Manga you didn’t know ran in Weekly Shonen Jump: 5ch says ‘Barefoot Gen was originally meant to be a battle manga’

Background and points of debate

“Barefoot Gen” began serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1973. While it drew on the author’s own wartime experience from the start, its early chapters carried battle-manga and gag-manga elements. After its run in Jump ended, the series moved to other outlets such as “Shimin” and “Bunka Hyoron,” and it was there that its anti-war, anti-nuclear message grew stronger. The thread’s disagreement boiled down to a single question: did the series carry political intent from the very start of its serialization? One camp argued that, since the work is grounded in the author’s lived experience, its political character can’t be separated out even from the beginning; the other argued that its style shifted only after it changed magazines. Also striking is the gap with today’s image of Jump — cases like “City Hunter” and “Cat’s Eye,” where the magazine’s image doesn’t match its actual readership, and Showa-era hot-blooded sports manga like “Astro Kyudan” and “Samurai Giants” that once ran there too.