In the following review, Noguchi praises A Boy Called H for its "gradual development of understanding on the part of the narrator" but questions the accuracy of the story.

Senoh Kappa's A Boy Called H, the English translation of Shonen H, is the story of a bright, curious boy growing up in an unconventional family in Kobe during Japan's "15-year war." It is a tale of loss of innocence, as the boy's penchant for questioning everything is subject to the tightening constraints of the social, educational and political systems of a country increasingly entrenched in war and insistent that its entire population devote itself to ultimate victory.

The hero is dubbed "H" by his friends because his mother, inspired by a photograph she received from a foreign missionary friend, has knit the first letter of the boy's name, Hajime, into a sweater that he often wears. Both...