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Hibakusha
Ludwig Mueller est un traducteur-interprète allemand aux ordres du parti hitlérien. Alors que la Seconde Guerre mondiale entame un virage inquiétant, ce mari désabusé et père peu préoccupé par sa famille est envoyé à Hiroshima afin de travailler sur des documents confidentiels, au contenu crypté. Là-bas, il lui est cependant impossible d'échapper à ses tourments qui se gravent dans sa chair et lui causent d'intenses douleurs. C'est alors que sa rencontre avec une belle Japonaise va bouleverser toutes ses convictions, jusqu'au plus profond de son âme...
64 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
March 31, 2021
Hibakusha (pronounced [çibaꜜkɯ̥ɕa]; Japanese: 被爆者 or 被曝者; lit. "person affected by a bomb" is a word of Japanese origin generally designating the people affected by the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Originally written in French, this graphic novel tells the story of a German guy, working in Japan as a translator of government documents in 1945. Partly love story, partly memoir, this is a solid combination of heart wrenching and heartwarming tale. Loved reading this.
Originally written in French, this graphic novel tells the story of a German guy, working in Japan as a translator of government documents in 1945. Partly love story, partly memoir, this is a solid combination of heart wrenching and heartwarming tale. Loved reading this.
October 4, 2019
Una novela gráfica interesante. No conocía el término Hibakusha y también desconocía el misterio de las sombras, me pareció un excelente manera de enfocarlo y de narrarnos su historia. Hay una parte muy “gráfica” que me parece que no venía a cuento, creo que esta ahí más por aquello de que el sexo vende que por la relación que pueda tener con la historia, del resto me gustó mucho y para tan pocas páginas pues aprendí algo nuevo. También me gustó mucho el mensaje “del nunca más” ya que esos horrores causados por el hombre no deben permitirse más nunca en la historia de la humanidad, y ahí están esas sombras para recordarnos el daño que se puede causar.
January 15, 2019
Find this and other reviews at: https://historicalfictionreader.blogs...
Thilde Barboni’s Hibakusha is not a simple or straightforward graphic novel. By, definition, hibakusha is a descriptor denoting a survivor of either of the atomic explosions at Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945 and the novel explores that concept in both the physical and metaphor capacities.
Olivier Cinna’s artwork enhances the narrative with beautiful renderings that are at once strikingly emotional and brutally honest. I thought the imagery paired quite nicely with the narration and liked how it helped facilitate a connection to the novel’s German and Japanese cast.
I loved the central theme of this novel but admit to feeling the sexually charged introduction unnecessary. Having said that, I grew to appreciate the larger themes of the story and was ultimately touched by the stark and imaginative take on the shadows of Hiroshima.
Thilde Barboni’s Hibakusha is not a simple or straightforward graphic novel. By, definition, hibakusha is a descriptor denoting a survivor of either of the atomic explosions at Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945 and the novel explores that concept in both the physical and metaphor capacities.
Olivier Cinna’s artwork enhances the narrative with beautiful renderings that are at once strikingly emotional and brutally honest. I thought the imagery paired quite nicely with the narration and liked how it helped facilitate a connection to the novel’s German and Japanese cast.
I loved the central theme of this novel but admit to feeling the sexually charged introduction unnecessary. Having said that, I grew to appreciate the larger themes of the story and was ultimately touched by the stark and imaginative take on the shadows of Hiroshima.
October 30, 2017
14/20
Les « Hibakusha », survivants au bombardement nucléaire ayant touché Hiroshima sont au coeur de cette BD historique qui mêle drame nucléaire, guerre mondiale, et histoire d’amour romanesque. Un destin tragique qui m’a touchée même si j’aurais aimé un peu plus d’approfondissement des différents sujets.
Ma chronique : https://myprettybooks.wordpress.com/2...
Les « Hibakusha », survivants au bombardement nucléaire ayant touché Hiroshima sont au coeur de cette BD historique qui mêle drame nucléaire, guerre mondiale, et histoire d’amour romanesque. Un destin tragique qui m’a touchée même si j’aurais aimé un peu plus d’approfondissement des différents sujets.
Ma chronique : https://myprettybooks.wordpress.com/2...
November 12, 2018
An interesting but heavy handed story of a German and a Japanese woman, in Hiroshima, in 1945, just before the bombing. And of course, he is working in what is now known as the Atomic Dome, which is one of the few buildings standing after the atomic bomb.
So, to have the German man working there, and strolling past there, as the cherry blossoms bloomed all over was about quite enough foreboding for me.
So, I was not at all surprised as to what happened, especially with the name of the book, which refers to survivors of the atomic bomb.
I just wish the colorist had not make August look like Spring, as I wans’t expecting the bomb to drop quite yet.
I have read quite a few books written by survivors of the bombing, and the description in the book rang true.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
So, to have the German man working there, and strolling past there, as the cherry blossoms bloomed all over was about quite enough foreboding for me.
So, I was not at all surprised as to what happened, especially with the name of the book, which refers to survivors of the atomic bomb.
I just wish the colorist had not make August look like Spring, as I wans’t expecting the bomb to drop quite yet.
