Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Box Set – Box set Author: Visit Amazon's Hayao Miyazaki Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1421550644 | Format: PDF
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Box Set – Box set Description
About the Author
Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's most beloved animation directors. In 2005 he was awarded the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement, and his Studio Ghibli received the festival's Osella Award for overall achievement in 2004. Miyazaki's films include Spirited Away, winner of the 2002 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo, all of which have received great acclaim in the U.S. Miyazaki's other achievements include the highly regarded manga series Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Starting Point: 1979-1996, a collection of essays, interviews, and memoirs that chronicle his early career and the development of his theories of animation.
- Series: Nausica? of the Valley of the Wind
- Hardcover: 1104 pages
- Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; Har/Pstr D edition (November 6, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1421550644
- ISBN-13: 978-1421550640
- Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.5 x 3.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 6.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
The Viz's "Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind Box Set" is just about perfect and everything that a manga edition should aspire to be. I've decided to upload a series of photos so you can appreciate for yourself what a treat this edition is. The package consists of 2 large hardcovers books inside a beutiful and strong slipcase, including a small color poster. Nausicaä was previously published in 7 softcover volumes and is now collected in full in this 2 HC books. So for all of that, the $60 price tag (much less with Amazon discount), is an unbeatable value.
Both story and art is by Hayao Miyazaki, that's right, HAYAO MIYAZAKI: the man who co-founded the internationally acclaimed Studio Ghibli, one of the greatest genius of animation this world have ever seen. The art is simply amazing, the storytelling is brilliant, the pages are full of life and detail and magic.
* * * * * These are the highlights of the edition * * * * *
- The format is over-sized (like Akira's volumes), with a trim-size much larger than the one we are used to for mangas: the books are 10,4 by 7,3 inches. This gives you a much better appreciation of the art, and that's exactly what you want, being Miyazaki's pages so full of detail and wonder.
- Book I is 568 pages long and Book II is 552 pages long, adding up to 1120 pages worth of Miyazaki's art!
- Both books are hardcovers with sewn-binding, which allows for a very comfortable reading experience. It's a real pleasure to be able to enjoy a manga in HC format, as opossed as softcovers, it feels like a real luxury.
- The printing quality is excellent, with sharp line-art and a delicate sepia tone ink.
- The paper quality is beautiful and very apt for the reproduction of art.
Just as I point newcomers to "Grave of the Fireflies" as a seminal example of good anime (as opposed to the stereotypes between Pokemon and Dragonball), I would say Nausicaa is the one manga any newcomer to the medium should read. Well, or just anyone who appreciates imagery and text. This series contains great textual content as well as highly detailed drawing; there's nothing cartoonish or comic about it.
Make no mistake: The story of Nausicaa has an epic scope. It's highly complex and not appropriate for children unless they can grasp the finer points and are able to comprehend its darker tones, since this is a complete story from beginning to end that requires good memory.
It features several major cultures involved with their own civil unrest and break-off groups, ruthless war and its effects on civilians, life and death, military maneuvering, political intrigue, enemies who are not merely enemies, religious oppression, post-apocalypse, a bit of science fiction, and at the core--one of Miyazaki's favorite topics--environmentalism. All of this is given life and meshed together into a grimy mess of opposing yet sympathetic human characterizations.
While the series does feature one of my less favorite tropes ("the chosen one" hero), it's spun in that our main character is a girl capable of many things from the very onset. For a series written in the '80s to early '90s, that's rather interesting. She's no Disney princess.
In terms of art, the air battles and action scenes are convincing with great perspective, and the entire setting (backgrounds, from ground cover to smoky skies) is tremendously detailed to add depth and a solidly immersive look. Much of the sketchy detailing has to do with Miyazaki using pencil instead of pen inking.
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