicted the bombing and its aftermath in graphic detail, with Gen's experiences being even more harrowing than Nakazawa's own. It also turned a critical eye on the militarization of Japanese society during World War II and on the sometimes abusive dynamics of the traditional family. Barefoot Gen was adapted into two animated films and a live action TV drama. Nakazawa announced his retirement in September 2009, citing deteriorating diabetes and cataract conditions.He cancelled plans for a Barefoot Gen sequel. In September 2010, Nakazawa was diagnosed with lung cancer and in July 2011, metastasis from lung cancer was found. He died on December 19, 2012.
وجع القلب مع جن لا ينتهي😔 جزء من أجمل أجزاء السلسلة ..مش بس بيوضح معاناة جن وأصدقائه المستمرة لكن أيضاً بيلقي الضوء علي بعض الاحداث السياسية في اليابان و محاولة الامريكان التعتيم عن أثار القنبلة وأيضاً عن معاناة الكوريين من أجل اليابان و تأثرهم بالقنبلة النووية..
جن بيفقد في هذا الجزء أمه، أغلي الناس عنده..محاولاته البسيطة كي يسعدها في أواخر أيامها كانت من أرق وأجمل و أصعب ما يكون:(
الجزء السابع من أصل عشر أجزاء من هذه السلسلة القريبة جداً لقلبي .. تجعلني أضحك قليلاً و أبكي كثيراً ..لكن أهم حاجة إنها تجعلني أتسائل دائماً عن حقيقة وجود الرحمة علي سطح هذه الأرض أم هي بس موجودة في السماء...؟! إلي لقاء قريب يا جن في الجزء الثامن...
I actually finished this so fast because I want to start Brothers Karamazov, I am so excited to start my first Dostoyevsky novel, I read 3 short stories for him before, and I kept delaying reading his novels because I own many of them, and borrowed novels and short stories for Russian writers I didn't own like Anton Chekov, but it is time!
Very strong scene we see on the cover, Gen's mom died sadly, in the first book he lost his father, brother and sister, to the nuclear bomb, when the house fell on top of them. Then he got a new baby sister that got born, but she had radiation illness and also died. Then in book 7 his mother also dies because of cancer that spread through her body, also from radiation. And somehow through it all Gen is staying strong, and his believes are getting even stronger.
In the cover scene, Gen is carrying his dead mother (I initially thought she was just sick before reading the manga) and he wants to take her to the commander in chief of the allies forces, who is the defacto leader of Japan after they lost the war, he wants to show him their suffering because of the nuclear bomb, and make him promise never to use that bomb again that opened the gates of hell on hundreds of thousands of civilians. He also wants to take her to the emperor of Japan who approved of the war, and said he was god, and when they lost the war said he is just a human, he wants him to apologize for the war, and he wants him to admit that he caused the war. His brother knocks him out, and they take his mom to be burned, because they didn't see what he was saying as a realistic scenario, he would get killed before he got to either men.
The thing about this novel, is most of it is probably real, you google Keiji Nakazawa you learn that he actually lost close to the same number of brothers and sisters to the bomb too, and ended up dying old also of radiation illnesses. He was there at that horrible period of time, and even if some of these stories aren't directly his, they are probably stories he heard as a young boy, working to support his dwindling family.
It's a really sad manga anyway, if you start reading it, and you feel depressed after book 1, don't read the rest until you are in a better place, because things are never going to look up for these people, the suffering just continues.
We also lost the old man writer, the kids called father, he was homeless like the rest of them, but they published his book, and distributed it for free, to spread the reality of the nuclear bomb, and almost got in trouble for doing that.
3 books left, and 2 actual brothers left, and 2 orphaned "street brothers" and 2 orphaned street sisters, I truly hope no one else dies, specially the girls both of them are burned badly because of the nuclear bomb, if anyone is a candidate for the radiation illnesses it's probably both of them.
Cada novo volume série traz um aspecto ou consequência da trágica explosão da bomba atômica. Aqui conheceremos a forma como os EUA atuou a fim de esconder do mundo o resultado desastroso e irreversível na vida de milhares de civis, através da censura, serviços de espionagem e "inteligência" e o uso da tortura e assassinato.