I have read quite a few books written by survivors of the bombing, and the description in the book rang true.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
November 17, 2019
(2,7 of 5 for a weird love story in the dusk of WW2 in Hiroshima)
I like Japan-themed comics (as I'm very fond of Japan-themed everything). So this looked like some nice GN. The story is set in WW2 times and turns around of german translator sent to Japan. And it didn't get me. It's not bad, but the poetic of it and the transcendence of the story ending missed my taste. I disliked some of the pages transitions, where the dreamy/memory/etc sentence is cut back to the current timeline in the manner I sometimes checked page numbers if I did not accidentally skip the page. The art is decent, but it's not strong for me to overweight the things I lack and dislike in the story.
I like Japan-themed comics (as I'm very fond of Japan-themed everything). So this looked like some nice GN. The story is set in WW2 times and turns around of german translator sent to Japan. And it didn't get me. It's not bad, but the poetic of it and the transcendence of the story ending missed my taste. I disliked some of the pages transitions, where the dreamy/memory/etc sentence is cut back to the current timeline in the manner I sometimes checked page numbers if I did not accidentally skip the page. The art is decent, but it's not strong for me to overweight the things I lack and dislike in the story.
November 8, 2018
Hibakusha is the Japanese word for the surviving victims of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The word literally translates as "explosion-affected people" and is used to refer to people who were exposed to radiation from the bombings.
-Wikipedia
As a child, German Ludwig Mueller had lived for several years in Japan where an accident left him lame. As a result, when WWII starts, he's not fit for combat. However, thanks to his fluency in Japanese, he becomes an interpreter. He is sent to Japan to translate some highly classified documents. Leaving behind a loveless marriage, he soon falls in love with a young Japanese woman. When Germany surrenders, it is seen as a cowardly act and Germans are rounded up and imprisoned. Fortunately, his translations are still needed but, when he begins to understand what the documents reveal, he deliberately misinterprets them. As well, he is friends with one of his jailers and he convinces him to let him say goodbye to the woman. He tells her she is not safe and must leave the city. Finally, on August 6, 1945, his jailers take him out for one last walk likely, he suspects, before he is to be executed. Regardless, it will be his last day, he knows, in this city that has brought him so much love and pain, Hiroshima.
The graphic novel, Hibakusha, is written by Thilde Barboni, illustrated by Olivier Cinna and released by Europe Comics. This a beautiful book both in the story and in the art. Although the characters are not developed deeply thanks to the brevity of this novel, the details in the background help to flesh out the story adding both to the horrors and cruelty of the war and so many of its participants as well as to the poignancy of the love affair and the importance of love, time and memory in helping to heal the survivors. I have become a huge fan of Europe Comics always impressed by both the stories and the artwork and Hibakusha is no exception. In it's melding of art and story, it has created both an indictment of war and a brilliant portrait of the importance of love in times of hate.
Thanks to Netgalley and Europe Comics for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
-Wikipedia
As a child, German Ludwig Mueller had lived for several years in Japan where an accident left him lame. As a result, when WWII starts, he's not fit for combat. However, thanks to his fluency in Japanese, he becomes an interpreter. He is sent to Japan to translate some highly classified documents. Leaving behind a loveless marriage, he soon falls in love with a young Japanese woman. When Germany surrenders, it is seen as a cowardly act and Germans are rounded up and imprisoned. Fortunately, his translations are still needed but, when he begins to understand what the documents reveal, he deliberately misinterprets them. As well, he is friends with one of his jailers and he convinces him to let him say goodbye to the woman. He tells her she is not safe and must leave the city. Finally, on August 6, 1945, his jailers take him out for one last walk likely, he suspects, before he is to be executed. Regardless, it will be his last day, he knows, in this city that has brought him so much love and pain, Hiroshima.
The graphic novel, Hibakusha, is written by Thilde Barboni, illustrated by Olivier Cinna and released by Europe Comics. This a beautiful book both in the story and in the art. Although the characters are not developed deeply thanks to the brevity of this novel, the details in the background help to flesh out the story adding both to the horrors and cruelty of the war and so many of its participants as well as to the poignancy of the love affair and the importance of love, time and memory in helping to heal the survivors. I have become a huge fan of Europe Comics always impressed by both the stories and the artwork and Hibakusha is no exception. In it's melding of art and story, it has created both an indictment of war and a brilliant portrait of the importance of love in times of hate.
Thanks to Netgalley and Europe Comics for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
November 8, 2018
I have read quite a few graphic novels published by Europe Comics and I found them to be secret delights and inspiring gateways into wonderful stories and classic illustrations that transform simple words.
None demonstrate that more beautifully than this account of a wartime romance between two souls divided by culture and seen as enemies towards the end of the second world war.
A love story is a beautiful vehicle for condensing feelings into emotional reactions captured in a moment where your heart sings and your body clings to another human being. the past and future are fused into the now. Hibakusha is such a tale made more poignant by its beautiful setting in Japan but set against the potential destruction of humanity, in a true event, that of the detonation of an atomic weapon within a populated environment, Hiroshima.
Ideas of friendship and duty are explored here, along with a sense of destiny. Caught up in a love transending even death and physical separation. Taking the eerie realities of a nuclear event and the frozen shadows left, capturing 3D forms in the flash of the initial explosition the author speculates how those silhouettes might have been created, by more, than just mere light and shade.
