Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Box Set

What can I say about this Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Box Set and the Nausicaä manga in general? A lot but for sake of some potential buyers who don't want an essay length review I'll keep things and short and too the point as possible.This is a worthy addition to any serious Hayao Miyazaki fan's collection.For starters its price is a steal for the top rate quality you'll be getting with the 2 hard cover books, a lovely display box for them and 1 colored mini poster. Even if you have the manga in original paperback release I'd still say get this as well, mostly because the print size is larger so you can enjoy Miyazaki's art even better but also the quality is also higher.So that concludes the general reasons to get this now to move on to more in depth details.However before I press on I should make a few things clear about this manga, this mostly for the more new and casual Miyazaki fans who might have just Spirited Away or Totoro but aren't very familiar with the rest of Miyazaki's works. This isan older work of Miyazaki's back before he fully embraced doing work for more general audiences. It a more mature and serious story focusing on subject matter for more mature readers, as such I feel a lot of the stories deeper messages and themes might be lost on younger readers and there for a part of the story's real charm. Armed conflicted is also very central part of the story and Miyazaki doesn't shy away from depictions of graphic violence, blood and gore though never in an exploitative manner and I don't think it would be too much for younger readers to be exposed too though I'll let potential buyers make their own judgement calls. So that is something you should keep in mind when pressing forward with acquiring this.Now review the actual story. To put in simply the plot revolves around Nausicaä, though it does sporadically focus on central key supporting characters to add proper context of whats going on but very smoothly (in my humble opinion) it never feels jarring when it shifts focus and thats largely due to Miyazaki's skill at story telling. The world is in ruins, humanity is on the brink of being extinct and yet on shockingly the few factions that have formed still allow personal ambition and other selfish petty reasons spark highly destructive war. The story works with themes such as compassion, cooperation and respect for the natural environment and learning to live responsibly in harmony with nature while showing grim destructive results of human hubris and irresponsibility. Of course I'm simplifying things here but thats the general gist.Nausicaä is arguably one of Miyazaki's best main characters, and that largely due to the fact that manga gives her character time to be fleshed out and grow instead of limited development time frames plots set in Miyazaki's films generally offer. I am also indeed implying that the manga version of Nausicaä is superior to the film adaption. Nausicaä is princess from a small kingdom tucked away in place called The Valley of the Wind. However since not your typical princess, her parents weren't able to produce a son so her father begrudgingly raised her to be his successor even though traditionally role was for men. Now this some female empowerment story, in fact aside from few off handed remarks early on in the story nobody ever makes an issue about Nausicaä being a woman and lined up to take over after her father passes as ruler. However thats not the actual focus of the story. Nausicaä has a big heart and has room for everyone and everything in it she cares about nature and the creatures of the wild no less then her fellow humans and she understands that if humanity is going to last in its current fragile state, peace and harmony has happen not just within humanity but also with how humanity handles nature. She is not a perfect person though, early on she looses herself to rage and has to live with the consequences, she has moments of doubt, she makes mistakes and despite her huge amounts compassion she still on occasion is overly judgemental of others. However she learns and grows form these things and thats part of what makes her such a great character is she very capable but shes not perfect and is some ways she sort of represents what any one of us should try to aspire to be, she embodies many good values but never to an extent that makes her seem unnatural even if some of the other characters view her that ways mostly because they all live in grim rough times and many folks have grown overly cynical and narrow sighted.Well I think I've gushed enough about this, I said I'd keep things short as possible but looking back now I guess still go a bit carried away (sorry), for those of you who read to the end thanks for putting up with my rambles, I hope I was helpful.G.S. 2/9/2021

Okay, so, as a fan of Miyazaki, this has been on my wishlist for a while. Nausicaa isn't my favorite film of his. It's pretty good, definitely in the top tier of its work, but the movie has elements to it that feel incomplete. Given how long this comic is, it becomes apparent really quickly why that is. The movie is a really cut down and simplified version of just the first two chapters of the manga.Is the manga better than the movie? That's probably the wrong question to ask. Both versions have their strengths.The movie benefits from getting to the point faster. The characters are more clear about who they are up front and the story hits its heavy beats harder because of it. I also feel like Nausicaa's powers being left more vague in the movie works better overall. The Ohmu also feel a lot less human, though no less majestic in the movie because the movie omits their actual dialogue from the comic. This gives them a more commanding and implacable presence in the film than the manga ever gets.That said, the manga just has a better established mood. You have such a clear sense of the knife-edge humans are living on in the comic and the threat of the Sea of Corruption/Decay is felt so much more keenly. There's also a lot more information about the world, the various cultures that inhabit it as well as the creatures. Kushana, who was the main antagonist in the film, becomes much more of an uneasy ally as she sweeps up Nausicaa into her country's internal politics. Whether that part is better or worse than the film really feels more subjective, because the stories radically diverge and have very different aims. It's best to treat the two as separate things connected by a shared world.Overall it is definitely worth a buy if you love Miyazaki's work. I'm not 100% in love with every aspect of the story, but I wasn't with the movie either. They both have different strengths and different weaknesses, but inform each other in ways that make it a must have for Miyazaki fans.