Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind is a epic manga/graphic novel by renowned anime artist Hayao Miyazaki, of Princess Mononoke fame. Written in volumes between the years 1982-1994, they tell the story of a young princess named Nausicaä, who lives in the Valley of Wind. Giant mutated insects roam the face of what is left of the Earth, and the fukai (sea of corruption) is steadily encroaching upon what land there is left on the planet. A deadly miasma is released by the sea of corruption, so poisonous, it can kill a person in five minutes, and just a few toxic spores inhaled can cause great pain to the lungs. Here is the background for Nausicaä, as published in the Viz Comics Perfect Collection translation of Nausicaä:
An excellent series, I eagerly read all of them as soon as I got my hands on them from my public library. I now own them and can read them any time I want... =.^_^.= Seriously, however, Nausicaä is a deep manga/graphic novel that bears a lot of thinking about. Miyazaki adresses the point that if the Earth is to survive, humans might not...
Miyazaki did such an excellent job on this manga and the color illustrations that go along with it that I can't resist putting up a mini-gallery of Nausicaä pics for everyone... All scans from the Miyazaki artbook (well, almost all). Feel free to save them to your hard drive and use them on your site, as long as you don't claim them as your own or say you drew them. Enjoy!
