Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Amazing! Review: Back in 95 I watched the poorly translated American version of Nausicaa, entitled "Warriors of the Wind" At the time I believed this to be the only version in existence and was quite happy with it. Time went by and I had entered into college, where a fellow student brought up Nausicaa. "Nausicaa?" I asked, "what's that?" And he showed me, and to my disbelief it was a 4 book series based on the anime I watched so long ago. He let me borrow his four graphic novels, and on that day I had read them from page 1 to 1050. These books are something special. A world as multi layered, beautifully realized, and wonderfully imagined as Tolkien's Lord of the rings. I've read these books countless times, and each time the drawn images on the page breathe with life like no other comic I've ever read. There are messages here that enlighten us on Ecology, Genetic engineering, Philosophy, Religion, war, life and death. And that's only the tip of the ice berg. Miyazaki has crafted a world that seems alarming real, yet delightfully surreal, and it is here that all of his current films have drawn inspiration, a wonderful inspiration that has inspired thousands and will do so for many years to come. (Now if only they'd make this into a four part movie like LOTR, then I'd be truly happy.)
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Now and then a great work of literature comes...... Review: And you are changed...in the words of T.S Eliot 'a moment ,both in time and out of it'.You view your entire life in a new light,all your problems,wishes diminish in your eyes to their real magnitude..in short you are swept away...This is a common feature of great art.I felt the same way when i first read LeGuin's EarthSea Trilogy(now a tetralogy),her Dispossessed,or Dick's The Man in The High Castle,Hugo's Les Miserables..when i watched Blade Runner,Gallipoli,Ghost Dog...when i saw Wyeth's Christina's World or Hopper's Nighthawks.....Nausicaa is like that.it is like a poem ...nay a lament to the fundamental folly of being human and yet yearning to be like gods..to reach the stars....Would i recommend it ? You bet....it's your loss if you don't ladies and gentlemen....
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: A great work of art. Review: I first became interested in Nausicaa after seeing the mangled version Warriors of The Wind on HBO years ago, after years of patient waiting for Disney to release the full version I recently gave up and purchased a bootleg copy and fell in love with this story all over again, so when I saw this collection I thought I would give it a try. All I can say is WOW , I was expecting the story line to be much like the movie but it is much deeper and darker and much more complex and now I wish that this story was made into perhaps a trilogy of movies.I would highly reccomend this to anyone who has any interest in Science Fiction or Fantasy.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Too great for words... Review: This is a wonderful book, beautifully written and drawn. Every fan of manga should own this set. I especially like vol. 2 and 4. Vol. 2 has some of the best battle scenes, and Vol. 4 answers all the questions you've been wondering about since book one. Vol. 4 is also quite tragic, if you're as attached to the characters as I am. This manga isn't rated, but I wouldn't give it to a little kid. It has some fairly graphic scenes and language. This is undoubtedly the best graphic novel EVER. =^-^=
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: World-Class Science Fiction Review: Hayao Miyazaki's four-volume NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND is a science-fiction epic that takes place on Earth in the distant future. To outline what the story is about, it is simplest to relate it in epic form. In the distant future, humans acquired great powers, learning to manipulate the genetics of lifeforms and building great cities. In the end, this great human civilization fell from pollution and war in a final conflict, the "Seven Days Of Fire", where huge war machines known as "warrior gods" walked the Earth, spreading destruction before them. Humanity survived -- just barely. In the new world that arose from the ashes of the old, humans survive on the fringes, reduced to a more-or-less medieval level of technology, leveraging off the tools and knowledge of the lost civilization of the past wherever possible. Much of the land is covered by a "Sea of Corruption", a realm of toxic fungal growths that would quickly kill an unprotected human, and renders the land uninhabitable. It is the doman of great insects, particularly the "Ohmu", intelligent and telepathic creatures something like huge pill bugs. As the story opens, one of the great powers (such as exist in a ruined world), the Torukmenian Empire, goes to war with the other, the Dorok Principalities, which is dominated by priest-kings. The Torukmenian Empire is allied with a number of "Autonomous States", small and inconsequential in themselves, and the Torukmenian Emperor calls them to their obligation to support him in the war. The "Valley Of The Wind" is one of the Autonomous States, and its emerging leader is a teenaged girl named Nausicaa. The new war will soon threaten to pry loose humanity's weak grip on survival and bring final extinction. The important role Nausicaa plays is revealed in this story. * NAUSICAA has been compared to traditional fantasy epics such as THE LORD OF THE RINGS. It does have a similar sweep and scope, but it is entirely different in tone, being much more a