Underrated Manga, Part 9: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Angelcake · Post by **Angelcake** » Mon May 02, 2005 9:57 -0700

I love Hayao Miyazaki, as I'm sure most of you do. But not alot of people know about Miyazaki's talent as a manga artist, and this is the one and only example of his awesome manga talent.

In truth, Miyazaki originally didn't want to make a manga about what was to be his first feature film, but due to Gihbi Studio's lack of funds, a manga was the best way to make quick yen.

Well, it worked. After being serialized in Animege magazine, Nausicaa became the number one heroine in manga and anime history, even more popular than Sapphire from Princess Knight! (ignore unneccessary reference to Osamu Tezuka)

To be perfectly honest, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is the Lord of the Rings of manga. It is completely immersive and moving, complete with various maps of the world, posters, character descriptions, and awesome hard bound editions!

For those of you who don't know the story....

Nausicaa takes place in the far future. Due to a massive war and total pollution, humanity is all but dead. The remains of mankind live in various kingdoms, and are constantly at war with ech other. On top of that, a poisonous fungi forest called the Sea of Corruption is slowly taking over the planet, killing humanity and giving birth to monstorous insects called Ohmu.

Within this world comes Nausicaa, the princess and heir to the throne of teh valley of the wind. She is born with a unique gift to talk to animals and.....

.....Well, I don't want to give it away, but just so you know, there's a TON of stuff that happens in the manga that DOESN'T happen in the film. In fact, the film only goes up to 2 1/2 of the epic 7 volume series.

I can't stess this enough......I HIGHLY RECCOMEND THIS MANGA! You can get them in there original right-to-left format from Viz publications.

Go read it!

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Tue May 03, 2005 1:47 -0700

Agreed. One of the most amazing manga ever.

gunblade007 · Post by **gunblade007** » Tue May 03, 2005 21:53 -0700

Hayao Miyazaki is my friend luke's favortie artist.i have spirited away but hadn't watch it yet.i pick up Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind vol.1 i throught he wrote all age manga and anime but nausicaa has some swear words. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is already on dvd by disney i think there is a non-disney version too. but there is a bunch of hayao miyazaki movies on dvd by disney. i like to see the cat's return.
-Joe:)

Jubei · Post by **Jubei** » Wed May 04, 2005 14:39 -0700

That's great to hear. Back in the mid-80s, I caught a dubbed version of the Nausicaa anime movie called Warriors of the Wind on HBO. Having become used to that version, watching the newly released subtitled version was like watching an entirely new movie!