A powerful story is left for you to enjoy and reflect upon on every level of your ebeing through simple dialogue, words and pictures. The illustrations are bold, yet simple and carry the essence of an oriental backdrop, the overall effect is an indelible impression of why litearature in all formats resonates with any reader.
None demonstrate that more beautifully than this account of a wartime romance between two souls divided by culture and seen as enemies towards the end of the second world war.
A love story is a beautiful vehicle for condensing feelings into emotional reactions captured in a moment where your heart sings and your body clings to another human being. the past and future are fused into the now. Hibakusha is such a tale made more poignant by its beautiful setting in Japan but set against the potential destruction of humanity, in a true event, that of the detonation of an atomic weapon within a populated environment, Hiroshima.
Ideas of friendship and duty are explored here, along with a sense of destiny. Caught up in a love transending even death and physical separation. Taking the eerie realities of a nuclear event and the frozen shadows left, capturing 3D forms in the flash of the initial explosition the author speculates how those silhouettes might have been created, by more, than just mere light and shade.
A powerful story is left for you to enjoy and reflect upon on every level of your ebeing through simple dialogue, words and pictures. The illustrations are bold, yet simple and carry the essence of an oriental backdrop, the overall effect is an indelible impression of why litearature in all formats resonates with any reader.
April 4, 2019
So, I get where the story comes from, it's really moving how the author and artist worked together to show the effects of the Hiroshima bombing. No doubt the artist/illustrator is very talented and does a beautiful work. However, I couldn't connect to the story or the main character - first of all because he's still a nazi. There's only one moment when he repents the work he's doing, conveniently that's when everything is already done.
I expected this to have a hundred pages or so, but it was really short, even though the story is not fast-paced. I am always curious and interested in stories set during the WWII however this one did not work for me.
I expected this to have a hundred pages or so, but it was really short, even though the story is not fast-paced. I am always curious and interested in stories set during the WWII however this one did not work for me.
November 22, 2018
This short story written by Thilde Barboni and illustrated by Cinna is a profound novel with equal amounts of sensuality and realism. It is a graphic manifesto to remind us all of the history, to remind us all of the time when humanity got lost and to remind us of the time when innocent lives were compromised over war and politics, a time of barbarism.
Ludwig, a German by birth and a Japanese translator/interpreter by profession, is a troubled man with a family. He never found love in his wife and had no affection or whatsoever for his son. He goes to Hiroshima during the war time period on orders of the government. He meets his old friend on the way and as he reaches Hiroshima, he proceeds to do his job, no questions asked. He meets the love of his life , a familiar face he might have known somewhere from a figment of his imagination or a dream..
The author has tried to portray the contradictory nature of man. Ludwig, who never cared, who never wanted to risk his life at any point of time in his life, who took his disability as a positive since it exempted him from enlisting in the military, decides to walk on the path of morality and chooses to disown his neutrality. He stands up to fight for what’s right. Did love change him afterall? Did love inject that compassion in him? That’s something that wandered in my mind as I read his development.
A terrible father and a troubled husband is also portrayed as a forgiving friend and a passionate lover. But on top of it all, he is portrayed as a soldier who fought without arms.
The book is a representation of survival, that not only encompasses the human survivors but also the memories that still linger on. This book is a Hibakusha in itself and I loved it very much.
The art/illustration is so colorful and only adds to the beauty of the story and is so aesthetically pleasing.
Rating: 5⭐/5
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Ludwig, a German by birth and a Japanese translator/interpreter by profession, is a troubled man with a family. He never found love in his wife and had no affection or whatsoever for his son. He goes to Hiroshima during the war time period on orders of the government. He meets his old friend on the way and as he reaches Hiroshima, he proceeds to do his job, no questions asked. He meets the love of his life , a familiar face he might have known somewhere from a figment of his imagination or a dream..
The author has tried to portray the contradictory nature of man. Ludwig, who never cared, who never wanted to risk his life at any point of time in his life, who took his disability as a positive since it exempted him from enlisting in the military, decides to walk on the path of morality and chooses to disown his neutrality. He stands up to fight for what’s right. Did love change him afterall? Did love inject that compassion in him? That’s something that wandered in my mind as I read his development.
A terrible father and a troubled husband is also portrayed as a forgiving friend and a passionate lover. But on top of it all, he is portrayed as a soldier who fought without arms.
The book is a representation of survival, that not only encompasses the human survivors but also the memories that still linger on. This book is a Hibakusha in itself and I loved it very much.
The art/illustration is so colorful and only adds to the beauty of the story and is so aesthetically pleasing.
Rating: 5⭐/5
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review.
November 11, 2018
2,5/5. I get what the author was trying to put into paper and I respect it. But unfortunately it didn't please me. Probably too slow for me, but it have beautiful artwork and a decent story with an historical background. Everything is there, but it lack a little something to make it hold all together in a great way!
