Barefoot Gen 2 is a 1986 anime film that is a sequel to the 1983 film barefoot Gen the film is directed by Toshio Hirata and stars Issei Miyazaki, Masaki Koda, Yoshie Shimamura, Taeko Nakanishi, Kei Nakamura and Takami Aoyama. The film follows Gen and Ryuta. Who join a gang of orphan scavengers and attempt to save there mum Kimie from radiation sickness a consequence of her surviving the Hiroshima bomb. Barefoot Gen is about people trying to survive in the aftermath of the atomic bomb but being able to move forward to forge a better future.
The starts with a recap of sorts showcasing the horrific destruction of the atomic bomb in the first film as Gen now older and still has PTSD induced nightmares about the atomic bomb. Ryuta is still with then as Gens adopted brother, as they scavenge the wasteland finding and eating birds’ eggs, showcasing those times are still tough in post-war Japan, however, there seems to be more hope in this film as they decide they must hide this place from others. Gen and Ryuta must scavenge to find things of value to use or sell, as there is still. Ruin and destruction in post-war japan despite the country slowly rebuilding. The people of Japan now live-in shanty towns where they live off food rations and struggle to live, however there is still a society here that continues to grow even amongst the devastation. Pachinko machines are shown to be the main source of entertainment for pole, these gambling machines were closed during WW2 but reimaged in the late 40s in post war japan and at the time was one of the only forms of entertainment they still had.
The post war environment is shown throughout with ration vans driving around as children behind them as they give out chocolate and young kids smoke. The kids in the film are parentless as due to the bomb they can’t go to school and have no education, Gen and Ryuta’s mum is preparing them to be adults as she won’t be with them forever as she is sick and getting old, the mum Kimie’s radiation sickness is shown throughout the film as when she feels ill Gen carries her and realises something is wrong as she feels light. There school is a crumbled ruin due to the war as Ryuta runs off and Gen stays in the class, in school they learn about the bomb destroying japan and ending the war as well as millions of people dying and that japan will never let that happen again linking into the anti-war themes of the film. The building they live in have a hole in it as they are still dealing with the destruction of WW2, as the guy and girl are homeless and living in this building. The characters in the film are shown as volent directionless young just trying to survive in post-war japan, there mum then collapses and is sick from radiation sickness. The horrors of a post-war environment are shown as people are constantly dying form radiation sickness and disease, as Gen and Ryuta try and get money from being shoe shiners to help their mum showcasing the desperation of a post-war environment. Other shoe shiners however are like a gang saying there on there territory, as Gen and Ryuta beat the kids but end up being beating up by the guards as the kids manage to run away.
Gen and Ryuta get hidden by the street gang, who survived as they hid in the river and sore the destruction of the atomic bomb decimating everything they have. The street gang is led by Masa their leader who says that they would rather live like this than in an orphanage as they want freedom, one of the members of the gang is Katusko a female who has burns caused by the atomic bomb as the Americans give out rations to the Japanese. The characters in the film understand that there stealing is immoral, but they have no choice, this is further showcased as Katsuko rips up Gens textbooks as she’s angry about the fact that she can’t go to school and must be in the gang as her parents died from radiation sickness. The US are then shown giving rations which enrages Masa due to the loss of his mum, as Gen’s mum wants o tog back to work but they are worried about her as she is still ill. Erratic weather occurs die due the atomic bomb as a typhoon is created, as her mum goes to work Gen carries her as everyone must work in a post-war environment and Gen wants to do everything for her mum. The gangs base then floods as they are now homeless but upon finding a building damaged due to the bomb Gen gets them to build a base. They then come across an old man waiting to die as his whole family was killed in the atomic bomb and can’t do anything due to radiation sickness and is also homeless with no one. They decide to take the old man to live with them when he cries, he says its strange as he thought all his tears had dried up as being able to have negative emotions is better than no emotions, they then steal material form a house as presented in a cheery way as they all work together to make a new house presented in a dream like way.