الكتاب السابع من ملحمة جن الحافي وكفاحة المرير مع الحياة والأمراض والفساد والجشع والظلم مع وبعد إلقاء القنبلة
اعجبني الجزء الذي يحدث فية جن المحقق الياباني الأصل الأمريكي الجنسية الذي يحاول ان يبرر ان ضرب بيرل هاربور هو السبب في إلقاء القنبلة النووية علي اليابان ،هو طبعا مبرر واهي وغير منطقي فضرب منطقة عسكرية ليست مبرر للجريمة التي ارتكبت في حق اليابانيين
ومع أجواء الحرب الروسية الاوكرانية التي نعيشها الان والتي قد تتسبب في حرب كبري اخري يجب ان نتذكر التاريخ جيدا وان الحرب لا يوجد بها مكسب بل كلها خسارة والغبي فقط من ينساق لها والاغبي هو من يبررها
الكتاب بة الكثير من الاجزاء المحزنة مع اقتراب انتهاء السلسة لكن يبقي الامل بإنصلاح الأحوال
Americans and there true harsh and evil plans comes to knowledge of Gen and Ryuta. A-BOMB finally took Gen Mom away from her. Koji returns home a few days before Mom's death. Gen brokes down completely after this. But he stood up once again the injustice and wrong bravely ....
Dalam pengantar di buku-buku sebelumnya, Nakazawa menulis kesedihan dan kegeramannya saat pergi ke krematorium untuk mengumpulkan abu ibunya yang wafat pada tahun 1966, 21 tahun setelah bom atom dijatuhkan di Hiroshima. Nakazawa syok, karena tak menemukan sisa tulang di abu ibunya. Efek radiasi bom ternyata telah menggerogoti tulang-belulang sang ibu hingga hancur.
Kisah kematian sang ibu disampaikan Nakazawa di buku ketujuh ini. Gen sempat tak menerima kenyataan ibunya telah wafat. Ia bahkan ingin membawa jenazah sang ibu ke Jenderal MacArthur, pemimpin sekutu, dan Kaisar Jepang. Gen ingin memperlihatkan akibat tragis dari perang yang dibuat oleh Jepang dan Amerika. Makin terlihat kebencian Nakazawa pada Kaisar Jepang dan Amerika yang telah membuat kehidupan masyarakat Jepang porak poranda.
Buku ketujuh ini juga mengisahkan keberhasilan Gen, Ryuta, dkk mendapatkan percetakan untuk menerbitkan buku Papa, ayah angkat mereka. Siapa yang membantu Gen dkk menerbitkan buku tsb? Tuan Pak, orang Korea tetangga keluarga Gen yang berhasil menjadi pengusaha. Salah satu semangat Tuan Pak membantu Gen dkk menerbitkan buku Papa adalah agar lebih banyak orang tahu kepahitan perang dan bom. Korea sendiri mengalami penindasan dan kegetiran akibat perang yang dilancarkan Jepang. "Kita harus memastikan tak seorang pun mengalami hal ini lagi," kata Tuan Pak.
Warna buku ini tak sekelam buku-buku sebelumnya. Gen, keluarga, dan kawan-kawannya mulai memasuki hari-hari normal setelah perang. Meski begitu, selalu ada kepahitan dari efek bom atom dan perang.
Di buku ketujuh, Gen berusaha menerbitkan buku berisikan memoar bagaimana bom atom merusak segalanya. Namun persoalan pertama adalah percetakan. Tidak ada percetakan. Namun mereka punya ide untuk menerbitkan dengan memanfaatkan orang-orang di penjara. Dan kebutuhan kertas disokong oleh Tuan Park, orang Korea yang juga membenci keputusan perang Jepang. Setelah buku terbit, Gen mendapat permasalahan dengan otoritas sekutu amerika yang melawan mereka. Dan ujung-ujungnya, Gen pura-pura gila biar bisa lepas dari jeratan mereka.
Setelah itu, Gen mendapati ibunya pulang dari rumah sakit. ALih-alih gembira dengan anggapan ibunya telah pulih, nyatanya Gen mendapatkan kabar kalau usianya Ibunya tinggal beberapa bulan lagi. Sedddih, Dan seperti yang kita ketahui, Gen berusaha mengajak ibunya perjalanan ke Kyoto, impian Ibunya terakhir. Namun di perjalanan ibunya meninggal. Ahhh seddih.
Vol. 7 of Barefoot Gen takes place four years after the bomb. Gen and his friends carry out small acts of sabotage against the American occupiers, most significantly they help publish an old man’s account of the bomb. This part has some of the most direct, anti-American, anti-bomb, and anti-war language in the whole series.