May 26, 2020
Un dibujo bonito pero una historia muy parcial de la visión sobre la bomba nuclear de Hiroshima. La locura de los hombres comenzó cuando japón pensó que podia hacerse con medio hemisferio del planeta y Alemania con la otra mitad. Gracias a los aliados que se les paró los pies del único modo que lo pudieran entender, enseñandoles que eramos mas poderoso. A dia de hoy en 2020 Japón sigue sin disculparse por los millones de miertos que causó en la 2a guerra mundial
November 25, 2018
Script: Thilde Barboni
Artwork: Olivier Cinna
My Thoughts:
Hibakusha is the Japanese term for survivors of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945. To read about the personal experience of Hibakusha, try Barefoot Gen, a graphic novel series by Keiji Nakazawa. There is also a very good multigenre novel titled Sachiko by Caron Stilson.
This is a fictional love story of a German translator and a Japanese woman in Hiroshima in 1945. What makes this intriguing is that the author starts with the haunting images of people's shadows incinerated in stone.
When I was a child, my mother and I lived in Japan so she could teach English at a Japanese high school. My maternal grandmother had family in Hiroshima so on our school holidays we would catch the shinkansen, bullet train, from Osaka to Hiroshima to stave off our homesickness by visiting relatives. At seven, I visited the peace memorial in Hiroshima and the image of the stone with the shadow of the person that was sitting on that stone continued to haunt me. Like the shoes in the Holocaust museum in DC, the shadow on the stone has stayed with me all these years. I can understand, then Barboni's desire to create a story around the shadow in the stone.
In her own haunted imagination she wonders if the stone can remember. She wants to know if the soul of the person memorialized in the stone can be immortalized in the rock. That is what is most fascinating about this story.
A digital copy provided by Net Galley and the publisher for an honest review.
Artwork: Olivier Cinna
My Thoughts:
Hibakusha is the Japanese term for survivors of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945. To read about the personal experience of Hibakusha, try Barefoot Gen, a graphic novel series by Keiji Nakazawa. There is also a very good multigenre novel titled Sachiko by Caron Stilson.
This is a fictional love story of a German translator and a Japanese woman in Hiroshima in 1945. What makes this intriguing is that the author starts with the haunting images of people's shadows incinerated in stone.
When I was a child, my mother and I lived in Japan so she could teach English at a Japanese high school. My maternal grandmother had family in Hiroshima so on our school holidays we would catch the shinkansen, bullet train, from Osaka to Hiroshima to stave off our homesickness by visiting relatives. At seven, I visited the peace memorial in Hiroshima and the image of the stone with the shadow of the person that was sitting on that stone continued to haunt me. Like the shoes in the Holocaust museum in DC, the shadow on the stone has stayed with me all these years. I can understand, then Barboni's desire to create a story around the shadow in the stone.
In her own haunted imagination she wonders if the stone can remember. She wants to know if the soul of the person memorialized in the stone can be immortalized in the rock. That is what is most fascinating about this story.
A digital copy provided by Net Galley and the publisher for an honest review.
August 5, 2022
What draws me to graphic novels is the art.
It is the art that makes me decide if I want to read the graphic novel, not the story line. Sure, it should at least awaken a little interest, but it is not the most important detail. If I wanted to read a particular story, I’d read a novel, not a comic. A novel is longer, usually more detailed and not finished as quickly.
But sometimes, just sometimes, imagination is not enough anymore, and we wish to see.
Graphic novels combine books and art, and I love it.
The artwork in Hibakusha is truly beautiful, especially together with the Japanese setting. But it was not enough for more than 2 stars.
Remember when a few seconds ago I said that the story line is not the most important detail?
Ha ha, I was wrong.
I mean, yeah, the art was amazing and I’d probably pin a few panels to my walls and whatnot, but as a book itself, I wouldn’t want to read it again.
It’s not the plot in general that is bothering me, that could’ve been a nice love story set in tragic times, but damn….
….That was not a love story, that was a fucking love affair. And I don’t really like reading about husbands cheating on their wives without even sparing them a thought. It wasn’t even depicted as wrong. Just… a regular love story.
Because, yeah, cheating on your partner should be normal….
Whatever. This just wasn’t my thing.
(Also, I didn’t expect the very explicit content of sexual nature. Next time, please warn a girl. Geez.)
Provided by NetGally in exchange for an honest review.
It is the art that makes me decide if I want to read the graphic novel, not the story line. Sure, it should at least awaken a little interest, but it is not the most important detail. If I wanted to read a particular story, I’d read a novel, not a comic. A novel is longer, usually more detailed and not finished as quickly.
But sometimes, just sometimes, imagination is not enough anymore, and we wish to see.
Graphic novels combine books and art, and I love it.
The artwork in Hibakusha is truly beautiful, especially together with the Japanese setting. But it was not enough for more than 2 stars.
Remember when a few seconds ago I said that the story line is not the most important detail?
Ha ha, I was wrong.
I mean, yeah, the art was amazing and I’d probably pin a few panels to my walls and whatnot, but as a book itself, I wouldn’t want to read it again.
It’s not the plot in general that is bothering me, that could’ve been a nice love story set in tragic times, but damn….
….That was not a love story, that was a fucking love affair. And I don’t really like reading about husbands cheating on their wives without even sparing them a thought. It wasn’t even depicted as wrong. Just… a regular love story.
Because, yeah, cheating on your partner should be normal….
Whatever. This just wasn’t my thing.
(Also, I didn’t expect the very explicit content of sexual nature. Next time, please warn a girl. Geez.)
