Barefoot Gen (TV series)

Barefoot Gen (はだしのゲン) is a two-part Japanese television special based on the popular manga of the same name by Keiji Nakazawa.

Plot
It was during the end of the war in Hiroshima. People in Japan were facing food shortages, and air bombing day and night. But, the government and its military powers, still continued the hopeless situation, and called young people to send them to battlefields. However, people were received letters that those young people had been lost. At that time in Japan, Daikichi was working as a picture drawer of Japanese footwear Geta. With his wife Kimie, Daikichi worked hard to raise their four little children.

Koji, the eldest brother, was nice and kind to his family. Eiko, the eldest sister, was weak in health, but doing daily chores to help her family. Gen, the naughty but cheerful kid and also nice to his family. The youngest boy Shinji was a pampered child. Kimie was pregnant, so they were going to have a new family member. When it is time to harvest the wheat from the fields outside of town, the children look forward to making bread and noodles to eat. Daikichi always said to his children, "Grow up as strong as the wheat".

Cast

 * Ren Kobayashi as Gen Nakaoka, the main protagonist
 * Gaku Yamamoto as an elderly Gen Nakaoka, the narrator
 * Kiichi Nakai as Daikichi Nakaoka, Gen's father
 * Yuriko Ishida as Kimie Nakaoka, Gen's mother
 * Akiyoshi Nakao as Koji Nakaoka, Gen's elder brother
 * Asuka Ono as Eiko Nakaoka, Gen's elder sister
 * Yuki Imai as Shinji Nakaoka, Gen's younger brother, and Ryuta Kondo
 * TBA as Tomoko Nakaoka, Gen's baby sister
 * Masanobu Katsumura as Mr. Pak
 * Kenichi Yajima as a chief police officer
 * Hiroko Nakajima as Ume
 * Isamu Ichikawa as Officer Hamada
 * Kanako Fukaura as Hanako Yoshida
 * Takeshi Masu as Commander Saeki
 * Shinobu Tsuruta as Principal Tanaka
 * Hiroshi Okouchi as Mr. Numata
 * Sakura as Kikuyo
 * Susumu Kobayashi as a doctor
 * Takao Toji as a master of the house
 * Yoji Tanaka as a military policeman
 * Hiroki Narimiya as Seiji Yoshida
 * Ryo as Kiyoko Hayashi
 * Takehiro Murata as Shinsuke Takura
 * Mitsuru Hirata as Dr. Yabe
 * B-saku Sato as Eizo Yoshida
 * Tokie Hidari as Setsu Hayashi
 * Tetta Sugimoto as Kosaku
 * Takehiko Ono as Denjiro Samejima
 * Taro Yamashita as Tatsuo Hayasi
 * Jyura Matsuura as Takeko Hayashi

Locations

 * Hiroshima Film Commission
 * Saga Pref Film Commission
 * Ibaraki Film Commission
 * Kagawa Film Commission
 * Miroku no Sato in Fukuyama, Hiroshima
 * Takeo, Joso, AP&PP Takahagi, Ishioka, Mitoyo
 * Marugame Basara Map
 * TV Shin-Hiroshima TSS TV Shin-Hiroshima
 * Saga Television Station Saga TV

Theme song

 * "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" ("A Thousand Winds")
 * Sing by Masafumi Akikawa

DVD and soundtrack
DVD and soundtrack were released on January 25, 2008, from Pony Canyon.