Things take a sharp turn when Gen’s mom returns from the hospital, seemingly cured. It is revealed, however, that she has stomach cancer and only four months to live. This part was one of the hardest emotional gut-punches of the series.
Gen and the gang manage to get the old man’s book published, but get arrested by the Americans for spreading the truth about the Bomb. They manage to get out, but then there is news about Gen’s mother… A very strong episode in the series.
This volume got a little repetitive but it's still a powerful story. There is lots of brash buffoonery to balance the heavy themes, even if I could've done without it. 3.75/5
هذا الجزء كان ثقيلا على النفس يشبه الجزء الثاني ولكنه ليس بنفس المستوى حقيقة ... وشعرت قليلا في بعض الأجزاء بالتمطيط ولكن النهاية كانت جيدة جدًا
اقل تقييم في السلسلة حتى الآن ، وبالرغم من انه رائع الا انه ليس بنفس مستوى الأجزاء السابقة
تعديل بعد قراءة الجزء التاسع... اعطيته علامة كاملة للتقدير .. هذه المعاناة يجب ان تقدر حتى ولو كان بها عيوب ، الاجزاء الاولى لا يضاهيها شئ ولكن السلسلة باكملها تستحق العلامة كاملة حتى لو كان بعضها ليس مفضلا عندي
This was my least favorite 'Gen' title of the lot and where the story starts to meander a bit too far. One particular aspect that is becoming wearisome is the constant physical violence between characters. I understand that slap-stick is used to supposedly appeal to young male readers (though it's really just propagating the idea that it's socially acceptable for men to be violent, because "boys will be boys") but it's hard to take a collected work about peace seriously when you have its protagonists advocating murder on a fairly consistent basis in the form of vigilante justice -- these are children, not samurai defending the commoners.
That being said, there are a few interesting tidbits I hope to independently study because of this particular volume, such as the Gakizoshi and the Cannon Agency.
A bit disappointing after the excellent volume 6. It's too bad that the book they publish about hiroshima is the same story that Gen has already told- without variation. On the one hand, the repetitive nature of this series is important because it hammers home some of its main ideas...which also makes it a negative aspect. there is still a lot of movement in thus volume - the return of one member and the loss of another. We see that Gen is willing to do just about anything for his family (including gathering 'humanure' for ¥)
و تستمر المتعة و تتزايد الأحداث و الصعاب التي يمر بها جِن.. رغم طول هذه السلة المكونة من ١٠ أجزاء و ان كل جزء يزيد عن ٢٠٠ صفحة إلا أني لحد دلوقتي محستش نهائي بأي ملل و انا بقرئها و لسه كمان هكمل قراية الأجزاء الباقية.. للي ميعرفش السلسله فهي سلسلة مانجا بتتكلم عن قنبلتين النوويتين اللي تم ضربهم من امريكا علي اليايان ف الحرب العالمية.. و عن معناة جن و أصدقائة و أسرته من أثار القنبلة دي سلسلة أكثر من رائعة.. 👌💚✨ #الكتب_مينج
::انطباع عام وكفى:: =-=-=-=-=-=- "أمريكا واليابان كلتاهما مخطئة، إذَا لماذا تُعاقب اليابان فقط. بصرف النظر عما إذا كانت الدولة المنتصرة اليابان أو أمريكا، طبيعي أن تتحمل الدولة المنتصرة المسؤولية عما فعلت."