Katsuko gets discriminated against due to her burns from the atomic bomb by adults and children saying she’s a ghost casing her to throw water at a child and get discriminated against more. Katruko is very much a horrific victim of the atomic bomb and comes home distort saying no one would want to marry her and that she’ll be alone forever. In response to this Gen licks her wounds telling her not to give in as she cries from happiness as no one has licked her before as licks her until she laughs. It turns out that the fields are hard to farm due to the post war environment as the old man tries to farm it with Gen. Gen then talks about him and Shinji working on the fields in a flashback where his dad talks about tall strong wheat surviving as him and his brother have fun in a bittersweet flashback. Katusko is shown to be studying kanji as the old man used be a journalist, as the gang can’t find any food or money and have been surviving on water and decides to steal food form a farmer’s field where they are attacked by the farmers and kill Katchin a member of Masa’s gang showcasing the brutality of people surviving in the aftermath of the atomic bomb. In a brilliant scene which is sad, sombre, and emotionally effective they mourn Katchin burying him in the rubble of his old house were his family was killed by radiation poisoning. From this Gen and Shinji sell cigarettes to make money as they see street kids dying. However, there is hope within the film as they say next year will be better as they believe their mum will be better and kind happiness as they celebrate the new year. Kimie their mum however gets worse as Gen and Ryuta celebrates new years with her as she coughs up blood showing that she’s dying of radiation sickness. The doctor tells them she’s dying of ration sickness and has at most for months to live as they cry, ash she is lighter and even worse hiding her illness by presenting to eat with make him understandably hungry. This the horrors of the atomic bomb and how people slowly and horrific dying destroying everyone’s life.
Gen then goes to the gravestone of his dad, brother and sister asking for their help and strength in dealing with their mum. Linking into the themes of Asian mysticism and showcasing the emotional core of the film as he gets sympathy from the gang who tells him about expensive black market penicillin witch as how a lot of people got supplies during post World War two. There mum is then shown out of bed and working, she doesn’t want to die lying in bed relating to Japanese society lives and pretends she’s fine working from home. She states that she loves working as it relaxes her and reminds her of her husband and how they work together in the past in a sweet scene. Gen, his mum and Ryuta reminds Gen that he can’t be a baby and he must look after himself linking into his dad symbolic speech “live like wheat its shoots grow despite being stepped on grow tall strong and powerful gen”, as later they find the bones of dead bodies in the lake whilst fishing that were killed by radiation poisoning. Gen and Ryuta are determined to save he, as they get tip of from Masa that there is a shipyard containing lead and copper witch, they plan to steal to get money to buy penicillin for their mum although there is defiantly moral ambiguity with the characters, they all are doing this for the right course which is what make them interesting.
The characters row to a shipyard to steal lead and copper but get caught and decide to run away as they load up a boat with iron to sell but the old raft is still full of holes and sinks as they swim ashore without the metal showcasing the desperate and dark times they are in and what they must do to survive a post war environment. They then stumble upon an improper burial of the victims of the atomic bomb being shovelled into a mass grave by a bulldozer. From this they see the Americans as cruel for doing this as people pray and they throw rocks at them with leads to them being chased. This highlights the tensions in a post-war environment and how people’s emotions ae still raw and the scars of war are still dominant with the country. They then find a load of bullets in a discarded firing range and collect them to sell the copper and buy medicine for their mum in a rare happy moment showcasing that there is still good and society within the horrible post-war environment. However, when they come home, they find their mum collapsed vomiting blood and on the brink of death as Gen rushes her to the hospital and she thanks Gen dying repeating the words of his dad about standing on your own two feet as she dies on her back as they cry. This represents the horrific victims of the atomic bombing and how radioman poisoning killed tones of people slowly overtime, this also demonstrates Gen growing up as he must shed his motherly protection and as the film puts it stand on his own two feet and forge a parth forward for himself.
They cremate her body and carry her ashes as Gen comments on how light she is as everyone waits outside to pay their respects an emotionally effective scene. As they follow him Gen remembers his, mothers’ words to be strong no matter what and decides to live and be happy as they all race each other part from the old man as his story has come to an end. The film uses wheat as a metaphor to rise, stand straight and tall which both feet planted on the ground, as he says he won’t be defeated, and he will do his best. This links into the main theme of the film being overcoming tragedy to forge a better tomorrow.
Barefoot Gen 2 is about overcoming the tragedy of a terrible situation and being able to be strong enough to rise above and forge a better future.
