Hiroshima Day - Two Manga Help Us Reflect

Manga is fantastic at taking us away to far-away worlds. From Japanese classrooms (that's far away for most of us) to distant planets, the pleasure is in the fantastic voyage set apart from our own reality.

But manga and graphic novels don't always have to be journeys away from reality. Sometimes the most moving journey is one to a reality almost all of us will thankfully never experience.

This August 6 marks the 63rd Anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The bombing of Nagasaki happened three days later on August 9th.

Purely by coincidence, I just laid hands on two titles that thrust the reader very honestly and directly in the reality of that time in World War II.

Both are moving on different planes in the same setting and one could be called a shoujo title where the other is more shonen. Both titles are about Hiroshima, and although Fumiyo Kouno was born well after the war in 1968 in Hiroshima, Keiji Nakazawa was six years old when the bomb struck a kilometer from his home.

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms opens in 1955, a full ten years after the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The water-color cover and light-hearted title disguises the pain and confusion the young Minami goes through as she traverses a post-war Hiroshima.

"Nobody talks about it. I don't understand what happened even to this day," she narrates.

Minami's rejection of affection is directly related to her feelings of guilt about survival in an emotional journey full of moving flashbacks that resonate even more knowing they are based in reality.

The same is true for the now-classic series Barefoot Gen which is in the middle of an impressive 10-volume rerelease by Last Gasp (which also released Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms). This is the more shonen of the the two titles, but the path is the same. The difference here is author Keiji Nakazawa actually survived the Hiroshima atom bomb, and this is a semi-autobigraphical tale with a brand-new translation by Project Gen, a group dedicated to having this tale properly told.

Both these tale pull at heartstrings in different places. Town of Evening Calm is more subtle and emotional, and Barefoot Gen is a bit more visceral.

Both of these Hiroshima stories are moving on a level manga doesn't often take us. The level that is historical reality.

As we mark the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this week, please take a minute to consider how the world has changed and how individuals have been affected by the events of this week 63 years ago. If you are not sure what to think, then Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms and Barefoot Gen are two moving and emotional tales that give some real insight.