Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Volume 1

One of the great ecological fables of our time, Nausicaa is a post-apocalyptic tale about the adventures of the princess of a tiny independent valley on the fringes of a poisonous jungle the periphery of a vast empire. A neighbouring state is attacked and destroyed by supposedly allied imperial forces searching for something, and that search also brings them to the Valley, where Nausicaa sees them off, but war is brewing and the Princess will soon find herself forced to serve under the treacherous and ruthless general Kushana, fourth daughter of the Emperor.

The lush and detailed imagery of the opening pages belies some clumsy story-telling - it was Miayazaki's fist attempt at writing and drawing a comic - but by the end of this volume show more the pacing of the action scenes become a wonder. The terrible epic majesty and horror of the gunship attack on the Imperial formation and the desperate flight thought the insect-filled jungle are breathtaking rushes of beauty and adrenaline. Meanwhile the strong moral heart of Nausicaa, with an inner core of rage, is sorely tested, and balanced by the more spiky and ethically dubious characters of the charismatic Kushana and her cynical and wily advisor, Kurotawa.

In the background the world of the Jungle of Corruption poisoning the air with miasma unfolds - a deadly place for humans but it has evolved to clean the soil of human pollution, though whether humans can survive in a cleaned world is unknown. War spreads and so does the jungle, humans heedlessly marching to their own destruction. it's a powerful and sobering vision, but also an epic and majestic one. show less

You know the films of Hayao Miyazaki, of course. My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Porco Rosso, Laputa: Castle in the Sky and others are renowned the world over as some of the most beautiful and thrilling animation (cinema, even) ever made. But do you know his manga?
In a near future humanity struggles for survival after almost destroying the world. Swathes of the Earth have been turned into vast, encroaching fungal jungles, crawling and swarming with giant insects, the air thick with spores lethal to humans. In the last habitable areas between, ordinary people try to get by as best they can but their leaders remain locked in factional feuds - scrabbling for power, squabbling over resources and attempting to salvage and revive the show more horrifying war technology that caused the catastrophe in the first place. One young woman, Nausicaa, has found the key to a different future. But as war breaks out once more and humanity's final self-destruction appears inevitable, can she survive long enough to convince anyone else to believe her dangerous ideas?
If there's one 'classic manga' - one pinnacle of the form that's also a gateway to the rest - then Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind might just be it. To call it manga's The Lord of the Rings seems apt but actually a disservice: I've loved LOTR most of my life but I think that with Nausicaa Miyazaki surpasses Tolkien in charm, thrills, cleverness, passion, characterisation and scope - and Miyazaki does it while drawing all the art as well.
Nausicaa's world is impeccably detailed; the battles are huge, the monsters terrifying and beautiful. The message that we must all find a way to coexist with nature or perish could not be stronger - yet is 'only' one more aspect of a fresh, warm, human tale of heroism, romance and soaring imagination.
I adore Miyazaki's movies but I think Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is his masterpiece. These seven astonishing, wonderful volumes belong in every library. show less

While I am a Miyazaki fan, I haven't actually seen Nausicaa the movie. But when I saw the first of the graphic novel/manga adaptations in Barnes and Noble, I knew there'd be an audience for it in the library, and read through to preview it.

And while I love Miyazaki and the world-building was incredible and fully realized from the first panel, it just didn't really draw me in. I'm not sure if the difficulty was the fact that the illustrations were so full and detailed that it was overwhelming, or that the one-toned ink made everything very difficult to differentiate (my version was not in sepia, but in black and white, which it really suffers for).

I think it's definitely worth to get the other 6 volumes though - the themes of show more environmentalism, the cruelty yet inevitability of war, and the struggles with fate and the worth of humanity are always relevant. show less

I have been reading a bit of science fantasy recently. This is an intriguing post-apocalyptic setting set in a valley at the edge of a poisoned forest habitable only by fungi and mutated insects. The survivor states scrabble for old technology in the ruins, and make war on one another. I enjoyed the plot and the characters. I found the right-to-left reading (I am a native English reader) puzzling and confusing at times, with panels occasionally so chaotic I didn't even know what was going on. I am certainly inspired to see the movie of this and/or read more of the series.

An interesting and vibrant story, full of fantastical things (and also melancholy). Miyazaki's drawing style is quite soft, without the hard lines of other artists I've read, but I liked it. It reminded me of the illustrations in some children's books when books I read still tended to have illustrations. It also seemed somehow appropriate to the story and the world.

Nausicaa is one of the classics in Japan. Everyone knows the story from children to adults and I was surprised to see it in a Graphic Novel form. The pictures, the drawings are just like the ones in the movie, with the special Hayao Miyazaki touch to it. I love his flying objects that he includes in all of his film, including Mehve. I love how strong Nausicaa is, and it is amazing for Hayao Miyazaki to be representing a strong woman!

Well, straight-up, the manga has some notable differences between from the anime, from very early on. It's still absolutely gorgeous, but I would say that a few of the changes are for the worse (not by much, but just a little bit for the worse).