Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #650256 in Books
• Published on: 1995-10
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Synopsis
Nausicaa, a young princess of a future world, tries to bring peace between kingdoms who are battling to claim the last of the world's natural resources.

From the Author
Tre translator comments
I've worked on over 20,000 pages of manga, and Nausicaa is one of the two best I've ever translated (the other is Katsuhiro Otomo's "Domu," available from Dark Horse Comics). Dana Lewis and I really put our hearts into this translation, and I hope it shows (Volumes 3 and up were superbly translated by Matt Thorn).

Customer Reviews

Amazing
The collection of 7 books that make up the Nausicaa collection are fantastic. I read them all in about two days, once you start them you cannot stop. The paper quality is a bit low, but what can you expect for the price. You read them in the Japanese right to left style which takes some getting used to, but lends authenticity to the books. It has additional stuff to the film and more depth. A brilliant intro to Miyazaki's anime.

Worth it
This is one of the best graphic novels/manga I have ever read. It's scope and vision are amazing. It is now difficult to get hold of, but is worth looking out for. Miyazaki san has created a fantastic world with characters you can really feel and live with. The film only covers part of the vast storyline and anyone who has seen the film should go out and try to obtain copies of these books.

a manga everyone should read
Miyazaki took 13 years to finish this, yet he actually only started writing it as an inbetween job when he wasn't making films. It must have been hell for the people reading it as it was first published, as Miyazaki took several breaks of around one or two years to go and make other films, leaving the story in mid-air. I found it difficult enough to put the books down for more than a few hours once I'd started reading.

The first film he left to make was in fact the film of Nausicaa. This is quite interesting because he'd agreed to write the story on the condition that it would not be turned into a film. With that condition in mind he wrote a manga that proved very difficult to animate. I saw the film first and then read the manga, and although the film is very good indeed, it can't match the manga, where there is far more room for character development and a more detailed story.

The story is incredibly large in scope and complex. At times it gets a bit difficult to follow the situation of the wars that go on, but usually it's not a big problem and you can work it out for yourself. The story of the forest and the insects is interesting, very characteristic of Miyazaki in the way it relates to our own world, however occasionally he seems a bit preachy. His characters are never perfect people, however I find that sometimes characters like the saintly Nausicaa can be a bit too good. Still, although there are some characters who are clearly meant to be good/bad, a lot of the time Miyazaki doesn't make such a distinction and characters act realistically, offering some great insights and questions about human nature.

The story was written by Miyazaki as he went along. Sometimes this shows and the story seems a bit messy, but it is also quite impressive the way it still manages to relate back to earlier events. For such a long story, it is always difficult to end it in a satisfactory way. The ending is perhaps a bit of a let down, there's a lot that seems unfinished, but it is mainly to do with characters rather than actual events, and it's better than leaving it all wrapped up with a neat happy ending, which would not be suitable at all.

The artwork is very pretty. With a lot of graphic novels I've not found myself wanting to stop and admire the pictures, even if they are very well drawn. Miyazaki's drawings can be a bit sketchy but there are some really beautiful pictures as well. His style is simple yet there is often far more going on in a single fram than you realise at first.

Nausicaa is definately a graphic novel that belongs in the short list of comics to be read by anyone and everyone, whether they are interested in comics or not.