Provided by NetGally in exchange for an honest review.
November 10, 2018
'Hibakusha (被爆者) is the Japanese word for the surviving victims of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The word literally translates as "explosion-affected people" and is used to refer to people who were exposed to radiation from the bombings.'
This beautifully illustrated graphic novel tells the story of two people affected by the bombing of Hiroshima.
Ludwig is a translator and interpreter. He is married with a small son but his marriage is not a happy one. In any case he keeps his head down and gets on with interpreting for the Nazi war machine. A childhood injury means that he cannot be sent to fight and he is glad about that.
One day he picks up a beautiful Japanese hitchhiker in the forest near Berlin and he is immediately smitten but the woman runs away. Years later he meets this same woman in Hiroshima where he is interpreting for the Nazi's and the two of them embark on a passionate affair. She brings light into Ludwig's darkness but neither of them realise just how dark life can become.
The artwork in this graphic novel is beautiful and the words are quite haunting. Together they tell a gentle story about doomed love. I don't normally read tragic stories but I enjoyed reading this one because the drawings are so beautiful and together with the haunting pose the novel really creeps under your skin.
The ending is poignant and yet filled with hope. Altogether it is a beautiful read.
Copy provided by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
December 2, 2020
Set in 1945 in Hiroshima right before the atom bomb was dropped, Hibakusha tells the story of a German translator working for the Nazis and Japanese woman who works as a masseur. The name of the book immediately suggests the bomb will drop sometime during the story and someone will survive it. Just how this survival will take shape is what makes the story a bit extraordinary. The story is rather empathetic toward the translator, who, at first doesn't understand what he's translating, then realizes the gravity of his contribution, and eventually doctors his translations to render them useless. Overnight he goes from an ally in Japan to an enemy of the state (as Germany loses the war). His relationship with the Japanese woman is not really well developed. We don't really know her side of the story. He seems to be infatuated with her as the exotic object, and the one person with whom he can relax. (Oh, and he's married with a child, and is pretty shitty to them, though we see this at the very beginning and never again.)
There's a lengthy bit in the beginning where a man gives a woman a ride in the middle of the forest and imagines they'll have sex, and something (harmless) he says spooks the woman. Just what this was becomes clearer at the very end, but by then I had completely forgotten about this rather melodramatic beginning. Not sure if it added anything to the story.
The art is beautiful with lush colors and dramatic scenery. Recommended for those who like cherry blossoms, submarines, and a good massage.
There's a lengthy bit in the beginning where a man gives a woman a ride in the middle of the forest and imagines they'll have sex, and something (harmless) he says spooks the woman. Just what this was becomes clearer at the very end, but by then I had completely forgotten about this rather melodramatic beginning. Not sure if it added anything to the story.
The art is beautiful with lush colors and dramatic scenery. Recommended for those who like cherry blossoms, submarines, and a good massage.
December 31, 2018
I received a copy of Hibakusha through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Hibakusha is a tale set in real events. It’s sometimes heavy handed, sometimes a romance, and at a few points heartbreaking and concerning. It tells us a love story between a German man and a Japanese woman during WWII.
This is one of those stories where you sort of know how it’s going to end right from the beginning. Even if you don’t know the specifics…you get a feel for things. As details are revealed through the course of the storytelling…then you start to really know how it will all end.
Hibakusha has several iconic scenes and moments – many of them based from real life events and locations. The building we see so much of, for example, is none other than the Atomic Dome (one of the few buildings left standing after the bomb was dropped). The silhouettes of victims of the bombing are real as well – it’s just the story behind one of them that may not be quite the truth.
This was an interesting read, on the whole. It was depressing, but it did have its uplifting moments as well. I do think it romanticized the time a bit…but it did tell a wonderful narrative along the way, and it carried an important message. So all things considered I’m okay with it.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
Hibakusha is a tale set in real events. It’s sometimes heavy handed, sometimes a romance, and at a few points heartbreaking and concerning. It tells us a love story between a German man and a Japanese woman during WWII.
This is one of those stories where you sort of know how it’s going to end right from the beginning. Even if you don’t know the specifics…you get a feel for things. As details are revealed through the course of the storytelling…then you start to really know how it will all end.
Hibakusha has several iconic scenes and moments – many of them based from real life events and locations. The building we see so much of, for example, is none other than the Atomic Dome (one of the few buildings left standing after the bomb was dropped). The silhouettes of victims of the bombing are real as well – it’s just the story behind one of them that may not be quite the truth.
