"This documentary is concerned with the effects of the atomic bomb on a personal scale. Takeda has made a straightforward film, wisely focusing on letting the survivors tell their own stories with a minimum of prompting or specific questions. A highly moving and contemplative piece on lives affected by the atomic bomb. Highly Recommended."
- Steve Bertolino, Middlebury College, Educational Media Reviews Online
"An alarmingly philosophical and emotional journey, not just for the interviewees but the filmmakers themselves. This documentary shows us not only what havoc such devastating events can wreak for the original victims, but also the toll taken on the generational inheritors of such trauma."
- Melissa Bisagni, DC APA Film Festival
"HIROSHIMA NAGASAKI DOWNLOAD is Takeda and producer Eiji Wakamatsu's deeply personal contribution to the process of keisho - the preservation and passing down of knowledge, in this case about the tragic events that brought the war to a close."
- Nooshin Navidi, The Japan Times
"The hibakusha, or "explosion-affected people," is the name used by the Japanese for the survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The majority of hibakusha have remained quiet about their experiences in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, maybe due to the discrimination and misunderstanding that they suffered in the years following the war. Filmmaker Shinpei Takeda challenged this wall of silence surrounding a special group of hibakushas in his 2009 documentary HIROSHIMA NAGASAKI DOWNLOAD."
- Chris Magee, J-Film Pow-Wow Blog
"The now-elderly survivors offer an extraordinary first-person account of living through the aftermath of an unthinkable horror - many were children at the time of the bombings and would come of age in a city ravaged by radiation-based diseases. A few of the survivors offer truly memorable anecdotes, including the role played by the Hiroshima Carp baseball team in rebuilding the city's pride."
- Phil Hall, FilmThreat.com
