Barefoot Gen talked about the bombing in Hiroshima, but in Barefoot Gen 2, it talks about the effects of the bombing known as "pika", in which it causes that person to have cancer, getting intestines broken and die. It also gives a message of hope to the audience through the eyes of Gen in this movie and the scene where he learns the words that his dad taught him 3 years ago is incredibly heartfelt in the end of the movie.
The animation and music in Barefoot Gen 2 is much more improved. Madhouse gave it a nice colorful upgrade to the art style and it shows with better fluid character models and better background art than the original. Music is less corny and more subtle in the film with tracks ranging from happy to sad to just depressing as hell. The Japanese voice acting is improved and the new voice actor that plays Gen was excellent in his performance and also, no sh*tty dub to ruin this film unlike the original Barefoot Gen English dub that almost ruined the film for me.
Overall, while not as good as the orignal, Barefoot Gen 2 still manages to be a damn good sequel, with all the heartbreaking emotions that the original had in this sequel.
