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Description
From Viz: Humanity, in its hubris, has precipitated a devastating environmental disaster. Flourishing industrial civilizations have been swallowed up by the Sea of Corruption, an enormous forest of fungi releases a miasma of poisonous spores into the air. Nausicaa, a compassionate young princess, and her allies battle to heal a wounded world and its inhabitants...
Its pretty awesome. The art can be a bit crude at times, not very polished. However, the art and ideas are very imaginative. It can be a real tear-jerker at times. As I understand it Miyazaki did not finish this in one go, but took a break and that is why the tone of the story changes and becomes darker later on. The story is wonderful for its multilayered plot, excellent world building (all the different cultures and hidden history of the world) and some great characters. Nausicaa is an almost Christ like figure promoting peace and ecological harmony with nature in the beginning of the story. By the end she is not quite so pure. Princess Kushana is a practical, hard driven woman who nevertheless has the best interests of her people in mind. Many of the females of Miyazaki's stories often seem to be proto-feminists whether its Kushana or Lady Eboshi from Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. In the beginning the ecological theme is hit a bit too strongly. Man is a a despoiler and plague on the Earth. The "Nature good/man Bad" is something that we've been hit over the head with since the 70's and can seem a bit simplistic and preachy nowadays. As a matter of fact the Nausicaa movie is a bit like this. However, the manga does things that the movie doesn't do. It isn't so black and white, its more complicated. This is more clear towards the end of the story. It isn't some hippy tree-huger wish fulfillment fantasy. I enjoy the movie, but the manga fleshes out so many of the characters and stories so much more. It would be awesome as a TV show as others have mentioned, but I don't know if they could keep it as it is because there are some pretty dark parts to the story. I highly recommend people seek it out as VIZ media does publish it and this is a classic worth owning. Also, Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga (on Anime News Network) has a pretty good review of the whole series and is worth reading.
If you've seen the anime, you know the very beginning of what happens. The movie was amazing by itself, and so was the manga. The two can't be, and shouldn't be compared.
The manga takes the story further, and makes you think. It's less comic than the anime, and the ending isn't quite as happy in my opinion, but the message is different. But in the manga, she literally accomplishes the legend thing that they say at the beginning of the anime, while in the anime, she only does it symbolically and implies that she'll do it literally.
In short, read the manga, because there's so much more. More characters, more sides to Nausicaa, etc.
I honestly do not know why the manga isn't more popular. Yes, the art is cluttery with details, perhaps that deters potential readers, but... once you get into its pace, it's awesome. And I think I actually cried at Nausicaa and Kushana dynamics near the end, because GUH. The manga moved me like comics rarely do.
I absolutely loved it 5-6 years ago when I read it and I still loved it when i Reread it not so long ago. Epic... It pulls you in the story itself ... Although I admit it doesnt seem to be very popular (judging by the number of the list). I expected it to be more known. I guess it's the movie that is popular - which I also enjoyed but as Maian said if this manga was done in a tv series with nothing extra or something left out (an exact transfer of the manga) it would be an all time classic I think. I remember when reading it being dissapointed that it wasnt adapted into anime so I could enjoy the scenes and action in colour with music....... Oh well I can only hope to a "remanke"
This manga is one of the best I've ever read. Very high quality. Epic storyline full of twists and turns. Characters you can connect with. What more can you ask for?
I just wish there was TV anime series for this. The Nausicaa movie is adapted from this manga, but since there was no way to condense it all into 2 hours, they had to substantially change the storyline. It would take a whole TV series to capture the complete tale.
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