Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: The Complete Series

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: The Complete Series by Hayao Miyazaki
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Far in the future of a world devastated by biological warfare, Nausicaa is the daughter of the chieftain of the Valley of the Wind. When the Torumekian emperor calls upon the Valley to send troops, Nausicaa goes to war against the Doroks. But have mankind learned anything by their past mistakes? And will Nausicaa's ability to speak to plants and animals save humanity or destroy it?

Yeah, it's way more complicated than that but this slipcase contains not one but two kitten-squishers, totaling over 11o0 pages. Some point in the dim past, around the time the earth's crust cooled and hardened, I rented an animated movie called Warriors of the Wind from the video store. It left quite an impression on me. Now, decades later, I've read the work it was based on.

First off, the art is gorgeous, making me think of Moebius at times. I felt vindicated when I read on Wikipedia that Moebius and Miyazaki influenced one another. It's simple yet incredibly detailed at times, even in black and white. Some of the backgrounds are ridiculously intricate, making me think some panels took a couple days on their own.

The story is a sprawling epic of two nations at war while the world threatens to be engulfed by the forces that nearly destroyed it centuries earlier. Even within the two armies, factions work against each other. The world is an odd mix of fantasy and science fiction. Politically the world is like any number of fantasy Europe analogues. However, there are massive insects, forests of giant fungus, and people using the technology of their long-dead ancestors. It's a curious combination but it works very well.

Nausicaa, aided by a small group of allies, works to unlock the secrets of why the world is the way it is, why an ever-expanding forest of blight releases the Miasma, a cloud of spores, into the air, forcing everyone to wear protective masks. She can also talk to plants and animals, like the Ohmu, whale-sized creatures resembling giant pill bugs. This isn't your grandma's fantasy tale.

Nausicaa makes and loses friends over the course of the tale, starting in her remote Valley of the Wind and ending in a faraway place where the death of the world began centuries earlier. While Miyazaki says he didn't mean the story to have themes, there's a strong current of anti-war and environmentalism in the book, not surprising since the story is set after the world has been rocked by biological warfare. It also has a feminist message to some degree. Nausicaa is a strong character, a leader that isn't stuck in some inane love triangle like so many heroines. While being a telepath, she's also a bad ass warrior when she needs to be. Kushana, the Torumekian princess, is cut from a similar cloth.

By the end, the world is a shambles with the survivors left to clean up the mess. It's a strong ending, one I'd rank up there with the Elric Saga or the Amber books. While I was sad it was over, I'm glad it ended rather than dragging on forever.

Of all the classic manga I've read so far in 2018, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is by far the best. Five out of five stars.




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