This was an interesting read, on the whole. It was depressing, but it did have its uplifting moments as well. I do think it romanticized the time a bit…but it did tell a wonderful narrative along the way, and it carried an important message. So all things considered I’m okay with it.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
November 16, 2018
This is a tragic and haunting story, because I knew that hibakusha is the word for survivors of the atomic bomb in Japan. This story is about a German officer who unable to take part in active duty is sent as an interpreter to Japan, he is in a loveless marriage and falls in love with a Japanese girl. I don't believe in spoilers as I never want to ruin a book for anyone, but as this is set in Hiroshima and it's title is Hibakusha then you can guess its outcome isn't happy, but I still won't ruin the story for any readers, but needless to say I enjoyed this as much as anyone enjoys reading the boy in the striped pyjamas or the diary of Anne frank. But I believe these stories need to be told and should be shared. The art work is beautiful and haunting and a tale that will stay with you long after you have ever finished it.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy to review for an honest review
November 6, 2018
One of my favorite things about Graphic Novels is the potential to turn a Story into ART, or to give art a story. In all honesty I can't tell you which this is. Was this work art first or was it a story? It's difficult to know when both parts are equally breathtaking and beautiful. The evolution of Ludwig was slight but powerful. The love that they shared was both heart warming and heart breaking, you could literally feel the need for healing for poor Ludwig, not just physical but emotional as well.. I really enjoy a short story that can draw you in completely and unapologetically, and that's what Barboni and Cinna have done here.
August 15, 2019
This beautifully illustrated graphic novel certainly offers a perspective into World War 2 we don't often get to see in the USA.
The protagonist is a translator for the Reich, who is stationed in Hiroshima towards the very end of the war. Having grown up in Japan he has a love for the country and the people, but actually does end up falling IN love with a massage therapist (he was injured as a child and walks with a pronounced limp).
Of course, the title, if you bother to look it up does give away a major plot point, as Hibakusha is a word for people who survived the dropping of the bombs on either Hiroshima or Nagasaki, so you KNOW bad things will happen here.
The protagonist is a translator for the Reich, who is stationed in Hiroshima towards the very end of the war. Having grown up in Japan he has a love for the country and the people, but actually does end up falling IN love with a massage therapist (he was injured as a child and walks with a pronounced limp).
Of course, the title, if you bother to look it up does give away a major plot point, as Hibakusha is a word for people who survived the dropping of the bombs on either Hiroshima or Nagasaki, so you KNOW bad things will happen here.
November 18, 2018
Hibakusha by Thilde Barboni & Olivier Cinna is a free NetGalley e-comicbook that I read in mid-November.
A repressed, self-doubting man with a vivid, philosophical imagination named Ludwig living in Berlin during 1944 before being dispatched as a translator for Nazis in Japan. Later, he is soothed by a masseuse who he quickly falls for, then is taken prisoner as a traitor when the war ends and the comic itself ends on a confusing notes. There's an overall smeary use of bland pastels with big pops of scarlet red and the subtle orange of Ludwig’s mussed hair.
A repressed, self-doubting man with a vivid, philosophical imagination named Ludwig living in Berlin during 1944 before being dispatched as a translator for Nazis in Japan. Later, he is soothed by a masseuse who he quickly falls for, then is taken prisoner as a traitor when the war ends and the comic itself ends on a confusing notes. There's an overall smeary use of bland pastels with big pops of scarlet red and the subtle orange of Ludwig’s mussed hair.
March 25, 2021
I don't know how to express my surprise that this was authored by a woman in an a way that isn't at least a little sexist. Men and women can write what they like, and there is no particular male or female style. However, this struck me as a romance that a man would have written.
It's a little clumsy and too rooted in sex. A German linguist is working in Japan, where he was born to parents in the German consulate. He translates documents detailing German and Japanese atrocities. He is a head-in-the-sand Nazi and tries to remain informant, to just follow orders, but finally admits to himself (after the German surrender) that the Nazis were doing horrible things.
He leaves his wife and son behind in Germany an we get only one scene with them where his is awful to both. In Japan, he falls for his Japanese masseuse. They do share a language and have a dialogue, but there isn't much explanation of the attraction. She is cast as the sexy wise woman who soothes his body and soul. Their affair starts in the last days of the Reich and runs through Hiroshima where the translator is burnt to shadow and ash after urging his love to get out of the city. At their parting, he gives her a star of David necklace that he ripped from the neck of hitchhiker he assaulted in Germany.
It's not an unbelievable romance like the poor boy/fabulously rich girl story in Titanic. But it isn't a very inspiring one either.
The wife and son in Germany were mishandled. I was in a terrible marriage for years and it made being a good person difficult. I left that and briefly found real love, which changed my perspective on my marriage. It would have been nice to see some growth in the protagonist, but he doesn't seem to have learned much.
It ends with the lover showing her granddaughter (and his) his shadow burned into a column near the atomic dome in Hiroshima. She's obviously still in love with him, but there is nothing to explain why. He seems to have only taken from her and given nothing of himself.
Overall, its not bad, but its got some big problems.
It's a little clumsy and too rooted in sex. A German linguist is working in Japan, where he was born to parents in the German consulate. He translates documents detailing German and Japanese atrocities. He is a head-in-the-sand Nazi and tries to remain informant, to just follow orders, but finally admits to himself (after the German surrender) that the Nazis were doing horrible things.
He leaves his wife and son behind in Germany an we get only one scene with them where his is awful to both. In Japan, he falls for his Japanese masseuse. They do share a language and have a dialogue, but there isn't much explanation of the attraction. She is cast as the sexy wise woman who soothes his body and soul. Their affair starts in the last days of the Reich and runs through Hiroshima where the translator is burnt to shadow and ash after urging his love to get out of the city. At their parting, he gives her a star of David necklace that he ripped from the neck of hitchhiker he assaulted in Germany.
