This is a video essay by Junting Zhou, titled Little Boy: Accessing the Incomprehensible of World War II through Japanese Shōnen Manga and Anime Imagery in the Post-War Era.
American comic and cartoon artists created a universe of super heroes that ran parallel to its victory of World War II, its post-war economic expansion, and the hostilities of the Cold War. These heroes such as Superman, Batman and Captain America are muscular, intellectually superior male characters with super powers that allow them to function as societal vigilantes. One can see how the Japanese heroes in manga and anime differ drastically, how they mirror and explore the social emotional complexities of the atomic bombings and tests, the defeat in the World War II and the allied occupation. In this video essay, I will talk about how these stories about little boy represent the emotional status of Japan society in post-war era, and also how it function as a therapeutical narrative to help the post-war generation to process the trauma. Last but nor least, for the fact that Japanese manga and anime become a great hit in China, I will look into the way how this little boy narrative become a bridge between two generation from different culture.