{"id":53,"date":"2007-08-05T10:14:09","date_gmt":"2007-08-05T02:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2007\/08\/05\/barefoot-gen-drama-special-on-the-telly\/"},"modified":"2007-08-21T12:32:28","modified_gmt":"2007-08-21T04:32:28","slug":"barefoot-gen-drama-special-on-the-telly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2007\/08\/05\/barefoot-gen-drama-special-on-the-telly\/","title":{"rendered":"Barefoot Gen drama special on the telly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh dear. Just when everyone of my friends is home from Japan, they show something quite important like this. -_-;; I have to thank Comipress for this. Apparently, FujiTV is releasing a drama special of Barefoot Gen<\/a> on the telly from August 10 to 11 to commemorate Hiroshima bombing. I wish someone in the drama community rips this and uploads it… If not, then I suggest everyone should have a chance to actually read the manga and reflect on it. And kids should not complain that they can’t read it! My university has a copy of Barefoot Gen, both in English and Tagalog for everyone to read! I’m pretty sure other universities with libraries would have this manga as well. Maybe. Nonetheless, to those people who have access to it, either by their libraries (because I’m sure it’s no longer for sale here! It’s quite vintage!) or if you’re rich enough, via buying it online, then do so. It is a must read for any manga fan not because it is an old classic manga, but because it is a manga that will open your eyes to what history really is.<\/p>\n

In war, history is often told by the victor. This is the easiest way to teach history to students. The side of the loser never has the chance to really get themselves heard except for their own country. The reason why I think Barefoot Gen is so important is it presents to us an alternate perspective of the Pacific World War. It makes history not just HIS story, but OUR story.<\/p>\n

World War II is such a painful memory for the Filipinos. I have met and read old folks who have nothing but anger for the Japanese due to the war. But we really can’t blame them. The war experience was truly painful and you can’t take that away from them. However, the beauty of having access to works such as Barefoot Gen is that it allows you to understand that even on the side of the Japanese, the war was just as painful. It wasn’t just the bombing that hurt them. Even before the bombing, life was hard for them. Women working hours to buy grub for families. Fathers and sons sent away to suicide missions. War casualties is never on the side of the victim alone, but also on the aggravator as well. Barefoot Gen gives us this glimpse that is understandable for anybody because it is in the form of a comic. In our case, it is both in English and Tagalog hence anybody can read it. Too bad that the tagalog version is quite vintage already and is not easily available. Bookstores too don’t have a copy of the English version. DRAT.<\/p>\n

On my end, this is a manga that moved me more than Grave of the Fireflies ever did. In that film, it only shows the hardship of two children. Anybody can pity children. Pity is not the key to understanding. Barefoot Gen gives greater depth to this by introducing to us a whole town moved by a propaganda and a family trying their best to live. It shows you their world and the machinations behind the war. The pity bit happens only during the bombing. But after that, it was all about the will to live. I cried reading this manga. Four years as a History Major, reading this tale moved me in different dimensions altogether. I can go at length on its historical weight, but I think what’s important here is that through this tale, I found out that my country’s pain was not mine alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh dear. Just when everyone of my friends is home from Japan, they show something quite important like this. -_-;; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[73,74,36,55],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-barefoot-gen","tag-kenji-nakazawa","tag-shounen-jump","tag-shueisha"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p26e5y-R","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":60,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2007\/09\/04\/its-been-a-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":0},"title":"It’s been a year…","author":"khursten","date":"September 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"... and I missed my celebration! ??????(?????????) ?????????????!! I honestly wasn't able to keep track of when I actually actively started this blog and it turned out that my site went in motion on August 23 and I forgot to celebrate. lol. I've been busy during the past few days\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fujoshi Life"","block_context":{"text":"Fujoshi Life","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Doraemon cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1420\/1313628764_1e1d80cd53_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":534,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/02\/14\/proyektong-gen-project-gen\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":1},"title":"Proyektong Gen || Project Gen","author":"khursten","date":"February 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"When the Philippines think of World War II, we do not think of Poland, D-day, Churchill, or Hitler. Instead, the prominent things that we think of are Hirohito, Yamashita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Gold, MacArthur, and the Japanese. The memory of Japanese involvement in the war effort is deeply ingrained in our system that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/gen01.jpg?fit=528%2C778&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/gen01.jpg?fit=528%2C778&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/gen01.jpg?fit=528%2C778&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":786,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/09\/01\/event-manga-beyond-subculture\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":2},"title":"Event: Manga Beyond “Subculture”","author":"khursten","date":"September 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It's quite an interesting month for manga and I wish I wasn't so busy to miss this merry month of manga in Manila. Part of the Manga Realities exhibit is actually a lecture from a professor from Kyoto Seika University, Jacqueline Berndt. As some of you know, Kyoto Seika's the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/JSP01-copy.jpg?fit=927%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/JSP01-copy.jpg?fit=927%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/JSP01-copy.jpg?fit=927%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/JSP01-copy.jpg?fit=927%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1399,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2013\/03\/29\/history-mmf-manga-and-memories\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":3},"title":"History MMF: Manga and Memories","author":"khursten","date":"March 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Whenever I submit proposals to my old university, professors will always ask me \"Why historical manga?\" The whole world believes that comics are just comics. They are a shallow form of entertainment that exists to amuse us and that in itself is not bad but what I look at is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8111\/8599605310_c391f5e742_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1412,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2013\/03\/31\/little-loud-voices\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":4},"title":"History MMF: Little Loud Voices: World War II Remembered by 3 Artists","author":"khursten","date":"March 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"War is a victorious, perhaps bitter, maybe a painful playground for adults. In war, we imagine soldiers moving to shoot their enemies, nurses rushing to heal the injured, politicians and generals posing in front of battle plans, and civilians running away from the crossfire. Our memories of war are ingrained\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8256\/8605006542_8b5cee7466_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2006\/08\/22\/some-jump-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":5},"title":"Some Jump History","author":"khursten","date":"August 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Strangerataru posted at Weekly Jump a really interesting site that shows the history of Shounen Jump. Having been a jump reader (although not entirely faithfully, I don't get the weeklies like others do. I just get the weeklies of series I read.), I can't help but be curious about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fujoshi Life"","block_context":{"text":"Fujoshi Life","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/images\/scans\/jump\/gen.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}