It's not an unbelievable romance like the poor boy/fabulously rich girl story in Titanic. But it isn't a very inspiring one either.
The wife and son in Germany were mishandled. I was in a terrible marriage for years and it made being a good person difficult. I left that and briefly found real love, which changed my perspective on my marriage. It would have been nice to see some growth in the protagonist, but he doesn't seem to have learned much.
It ends with the lover showing her granddaughter (and his) his shadow burned into a column near the atomic dome in Hiroshima. She's obviously still in love with him, but there is nothing to explain why. He seems to have only taken from her and given nothing of himself.
Overall, its not bad, but its got some big problems.
September 3, 2023
Fin de la seconde guerre, l’Allemagne est l’allié du Japon.
Ludwig quitte l’Allemagne pour le Japon, il est traducteur interprète. Sa vie conjugale est un fiasco, il rêve d’une vie meilleure loin des horreurs de la guerre, son statut lui permet en parti d’éviter les combats.
Au Japon, les tensions règnent sous les bombardements américains, il retrouve son ami d’enfance, des souvenirs remontent et se dévoilent.
Entre temps, il se lie avec une jeune japonaise, des liens forts se tissent. Et tout bascule dans l’impensable. La situation en Allemagne est tendue, elle capitule sous la pression des opposants, et sa situation au Japon tourne au vinaigre.
Alors comment dire, les dessins de Cinna sont plutôt intéressants, pas tous exceptionnels mais ils mettent bien en avant les différentes situations vécues par Ludwig.
Avec un petit côté érotique pas trop prononcé et juste ce qu’il faut.
Contrairement au script moins net, plus flou à comprendre, J’ai eu du mal avec les transitions, à commencer par la scène de départ où Ludwig est dans la voiture et la fameuse femme en rouge. Ensuite, ses traductions où il se rend compte des atrocités perpétrer par son pays, comme si depuis le début sa naïveté est décalée. De toute façon, je ne comprends pas trop le but de ses traductions en japonais. Puis vient son flirt, et tout s’enchaine rapidement jusqu’au moment de la déflagration finale.
Le côté sentimental est noyé dans la guerre atroce et le nazisme. La fin surréaliste est bien pensée mais je ne capte pas au premier abord la signification du Hibakusha. C’est seulement en lisant l’explication finale de Thilde Barboni que tout s’imbrique.
Ludwig quitte l’Allemagne pour le Japon, il est traducteur interprète. Sa vie conjugale est un fiasco, il rêve d’une vie meilleure loin des horreurs de la guerre, son statut lui permet en parti d’éviter les combats.
Au Japon, les tensions règnent sous les bombardements américains, il retrouve son ami d’enfance, des souvenirs remontent et se dévoilent.
Entre temps, il se lie avec une jeune japonaise, des liens forts se tissent. Et tout bascule dans l’impensable. La situation en Allemagne est tendue, elle capitule sous la pression des opposants, et sa situation au Japon tourne au vinaigre.
Alors comment dire, les dessins de Cinna sont plutôt intéressants, pas tous exceptionnels mais ils mettent bien en avant les différentes situations vécues par Ludwig.
Avec un petit côté érotique pas trop prononcé et juste ce qu’il faut.
Contrairement au script moins net, plus flou à comprendre, J’ai eu du mal avec les transitions, à commencer par la scène de départ où Ludwig est dans la voiture et la fameuse femme en rouge. Ensuite, ses traductions où il se rend compte des atrocités perpétrer par son pays, comme si depuis le début sa naïveté est décalée. De toute façon, je ne comprends pas trop le but de ses traductions en japonais. Puis vient son flirt, et tout s’enchaine rapidement jusqu’au moment de la déflagration finale.
Le côté sentimental est noyé dans la guerre atroce et le nazisme. La fin surréaliste est bien pensée mais je ne capte pas au premier abord la signification du Hibakusha. C’est seulement en lisant l’explication finale de Thilde Barboni que tout s’imbrique.
March 7, 2018
En voyant la couverture, et connaissant un peu l'histoire de la bombe atomique et des hibakusha au Japon, je n'imaginais pas que l'histoire irait plus loin que ça. En fait, je pensais que la bombe serait le point de départ, que ce serait une histoire des survivants. En fait, l'histoire commence en 1944 et apporte un point de vue que je n'avais pas envisagé jusqu'ici. De plus, je ne connaissais pas l'effet "chambre noire" de la bombe, aussi ai-je beaucoup apprécié le côté doc/Histoire de cette bande-dessinée, avec en plus une histoire d'amour et des dessins aux couleurs adaptées à l'histoire. Vert des uniformes nazis, rouge des robes de femmes, gris des bâtiments, des gens, des villes... Petit bémol, peut-être voulu par les auteurs: on ne sait parfois pas trop où l'histoire veut nous mener, .
November 12, 2018
Read in English courtesy of Europe Comics and Netgalley.
Hmmm… A bloke getting sucked off by a strange, beautiful hitch-hiker, Nazis… This would seem to be right up my street. But then (certainly if you don't read the blurb first) the book meanders onto a very different path, and a quite unexpected one. Only finally, after some pretentiousness unfortunately, does it yield its real substance. Which would be fine in itself, but the proceedings were so varied, almost schizophrenic, that I don't think this works. It's an elegiac love story with more death than the average, a telling look at humanity with a lot else besides, and a nice look at a singular romance, but through a quite pompous lens. Visually it's fine, but I think the story needed to grip on to what it wanted to be about a fair bit more firmly. Two and a half stars.
