Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 4

Rating:
Summary: Nausicaa of the Valley of the wind Review
Review: Nausicaa takes place in a fantasy world. It is an ecological failure in some post-apocalyptic, post-technological world. The kingdom wrestles its living from the scorched earth, even as the "corrupted" forest advances. A young girl must take control, although women have never ruled. There is a force within her --

The eco-fable gets a bit thick at times. Also, the narrative seems to jump, as if the writer just stepped past some plot hurdle that the reader must leap. Still, the story flows fairly well. Most transitions make sense, or will make sense in a moment.

I value good artwork, and this is good. It's "black and white", but black is replaced by a warm brown. The paper also has that held-back character: unfussy, and not so bright that the ink color gets lost - a thoughtful compromise. The few color spreads remind me of Moebius, but Miyazaki's artwork is unique.

Miyazaki has done some relatively recent movies - notably 'Spirited Away' - that cemented his reputation as visual storyteller. Movies like that, even with computer aid, are expensive, though. Studios want to see a proven performance record before speculating on the next production. Nausicaa, I'm sure, is part of why the studios chose to back his movies, or at least the first.

This comic is enjoyable in its own right. It's even more enjoyable when seen as one piece of Miyazaki's ouvre, and one moment in his career as story-teller.

//wiredweird

Rating:
Summary: An opinion from a Japanese reader
Review: This english-language, hard-bound edition (along with a companion vol. 2) sets cels of Hayao Miyazaki's 1984 movie "Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind" against big-type text to create a children's book of the story. It's a lovely and very rare keepsake, and if you find it, it's something you'll want for your kids if only to give them a striking alternative to the usual Disney industrialisms and spineless child-psychologist-approved piffle.

One snag though: the Nausicaä story is very involved and somewhat difficult to follow, with a huge cast and many changes of scene. It involves a young, supernaturally-aware, pacifist warrior-princess in a feudal, post-environmental-apocalypse future when nature is trying to annihilate mankind in an effort to cleanse itself, and mankind's wars are only accelerating that process. The dust jacket suggests the book is actually meant for children 12-18, which I find problematic -- they're old enough at that age to follow the story, but probably too old to accept the children's-book format. Maybe the ideal reader is a 7- or 8-year-old wise beyond his or her years.

The movie that this book is adapated from has only been shown a few times in its entirety in English. An 80's adaptation by Roger Corman called "Warriors of the Wind" hacked over a half-hour of story and character development and is widely regarded as one of the worst pieces of anime butchery ever. Those who've read the manga will also notice the movie (and thus this book) make radical changes in details and plot, if not in theme -- the original story ran about 1,000 pages was years away from completion when the movie was made.

Tokuma produced similar books for the Miyazaki movies "Laputa Castle in the Sky", "My Neighbor Totoro", and "Kiki's Delivery Service".