Keiji Nakazawa was born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1939. His father was opposed to Japan being involved in a war that they would lose and that it was a reckless war. But when he was six years old, the first nuclear weapon has detonated above his home of Hiroshima, killing his father sister, and little brother. He and his mother had to struggle for survival in the chaotic aftermath. Even the most basic information on radiation and it's effects were classified until 1957 and those who were victims had to hide their origins, or face discrimination, as many outsiders thought they carried disease or even a curse. Keiji became an artist in Tokyo, publishing his first work in 1963, his first creations being boys' adventure stories such as "Spark One" and "Space Giraffe". But in 1966 he rushed home for his mother's funeral and was angered by the fact that there were so few bone fragments left of his mother's cremated remains. When he had dug his father and siblings out of the ruins, their skulls were in tact, so he felt that in his mother's case, the bomb had deprived her of even her bones, after surviving 21 years on. He vowed never to endure wars and atomic bombs, returned to Tokyo and risked pariah status by openly discussing his experiences of the bomb and then writing of them, with the first of his "Black" series, "Beneath The Black Rain". In 1972 the boys' magazine "Shonen Jump" began running stories about the lives of manga artists, Keiji used it as a platform to publish "I Saw It", an account of Hiroshima, which eventually formed the opening chapters of his ten-volume series "Hadashi no Gen" (aka Barefoot Gen). It was published at the height of the cold war and shortly after student demonstrations over Japan's "Security Treaty" with the US. Large publishers had previously refused to publish it out of fear of finding themselves on CIA blacklists. The family saga was not completed until 1987. Later volumes (two of which became the basis for Barefoot Gen 2 (1986) detail the attempts of the survivors to stay alive in the ruins and were told in a cartoon-ish style that was popular in comics in the 1970s. A group of Americans including Jared Cook and Frederik L. Schodt acquired copies of Barefoot Gen and began "Project Gen". The group was formed by a group of students from Japan, USA and Russian that sought to translate the manga series into several languages and distribute them worldwide as an attempt to spread an anti war/nuclear weapons message. The story was also adapted into live action films (the first of which won Best Screenplay at the Czech Film Festival in 1977) and two animated versions. Keiji is credited as screenwriter for the 1st anime, but had no direct involvement in the 2nd. Keiji went on to write many more manga, including some more that involved the Japanese experience surrounding the second world war, such as "Okonomi Ha-chan" which was turned into a live action movie (Okonomi Hatchan (1999)), with Keiji writing and directing.
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Biography from TMDB.
- March 14, 1939
- December 19, 2012 (aged 73)
- Hiroshima, Japan
- Writer, actor and producer
- 3 on MovieCove · 9 credits in all
Known for
What are Keiji Nakazawa's films like?
Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Society.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 3
Light 0 · Serious 0 · Dark 3
Grounded 2 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 0 · Intense 3
A split, not a type: Steady 1 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 0
A split, not a type: Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 0
Casual 0 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 1
Easy watch 0 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 3
Resolved 3 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Keiji Nakazawa's films?
As of October 24, 2026, all 3 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Keiji Nakazawa's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
9 credits, 3 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Like Father, Like Son(2013)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
Prisoner Maria: The Movie (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1995)
Summer with Kuro (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1990)
Barefoot Gen 2(1986)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films
Beaten by Black Rain (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1984)
Barefoot Gen(1983)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all films
Barefoot Gen Part 3: Battle of Hiroshima (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1980)
Barefoot Gen: Explosion of Tears (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1977)
Barefoot Gen (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1976)
Career shape
A full career of 9 titles from 1976 to 2013.
How do Keiji Nakazawa's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 97th percentile, the median of all 3; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 96th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up3
Shape of the crowd
None of their 3 titles divides audiences: 2 are Universally Loved.
- Universally Loved2
- Crowd Pleaser1
Reviewers score the plot and story 66/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 71, detractors 43. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Keiji Nakazawa work with?
People who share at least 2 of Keiji Nakazawa's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Issei Miyazaki shares the most, 2.
Actors
- Issei MiyazakiShared titles: Barefoot Gen 2 (1986), Barefoot Gen (1983)See all 2 shared titles with Issei Miyazaki
- Kôichi KitamuraShared titles: Barefoot Gen 2 (1986), Barefoot Gen (1983)See all 2 shared titles with Kôichi Kitamura
- Masaki KôdaShared titles: Barefoot Gen 2 (1986), Barefoot Gen (1983)See all 2 shared titles with Masaki Kôda
- Takao InoueShared titles: Barefoot Gen 2 (1986), Barefoot Gen (1983)See all 2 shared titles with Takao Inoue
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Harutoshi OgataShared titles: Barefoot Gen 2 (1986), Barefoot Gen (1983)See all 2 shared titles with Harutoshi Ogata
- Kentarô HanedaShared titles: Barefoot Gen 2 (1986), Barefoot Gen (1983)See all 2 shared titles with Kentarô Haneda
- Kinichi IshikawaShared titles: Barefoot Gen 2 (1986), Barefoot Gen (1983)See all 2 shared titles with Kinichi Ishikawa
Producers
- Takanori YoshimotoShared titles: Barefoot Gen 2 (1986), Barefoot Gen (1983)See all 2 shared titles with Takanori Yoshimoto
- Yasuteru IwaseShared titles: Barefoot Gen 2 (1986), Barefoot Gen (1983)See all 2 shared titles with Yasuteru Iwase