The Quantitative Analysis of "Barefoot Gen" : <Sensitivity> and くIdea> in a Process of Expression Changing

ハダシ　ノ　ゲン　ノ　ケイリョウテキ　ブンセキ　ヒョウゲン　ヘンヨウ　プロセス　ニ　ミル　カンセイ　ト　リネン　ノ　ユラギ

オオタキ, トモオリ

Otaki, Tomoori

オオサカ ダイガク ダイガクイン ニンゲン カガク ケンキュウカ シャカイガク ニンゲンガク ジンルイガク ケンキュウシツ

Sociology, Anthropology and Philosophy, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

マンガ

『はだしのゲン』

quantitative analysis

manga

Barefoot Gen

This paper presents an quantitative vocabulary analysis of a Japanese comic series, "Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen)", a series well-known as of anti-war and anti-nuclear sentiment. It is true that quantitative vocabulary analysis has downside if applied to visual works like comics, because it ignores both the frames and the pictures of it, but, it can, on the other hand, make the long trend of the whole series visible as it pursues the changing features of the used vocabularies. By analyzing both the formal aspects of the balloons and the contents of them quantitatively we could grasp the general trend of the series. Three points deserve to be noticed here. First, focusing on the used vocabularies we could conclude that the main subject of the story moves from "death", through "atomic bomb", to "war”, that is, from concrete experiences to more abstract and indirect issues. Second point is the fact that the leading character Gen's antiwar ideas were never consistent all through the story, but, it seems, rather a product of his father's education. Thirdly, when we follow up the several of the vocabularies used by Gen to the end of the series ， it is evident that his ideas have once become quite ideational in the series but soon tums back to his personal and subjective experiences. By adopting these strategies to express its antiwar and antinuclear sentiment, the work could successfully avoid the labeling of "propaganda comics" and enjo good reputation in the field of "manga."