After Oppenheimer, You Owe It to Yourself to Watch Barefoot Gen

Oppenheimer is dominating theaters, and audiences owe it to themselves to watch Barefoot Gen afterward.

By Megan Peters

Atomic bombs are nothing short of horrific. Their history is riddled with controversy and soaked in the blood of millions. Right now, part of their story is in theaters as Oppenheimer by director Christopher Nolan is in theaters. The dramatic biopic follows the team of physicists who brought nuclear war to fruition in World War II, and some left the film wondering what the bombs did in Japan. And if you are one of those people, you owe it to yourself to watch one of anime's most distressing features.

In 1983, Barefoot Gen made its way to theaters in Japan, and the anime did not pull punches with its take on war. Created by a man who survived the bombing in Hiroshima, this classic story shows how the everyday men and women of Japan dealt with the atomic bombings. The manga's seminal anime adaptation did not flinch away from the upsetting reality of nuclear fallout, and now Barefoot Gen is making headlines in the wake of Oppenheimer's success.

The clip above, which will be hard for some to watch, shows how bleak nuclear war is. Barefoot Gen was able to recreate some of the atomic bombs' worst injuries. Even with no real-life gore included, the movie's take on nuclear fallout is downright horrific. From adults to pets and kids, no civilian was spared during the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Oppenheimer does not show the magnitude of nuclear fallout, but films like Barefoot Gen fill in the gaps by those who lived through the atomic event. If you found yourself intrigued by Oppenheimer's exposition on war, you owe it to yourself to see how Barefoot Gen creator Keiji Nakazawa handled it years ago.

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If you are not familiar with Barefoot Gen or its legacy, you should know the manga is one of the medium's most searing takes on World War II. Created by Nakazawa, the artist based the story loosely on his childhood after surviving the Hiroshima bombing. In 1983, Madhouse and Gen Production adapted Barefoot Gen as an anime, and its visuals left audiences across Japan (and later the world) speechless. Currently, there are no streaming services with Barefoot Gen available, but you can find copies of the anime film through retailers like Amazon. 

Have you ever seen Barefoot Gen? Do you plan on seeing Oppenheimer if you've not yet? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!

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