Hayao Miyazaki - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Hayao Miyazaki is the grandfather of anime to me. There are no films by him I do not enjoy. Most of them I hold in very high regard. But in addition to films, he has also produced one of the best comics (or manga if you will) ever.
Nausicaä is devastatingly beautiful and heartbreaking story of love, purity, innocence and humanity. It is a story of hope and loss, past and future. It reminds me of Lone Wolf and the Cub in the sense that it manages to transcend the form of comic. It feels like a book, but offers experience that is almost like you are there - like you would have shared the story of Nausicaä by being there with her, all the way.
Miyazaki has this somber, some could say a bit pessimistical view towards humanity. He often touches the concept of destruction in his works and the harm we manage to cause to our own environment and our own future. The world of Nausicaä is not a happy one. There’s war and burden of the past world on everyone’s shoulders and things are not getting better. And who would believe that a single girl could make the world a better place?
It is one of the only pieces of art that have managed to make me burst into cry. I’d say it has offered me the purest form of katharsis I’ve ever thought possible, and that is very much said.
Go and read it dear people
