Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
By Hayao Miyazaki
Viz Media, multiple release dates (English publisher)
By Miles Baker
Comic readers who say, “I don’t like manga,” and have not read Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind need to shut up. If you have read it and you still think that, that’s fine; I know that we will have little in common and I don’t have to talk to you anymore. You probably think it’s stupid that Starbuck is a woman in the new BSG. You’re someone with wrong opinions. That’s fine.
There are many things to love about Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and its title character. Picking one thing to love more than the others has made starting this review hard. So maybe I’ll start at the beginning.
Though Miyazaki started drawing Nausicaä in 1982, he didn’t finish until 1994. To be fair, he was busy making some of the most beloved anime films known to the planet. In 1984, he and Stuido Ghibli created an adaptation of Nausicaä based on the volumes he had created to date. People who have only watched that version have no idea how much better the manga is.
Nausicaä is a post-apocalyptic fantasy epic. After The Seven Days of Fire, the world’s old technology has been lost. In its place, the myasma, a deadly spore, has begun to overtake the world. Nausicaä is the daughter of the chieftain of the Valley of the Wind. As the chief’s only child, Nausicaä will inherit his role and, as such, has been raised to be a wind rider and warrior. In addition to being a demon with a sword and a bad-ass pilot, she can telepathically communicate with animals and insects. Soon after the book begins, she is brought into a massive war that she has no interest in participating in. From there the series expands and expands to dozens of characters and plot threads, all leading to the second ending of the world.
One detail that I just mentioned that you might be scratching your head over is Nausicaä’s telepathic connection to animals and insects. If Nausicaä is anything, it’s a large allegory for respecting nature and the natural order of things. As such, Nausicaä, the character, is greatly atuned to nature and serves as the savior to the world. You could argue that the environmental message of the manga is a little heavy-handed, but I’d disagree. I think it’s made very complicated by the end of the book and I’m still not sure if humanity won or lost at the end.
And, talk about your protagonists. Nausicaä is a lot of fun to read about. She’s smart, she’s cunning, she’s confident, she’s pro-active, she’s emotionally confilcted, she’s dedicated, she’s caring, she’s not perfect yet perfect all at the same time, and did I mention bad ass? Towards the end of the book, she makes some really interesting and morally ambiguous choices. And along the way she has many, many exciting action sequences.
Just behind Nausicaä for interesting characters is Princess Kushana of the Torumekia empire. She starts as Nausicaä’s rival, then uneasy ally, but ends up as something much more interesting. She’s from a family of “vipers” — each of her brothers is actively trying to kill her for the throne. She’s also a fantastic warrior and leader, just like Nausicaä. Her journey is interesting because you think it will be one of ambition run amok, and that she and Nausicaä will come to blows at some point, but it’s much more interesting than that.
If you’ve seen Princess Mononoke, also by Miyazaki, hopefully you enjoyed how there are no real villains in the movie. Everyone is likable and morally justified. Nausicaä has that in spades and it’s one of the most exciting things ever.
Yes, absolutely.
Book one is the richest, book two is a battle, book three sags a little, book four is really big.
I actually think Miyazaki actually improved his story when he adapted it to film. The much smaller window forced him down to boil down the essence of the story and the essence of Nausicaa’s transformation as a character. See the film if you have an opportunity. If the film hooks you (or makes you weep, y’know, just strictly hypothetically) then the comics are definitely worth putting on hold with the fantastic Toronto Public Library System.
Or buy them, if you’re not crippling cheap (y’know, hypothetically speaking).