work of science fiction than fantasy, and in its own way far more gritty and realistic. In some ways it compares to DUNE, with a messianic hero(ine) in a world hostile to humans. Not being much of a DUNE fan myself, I would have to judge NAUSICAA superior, and in fact it is not merely an outstanding work of manga, but an outstanding SF work by any standards. It is a great, grand, powerful story, vivid and intelligent in its construction, that can completely seize the reader's imagination. NAUSICAA is well plotted, well written, well illustrated, and the characters are convincing. There are no real villains. Even the Torukmenian Emperor, a venomous tyrant who terrorizes his own children, is shown to be a person with some vision and enormous courage. It is also stylistically original, somehow more reminiscent of SF comics and stories of the 1930s than of conventional manga and anime, and crammed with detail. The society of this distant future Earth uses a mix of technologies, soldiers fighting with spears alongside machine guns. The primary means of transport are aircraft that resemble flying galleons, powered by engines left over from the Seven Days of Fire that still remain perfectly operational. Warriors ride giant birds that were created by the old civilization, resembling the "Terror Birds" that lived in South America before the Ice Ages. All this may sound like a haphazard hodgepodge, but it does hang together well, and successfully gives an impression of a society scavenging whatever it can to get by. One warning is that this is not an easy book to read. It covers so much territory and has so many characters (some of whom resemble each other) that it is very difficult to keep it all straight on the first reading, and it takes at least two (for me, three) readings to fit all the pieces together. I have loaned to friends who are fantasy-SF fans and they have sometimes found it to simply be too much work. Another warning is that it is also grimly serious. The war between the Torukmenian Empire and the Dorok Principalities is to the knife, and sometimes the narrative seems to match histories of Hitler's campaign against Stalinist Russia for sheer desperation and brutality. * Those who have seen Miyazaki's movie PRINCESS MONONOKE and liked it will almost certainly like NAUSICAA, since the two works have considerable stylistic similarity, some similarity in plot and characters, and a great similarity in underlying mindset as something of environmental parables. Some have complained that the similarities are so close that it seems Miyazaki is plagiarizing himself. I wouldn't agree with that, and it's hard to complain about getting two servings of the best instead of just one.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: One word....beautiful! Review: I recieved vol. 2 of this collection about 2 years ago and was just dying to read the rest of the series. This is the most beautiful manga you will ever read! It is abosolutely wonderful! I cried when I finished reading, it was so beautiful. Take my advice--READ THESE BOOKS!!!
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: The best Japanese comic I have ever read Review: Although familiar with the animated film, "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," I had never before read the original comic series on which the film was based. In fact, Nausicaa, while good, had never been amongst my favorite Miyazaki films. Now that I have read the first volume of the Nausicaa comic, I am a full blown Nausicaa junky. Wow! This is such an amazing comic! There is so much more room to flesh out the characters and the plots of the film. There is a lot going on here, and some tough issues are being tackled. The comic is intelligent and yet captivating and entertaining. A rare achievement in comics. Miyazaki is one of the master storytellers of all times, and this series may be one of his crowning achievements. I am sure the remaining volumes will live up to my now-high expectations. I wish I knew a young girl that I could pass down "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" too. I think it is one of those books that could make quite an impression on a young persons life. It sure made an impression on this adult.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Amazing story. Review: If you're tired of reading comic books (or any kind of books, for that matter) with one-dimensional characters, meaningless action, sloppy art, poor compositions, and generic stories, pick up this series. Nausicaa is my favorite story in comic books, and frankly, it's one of my favorite stories, period. Action-packed yet philosophical, violent yet ultimately about peace, you can't really appreciate it until you read it for yourself. If you've seen the movie, you've only seen about 1/4 of the full story.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: AMAZING..... Review: This is one of the most amazing works of art I have ever seen. I don't know what else to say. Both the story and art is breathtaking. Miyazaki is such a humanist, much like Steven Spielberg and Zhang Yimou.
Rating: ![3 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-3-0.gif) Summary: A LITTLE DISAPOINTED Review: When I opened my Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, Perfect Collection, Box Set I noticed that two of the books 3 and 4 are distinctly shorter then 1 and 2 by about half a centemeter. This is not a major thing I relize but still it's rather annoying and is something of a disapointment. Vis corp needs to cut there books in a more presise manor.
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