يا للهول! ما أصعب هذا الجزء من قصة جن الحافي! لكم توقفت طويلاً عن القراءة لأنني لا أتحمّل الاستمرار. إنه بالفعل العنوان المناسب لهذا الجزء: قاع جهنم. في هذا الجزء نستمر في رؤية فظائع نفسية واجتماعية جديدة من آثار القنبلة التي لم تختفِ بعد بل تتفاقم. المأساة الكورية، للكوريين تاريخ طويل من المعاناة من أجل اليابان. وفوق ذلك عانوا بسبب القنبلة الذرية ضعف ما عانى اليابانيون. ثم نقرأ بصوت جن قصة نهاية الصيف التي تحكي فظائع القنبلة الذرية: لم ينته حفل جهنم الذي أقيم برعاية القنبلة الذرية والذي أدى إلى دمار شامل؛ بل تركت القنبلة هدية قبل أن تذهب، الإشعاعات التي امتزجت بالأمطار وتناثرت على الأرض ودخلت باطنها كي نستمتع بها بعد انتهاء الحفل وإلى الأبد. وعلى الرغم من ذلك، فحتى حرية التعبير عن هذه المأساة هو ممنوع! فغير مسموح في اليابان بالكتابة عن النقبلة الذرية أو طباعة كتب عنها أو جمع الناس والتحدث عنها ولابد من الحصول على تصريح مقدمًا من الأمريكان بهذا الشأن! يقدم جن وصفة غريبة هنا وهي كيفية الاستعداد لتلقي العذاب: "ليس أمامنا حل إلا أن نتدرب على التعذيب؛ كي نشعر بألم أقل عندما يضربوننا!" يا إلهي! ما هذا يا جن الصغير! ثم في مجتمع كهذا، أصبح حتى للبراز قيمة وثمن! فمن يسرق براز أحدهم يعاقبونه! فلقد أصبح مقابل أموال! ما أفظع هذا وكم يبعث على الضحك والمرارة في آن واحد. ثم في مشهد من أصعب مشاهد هذه السلسلة، لم أتمالك نفسي وقتها من الارتعاش بسببه، عندما حمل جن أمه في نوبة يأس وجنون، أمه التي توفت لتوها جراء سرطان المعدة الذي من آثار القنبلة الذرية، حملها وهي جثة على ظهره، واتخذ قرارًا بالذهاب إلى حاكم اليابان باسم أمريكا، وإلى الإمبراطور الذي ادعى أنه إله ثم بعد القنبلة صرح أنه إنسان عادٍ ولم يعتذر حتى لليابانيين، ويصرخ جن أن على الإمبراطور الاعتذار لأمه التي ماتت بسببه، إنه المسؤول عن قتل أمه. الإمبراطور الذي اتخذ قرار الحرب وبذلك تسبب في قتل ملايين اليابانيي، إنه المسؤول الأول عن الحرب.
This installment blew me away. Papa has finished his book about the bomb, and Gen and Ryuta are determined to get it published. Mrs Nakamora returns from the hospital. There’s a money making scheme (like always), and the girls make Gen’s mom a new dress with fabric they got from the black market. The boys distribute the book and get in trouble with the American Occupying Force. Koji comes back from the mines, and Gen gives him an out to save face.
What really makes this volume stand apart, as an American, is how it speaks to the truth of the end of WWII in the Pacific. MacArthur and the Americans prop up Emperor Hirohito again, despite his decision to go to war against the US. Gen points this out more than once - blaming both the Americans and the Japanese leadership. I loved Mr Pak’s presence and how he brings the reality of the Korean situation in. The truth is the end of the war is one big mess of history and memory, with so many sides wanting to control the narrative of the war and why and its aftermath. I’m sure most Americans don’t even think twice about the military base in Japan we still have to this day, or the fact the Japanese are not allowed to have their own military.
All this is juxtaposed against post-war Japan where people are starving even outside of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The struggle for survival - mentally and physically - trying to find a reason to live. The irony in all the characters knowing the truth but not wanting to say anything to protect the others from possible suffering. The stories and memories left behind.
A remarkable installment in this remarkable series.
In a nice little self referential and self reflexive stunt, Gen and Ryuta attempt (and succeed) publishing the story of the A-Bomb written by their friend Papa. Through this and some other of the regular antics the book offers greater reflections on censorship, prisons, espionage and the early seeds of the cold war. As I mentioned before, the further into the story we get, the darker and more mature its topics become. Yet it keeps its character's positive and optimistic demeanor. Yes, it may sometimes feel repetitive, the way it goes back on every volume to the bomb, and the way it reiterates the ideal of pacifism and opposition both to the Japanese leadership that started the involvement in the war, and the American tactics and cruelty that ended it. I keep being amazed of the bravery of Mr. Nakazawa for publishing this stories that, even today, constitute hard topics and sometimes unacceptable criticism in Japanese society.
The whole series has been outstanding and I will definitely be recommending people around me read it.
This volume open with Gen trying desperately to fill the last wish of one of his adopted family members, "Papa." A former news reporter who lost his whole family in the bombing of Hiroshima, Papa found a new family in the form of Gen's orphned friends. As life continued, he had worked on a book that tried to tell the story of the true horrors of the bombing only to find that no one would publish it due to Japan's new status as an American protectorate. Joined by Ryuta, Gen sets out to get past that annoying blockade. Meanwhile gen and Ryuta also set to work to earn enough momey to help Gen raise enough money to help his mom attain her one last wish: to return to Kyoto.
It is difficult not to get pulled into the the stories of Gen and his loved ones as they face the ongoing effects of the bombing.