Manga like Barefoot Gen | Anime Like List

What is Barefoot Gen about?

Status: Finished

1945, Japan. Gen Nakaoka is a spirited six-year-old boy who lives with his poor yet loving family in wartime Hiroshima. As the second World War rages on, Gen's father Daikichi stands among the few outspoken who are opposed to the emperor and stand for the innocent civilians bearing the brunt of the war. However, in a society with nothing but feverous support for their nation, Gen and his family are ostracized as traitors. Unbeknownst to them, a terrible fate awaits the people of Hiroshima...

One quiet morning, the US forces drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In an instant, the city is completely destroyed, leaving thousands dead and many more exposed to radiation. Though Gen manages to survive the blast, he finds his life irreversibly changed. Regrouping with what's left of his family, Gen must now grapple with starvation, destitution, and an unsympathetic public who see survivors as little more than disease-ridden beggars.

Based on author Keiji Nakazawa's real-life experiences, Hadashi no Gen follows Gen and his fellow survivors in their struggle to survive in post-war Hiroshima. Gen resolves to soldier on with unwavering determination, while never forgiving those who caused the atrocity, never forgetting the pain of the bomb, and never letting his spirit be broken by the tragedy.

Tags: Tragedy , Historical , Delinquents , Adoption , War , Found Family , Autobiographical , Male Protagonist , Gore , Coming of Age , Body Horror , Shounen , Crime

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Here is a list of Manga similar to Hadashi no Gen

Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni

Also known as In This Corner of the World.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

1940’s Hiroshima Prefecture. Suzu, a young woman from the countryside, joins her new husband and his family in the shipbuilding city of Kure. As her beautiful home collapses around her, Suzu must confront the challenges of a new life while coming to grips with a world in turmoil. Unwilling to give up hope, Suzu struggles against the horrors of war to create her own happiness.

Tags: War , Female Protagonist , Tragedy , Historical , Family Life , Drawing , Rehabilitation , Seinen , Disability

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Souin Gyokusai seyo!

Also known as Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological

Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths is his first book to be translated into English and is a semiautobiographical account of the desperate final weeks of a Japanese infantry unit at the end of World War II. The soldiers are told that they must go into battle and die for the honor of their country, with certain execution facing them if they return alive. Mizuki was a soldier himself (he was severely injured and lost an arm) and uses his experiences to convey the devastating consequences and moral depravity of the war.

Note: Won Best U.S. Edition of International Material at the Eisner Awards in 2012.

Tags: Historical , Military , War , Autobiographical , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Primarily Male Cast , Seinen , Suicide , Guns

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No reading links available

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Sora Yori Takaku

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

March 10, 1945. Tokyo is bombed by the United States military. The air raid which marked the defeat of Japan caused between 80 000 and 100 000 deaths. The city is completely destroyed by explosions and fires. The vast blue sky contrasts with the rubble. The survivors wander among the ruins. Immerse yourself in this romantic story that follows the lives of eight orphans in post-war turmoil.

Tags: Seinen , Historical

Where to read?

Mangas.io

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Hinemosu no Tari Nikki

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Slice of Life

After a long carrier and satisfyine life, Chiba Tetsuya only desires tranquility and peace. Through flash-back scenes, the 1939-born author remembers the big moments in his life, his youth under the U.S. bombings, the exile from Tôkyô, his recklessness in those times, but also his carrier, his beginnings, the hard moments, Tezuka's death... an extraordinary life tale filled with a refreshing positivism. A rare testimony by a master storyteller.

Tags: Autobiographical , Full Color , Historical , Seinen , Drawing , War

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No reading links available

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Yunagi no Machi Sakura no Kuni

Also known as Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Part 1: Hiroshima, 1955. Ten years after the city was consumed by a scorching flash of light, a woman's soul is still deeply shaken by the earth-shattering explosion that devastated her home and changed her life forever...
A family from Hiroshima struggles to come to terms with their survival of the atomic bombing of their city. The protagonist is Minami Hirano, about 20 years of age.

Part 2: Set some decades later, the niece of Minami Hirano is bewildered by her father's mysterious disappearances. She and a friend follow him to discover what he is doing.

The main theme of this is historic manga concerns the question what impact the war and the atomic bombing had on the most vulnerable. Fumiyo Kôno examines this question in her outstanding book—an award-winning, widely-discussed masterpiece!

Tags: Historical , Female Protagonist , Tragedy , Seinen , Time Skip

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No reading links available

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COCOON

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

San and Mayu are two schoolgirls living in Okinawa during the closing months of the Pacific War. Together with their classmates, the two friends are drafted into the war effort as nurses for wounded soldiers. When ordered to die for their country, the remaining members of the group escape only to face the harsh environment of a tropical paradise that has become a hellish battlefield.

Tags: War , Tragedy , Historical , Female Protagonist , Survival , Josei , Gore , Primarily Female Cast , Rural , Crossdressing , Primarily Teen Cast , Medicine

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Do Retry

Also known as Do Retry.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Sports

In postwar Japan, war orphan Aozora will swing his fists to protect his little sister!

Tags: Boxing , Shounen , Primarily Adult Cast , Historical , Male Protagonist , Yakuza , Military , Orphan , Body Horror

Where to read?

MANGA Plus

Shonen Jump

Viz

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Areyo Hoshikuzu

Status: Finished
Genres: Slice of Life

Kadokawa describes Areyo Hoshikuzu's story as a "bromance in the ruins of Tokyo." Kawashima Tokutarou, a drunk in the city's burnt-down rubble, reunites with his old World War II comrade Kuroda Kadomatsu just over one year after Japan's defeat. The manga depicts the daily life in the underworld of post-war Japan, including the black market, the "pan-pan girl" prostitutes and the government's euphemistic "Comfort Facilities," and the war orphans.

Note: Winner of the 23rd Tezuka Osamu Cultural Awards in 2019 for New Creator.

Tags: War , Primarily Male Cast , Seinen , Historical

Where to read?

ComicWalker

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Shirahata no Shoujo

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

April 1945, Okinawa. While Japan has been at war for some time now, the small tropical island of Japan still seems untouched by conflict. It is there that little Tomiko lives in joy and good humor, despite the absence of her mother. However, when the bombing begins and her father has to go to the warfront, her daily life changes. Now, she will have to survive... survive against all odds!!

Tags: War , Survival , Autobiographical , Historical , Female Protagonist , Shoujo , Gore

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No reading links available

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Kuroi Ame ni Utarete

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

It's about young people in postwar Hiroshima getting involved in the black market for weapons. The main character is an A-bomb survivor whose hatred drives him to kill an American black marketeer. He asks the Americans, "Who are you to talk about justice when you massacred hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Hiroshima, in Nagasaki, in the firebombing of Tokyo? Was that what you call justice?"

Tags: Historical , Seinen , Anthology

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No reading links available

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