Hmmm… A bloke getting sucked off by a strange, beautiful hitch-hiker, Nazis… This would seem to be right up my street. But then (certainly if you don't read the blurb first) the book meanders onto a very different path, and a quite unexpected one. Only finally, after some pretentiousness unfortunately, does it yield its real substance. Which would be fine in itself, but the proceedings were so varied, almost schizophrenic, that I don't think this works. It's an elegiac love story with more death than the average, a telling look at humanity with a lot else besides, and a nice look at a singular romance, but through a quite pompous lens. Visually it's fine, but I think the story needed to grip on to what it wanted to be about a fair bit more firmly. Two and a half stars.
May 12, 2019
Hibakusha est un mot magnifiquement poétique mais lié à l’horreur car il sert à désigner au Japon les survivants de la bombe atomique. Thilde Barboni et Olivier Cinna nous donnent ici rendez-vous avec l’Histoire à travers le destin d’un homme pris dans les engrenages de choses qui le dépassent. Ludwig, allemand, est envoyé en 1945 à Hiroshima au Japon pour traduire des documents top secret. Balloté qu’il est par des décisions qu’il ne peut refuser mais auxquelles il n’adhère jamais totalement, il illustre l’homme lambda qui est pris entre sa conscience personnelle et les horreurs de l’histoire. Mais bien plus que ça, [...]
Pour lire la suite de cette critique, rendez-vous sur yuyine.be!
Pour lire la suite de cette critique, rendez-vous sur yuyine.be!
August 15, 2021
'Hibakusha' by Thilde Barboni with art by Olivier Cinna is a graphic novel story about a forbidden love in time of war.
Ludwig is a translator for the Nazis. When he gets the chance to go back to Japan and leave his loveless marriage behind, he takes it. He is stationed in Hiroshima near the end of the war, so the astute student of history will know what will happen. Ludwig pursues a forbidden love and attempts to do something heroic, but time is not on his side.
This was an interesting story, made even more so by the striking art. The art is beautiful and elevates a story that felt inevitable.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
Ludwig is a translator for the Nazis. When he gets the chance to go back to Japan and leave his loveless marriage behind, he takes it. He is stationed in Hiroshima near the end of the war, so the astute student of history will know what will happen. Ludwig pursues a forbidden love and attempts to do something heroic, but time is not on his side.
This was an interesting story, made even more so by the striking art. The art is beautiful and elevates a story that felt inevitable.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
October 23, 2019
Een best mooi boek over een Duitse man die naar Japan wordt gestuurd, naar Hiroshima om precies te zijn. Je mag al raden hoe het verhaal eindigt. Ik vond het mooi geschreven, al had ik niks met de seksscenes die het boek had (vooral de eerste vond ik gewoon urgh). Ludwig was wel OK, al had ik niet veel met de man (plus ik hou er niet van als mensen vreemdgaan).
Het einde was verdrietig, ik verwachtte het natuurlijk al gegeven verschillende dingen, maar dan nog moest ik toch even een traantje wegvegen.
De art was wel echt mooi om te zien.
Het einde was verdrietig, ik verwachtte het natuurlijk al gegeven verschillende dingen, maar dan nog moest ik toch even een traantje wegvegen.
De art was wel echt mooi om te zien.
March 21, 2022
Ludwig, traducteur allemand est envoyé en fin de 2e guerre mondiale traduire des documents importants au Japon.
Il tombe amoureux, mais cette fin de guerre est difficile et les allemands passent du status d’alliés de l’Axe aux traîtres qui ont entrainé le Japon dans la défaite.
Une jolie BD au traits fins qui – malgré une fin détonante – n’évite malheureusement pas les clich��s et le romantisme un peu mièvre.
https://www.noid.ch/hibakusha/
Il tombe amoureux, mais cette fin de guerre est difficile et les allemands passent du status d’alliés de l’Axe aux traîtres qui ont entrainé le Japon dans la défaite.
Une jolie BD au traits fins qui – malgré une fin détonante – n’évite malheureusement pas les clich��s et le romantisme un peu mièvre.
https://www.noid.ch/hibakusha/
August 12, 2022
*I received this book thanks to Netgalley and the publisher in exchange of honest review**
Hibakusha its a beautiful artwork. The history is short but very impressive for the draw and the plot. The story is around the 1945 and talks about a man who find a love in Japan, in Hiroshima. This man is a translator, is a German and is working in the enemy territory where he falls madly in love. The theme of the story is important as it reminds us how much the nuclear bomb has been destroyed and what we have all lost.
A beautiful story about love, history, peace and powerful memories.
Hibakusha its a beautiful artwork. The history is short but very impressive for the draw and the plot. The story is around the 1945 and talks about a man who find a love in Japan, in Hiroshima. This man is a translator, is a German and is working in the enemy territory where he falls madly in love. The theme of the story is important as it reminds us how much the nuclear bomb has been destroyed and what we have all lost.
A beautiful story about love, history, peace and powerful memories.
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