If you loved Studio Ghibli’s Grave of the Fireflies, you should also watch this war anime masterpiece

Tomb of the Fireflies is Studio Ghibli’s sober history, but it harbors a dedicated fanbase, and I’ve just found their watchlists the newest edition: Barefoot gen. Apart from the fantastically captivating action, romance and horror genres of anime, The humbling realities of war and international conflict are also tackled in Japanese media. Some series are outwardly aimed at anti-war or pro-Japanese themes. However, others are more subtle, masking a clear agenda in a fluffy exterior.

For example, my favorite Studio Ghibli film, howl’s moving castle, Contains inspiration and reflections from both its director and the author of the source material. The release of the film was in 2004, after the invasion of Iraq by the United States. The film depicts Director Hayao Miyazaki’s thoughts on pacifism And other issues around the past years.

While this project of Miyazaki attempts to tackle a more serious subject, along with a heart-flattering romance, other anime are much more direct. Fans of Studio Ghibli Tomb of the Fireflies Will no doubt appreciate Madhouse’s little-known feature film: Barefoot gen.

Madhouse Studio’s historic masterpiece is the perfect addition to any Grave of the Fireflies fan’s watchlist

Tomb of the Fireflies Is known as Studio Ghibli’s most devastating project. Even though the film is set during World War II, its themes of human destruction still ring true today. Tomb of the Fireflies Tells the story of Seita and Setsuko after the American firebombing during World War II, which separated them from their parents. Driven by nothing more than a desperation for survival, Miyazaki’s saddest tale follows their struggles to stay together and stay alive.

It’s rare that Studio Ghibli films end on anything other than a happy note, however Tomb of the Fireflies is one of them. In the end, Seita and Setsuko starve to death. alone in a train station, The two children are victims of one of the world’s most terrible conflicts. Although some Studio Ghibli fans may think that Miyazaki’s films are nothing more than lighthearted escapist stories of grandeur, the director proves through his perceptions of the real world that this is far from the truth.

Madhouse’s little-known feature film is a must-watch for any anime history fan

Barefoot General, A project released by Madhouse Studio in 1983, is loosely based on The manga author’s experiences as a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing. Keiji Nakazawa first released an eyewitness account of the Hiroshima events for Monthly Sean Jump Back in 1972 with the title, I saw it. However, it began to run internationally shortly after its success, released in the United States by Educomics In 1982.

In 1973, just a year after the release of the original series, Barefoot gen (An extended version of I saw it) ran in Shawn Jump For the first time on June 4, 1973, but it did not meet with immediate success. Barefoot gen was canceled after a year and a half. As a result, the series was forced to move to three smaller, less widely distributed magazines: Shimin (Citizen), Bunka Hyōron (Cultural criticism), and Kyōiku Hyōron (Educational criticism). more recently, After Christopher Nolan’s film, Oppenheimer, The interest in Barefoot gen Rose almost immediately.

Barefoot gen is an animated adaptation of Keiji Nakazawa’s manga. The story is based on some of his personal experiences of the wartime destruction in Hiroshima around 1945. In this 1983 feature film, produced by Madhouse (Death Note, HunterxHunter, One Punch Man), the main character, Gen, along with other protagonists, Struggle to survive after losing their friends and family during the war and its terrible aftermath.

The controversy surrounding anime’s most popular war dramas

Two primary criticisms have affected the popularity of these breath-taking projects

Barefoot gen And Tomb of the Fireflies are animated war dramas that depict the bombing of Hiroshima and the effects of World War II from a child’s perspective. The first controversy surrounding the projects concerned Barefoot gen s Release in schools. In December 2012, Access to Barefoot gen was limited to elementary and junior high schools in Matsue, Japan, on the grounds that its depictions were too graphic for young children. However, the ban was lifted after a more recent review of the restrictions in August 2013. In response, the series author said:

“War is brutal. It expresses that in pictures, and I want people to stop reading it.” – Keiji Nakazawa

Second, some fans believe that Tomb of the Fireflies, Barefoot Gen. And maybe even howl’s moving castle, are All subtle attempts to incorporate Japanese propaganda into larger media projects. Extreme nationalism, in the case of these films, is used by writers, filmmakers and even politicians to sway viewers to favor Japan over other countries.

While the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were among the most horrific events in the world, some shocking acts of human cruelty were committed by Japan during World War II. However, the anti-war films do not discuss this issue. Instead, they focus on an innocent demographic of people far removed from the events of the war, Left only to be victims of other choices.

It is interesting to note that the same movies can be criticized, or even banned, for two opposite reasons. It is also important to keep in mind that stories, and movies in particular, must necessarily be focused. Crafting a harrowing tale about the suffering of Japanese children during the war does not necessarily mean that their authors wanted to hide, or justify, the actions of the Japanese army during the conflict. All of this is related to the complex cultural and political changes that took place in Japan after the Second World War, the effects of which are still being felt today.

However, to say that Japanese media was the only content used to push a particular agenda would be completely and utterly wrong. In addition to Eastern media, such as anime, Western media also owes to tell stories from calculated perspectives to train their audience to think in a certain way. Nevertheless, perhaps there are stories like these Force viewers to consider a perspective outside their own.

By understanding films such as Tomb of the Fireflies And Barefoot General, Westerners can begin to understand a small fraction of the Japanese people’s experience of the war, and at the same time to understand that each side has a unique perspective that we can never fully grasp. Barefoot gen is a necessary, unsettlingly real look at the horrors that many children experienced during World War II, in the same way that Tomb of the Fireflies From Studio Ghibli.