Reviews

I bought these books because I love the movie. While the movie is pretty much entirely different, this immediately became a new favourite book series. I cannot put these books down. They're incredible. This first book is a collection of the first four books of the series and I'd genuinely give all of them 5 stars. I cannot recommend this enough!

invaderlinz's review

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challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

stevie_b's review

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adventurous medium-paced

3.5

elee2013's review

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adventurous emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

cat_demon's review

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adventurous dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

neilrcoulter's review

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3.0

When I learned that the film Nausicaä was based on a manga by Miyazaki, I was eager to read it. I’ve now read the first (rather enormous) volume, and I feel puzzled. The story is very imaginative, and there’s much that I enjoy about it. Miyazaki creates a vision of a post-apocalyptic world in which a previous war not only destroyed all the cities but also unleashed a biological force that seems to be taking over, rendering most of the world’s surface uninhabitable by humans. Miyazaki’s fondness for the golden age of aviation shines through in the many aircraft he designs for this world that still has mechanized air travel, but on land, humans travel only by foot or by riding “horseclaw” animals. This first of two collected volumes sets up quite a complex political structure. Two main factions maintain constant war, and within (and beyond) those factions exist other groups with different motivations. Amidst all of this, only the title character, a princess of the small community of the Valley of the Wind, seems interested in bigger questions of whether the planet shall ever again become welcoming to human habitation. Nausicaä frequently rejects either/or ultimatums, certain that there must be other options no one has thought of yet.

That’s all wonderful, and I admire Miyazaki’s imaginative scope for the story. However, I found the manga very difficult to follow at many points along the way. The panels often seemed crowded and unclear. Characters look so similar, I was unable to tell at a glance which character was speaking, or even where in the story’s world the page was taking place. When the war heats up, the story becomes almost entirely frenetic battle action and very little conversation or space to breathe. For me, it all grew uninteresting. The end of the this volume drew me in much more than any scenes in the middle.

I know it seems sacrilegious to say that Miyazaki’s visuals got in the way of the story, but let’s say early Miyazaki’s visuals present many challenges. Compare this manga with Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy manga from a couple decades earlier, and it’s night and day. Astro Boy remains clear, vibrant, compelling storytelling. By contrast, I found the Nausicaä pages cluttered and hard to follow. Both series were published in serialized form. Nausicaä feels choppy, which is what I would expect from a story published a little at a time over years. But somehow, Astro Boy has a natural narrative flow, even from one story to the next very different story.

Of course I’m moving right on to volume two of Nausicaä, and I expect to be drawn in more as the story reaches its conclusion. But here at the halfway point, I’m not as connected as I’d expected to be.

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