VOLUME 1 REVIEW
SPOILERS AHEAD!
PLOT
Hundreds of years in the future, mankind is threatened by the spawn of its mistakes. Huge insects roam the decaying, vast cluster of fungi, called the Sea of Corruption. Many believe it was created as a punishment by God for the destruction mankind had caused to the earth in the ancient past. The Sea of Corruption spreads with each passing year, and some believe it will eventually engulf the entire continent.
However, a small kingdom, consisting of little over 500, is protected from the harmful spores of the Sea by the winds that pass through the Valley that come from the ocean. Even there, though, the population is decreasing at an steadily.
The Kingdom is celebrating the return of the fabled swordsman, Master Yupa, who is visiting to tell the king of the wars in the South. On his way there, he mistakes a squirrel-fox for a human baby, and in turn enrages an Ohmu; one of the ancient insects from the Sea of Corruption. He is saved by the daughter of the king, Nausicaä, who seems to be able to talk to the Great Insects of the Sea.
Yupa brings news that one of royal blood must go to war to fight for the Torumeikan Empire; the King is deathly ill, therefore Nausicaä must head off to war in his place. Despite the Empire being against female leaders, Nausicaä is an excellent pilot and her people will follow her to the death.
Not long after Yupa’s arrival, Nausicaä spots a massive, enflamed refugee ship, consisting of elders, women and children, coming from far south while she is riding on her Nave (a kind of mechanical, lightweight paraglider). The ship is covered in Great Worms, gnawing away at the wings. She quickly returns home, and with her Uncle Mito, pursues the ship in the Kingdom’s only gunship. She manages to shoot off most of the Worms with pinpoint accuracy, but just as she thinks they are safe, a wing collapses and the ship spirals down in a ball of fire. While searching the wreckage for any survivors, she finds the princess of Pejitei clutching a strange mechanism in her hands, and in her dying breath tells Nausicaä to hand it to her twin brother. A day later, the Torumeikan Empire come to take Nausicaä and her soldiers to war.
Nausicaä is dispatched to the Torumeikan Warfront, near the great acid lakes, by the fourth daughter of the Vai Emperor, who attempts to rule the Dorok Tribes before her brothers so she can earn right to the Throne of Torumeika. When there she sees what war is really like, as she fights to contain the hatred that she feels.
This manga is highly original and breaks away from the general idea of what the future might hold. It whisks you away in a world so strange and bizarre, so unforgiving yet so beautiful, yet fits so well together.
ART 10/10
The art is simply amazing, to say the least: it's true to what legendary film director Hayao Miyazaki is all about; brilliant, creative stories created in lavished detail. The art is perfect, and stays true to the style used across his other masterpieces.
CHARACTERS 8/10
Nausicaä is a strong feminist role (along with other, later-appearing characters) in a world of corruption, manipulation, sexism and racism. The characters as a whole are loveable and interact well in such a bizarre environment. Kushana was especially good, and developed phenomenally which completely changed my negative views of her from the film. My main complaint is that it could have developed more solid character personalities nearer to the start, it took a while to be able to distinguish personalities at the beginning as they all seem to follow generic character personalities, but this is shown to be not the case as the story progresses.
OVERALL: 10/10. It truly is a masterpiece, crafted so well it almost feels real.
