Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind

Right after I moved in America from Japan, my English was not good enough to be able to read most of the books written in English, but I went to the library quite frequently because the library in my neighborhood had lots of mangas (cartoons).  When I found Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind in a book shelf, I was thrilled.  It has been my favorite manga I have read in my life.  Although it is all written in English, my motivation level jumped up, I read the whole story taking for a couple of weeks.

A manga or cartoon sounds like a fun and sometimes silly story with pictures, but Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind has a pretty serious theme in it.  It will make you think about many important issues of your life such as friendship, environment, and nature.  The author is Hayao Miyazaki, who is a famous Japanese manga writer and film director.  He made lots of animation films, which also became popular in U.S., so you might have heard of or seen some of his works already.  Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind is one of his early works.  Like many of Miyazaki works, the main character is a girl, who has a strong but gentle mind.  The story has 7 volumes, and the film was made mainly from the 1^st and 2^nd volumes.  I highly recommend to read the manga version rather than the film.  The story of 7 volumes sounds very long but goes really deeply into Miyazaki’s world.  If you like Miyazaki works, you will love it.  Some day I want to buy all 7 volumes and have them in my book shelf forever.