Some questions and thoughts on the Nausicaa manga

The Nausicaa manga is quite an interesting piece of work for examining the Miyazaki ideology, as its large serialization span of over 10 years covered many stages of Miyazaki's own intellectual developments, including his view towards idealism, utopianism, Marxism, politics, life, people and nature.

In my humble opinion, one of the major messages of the manga is the respect of life and nature.The people before the Seven Days of Fire idealistically thought that they could set out a well-defined programme for life, and believed that everything would follow the programme. They, however, ignored the complexity and the way of life itself. It was far too arrogant for the humans, who destroyed themselves, to be the world's ultimate programmer. Ohmu and the Sea of Decay (Fukai) was developed as "tools" for the sake of cleaning the world, but these "tools" acted even more nobly than the majority of the humans. Life and nature should never be underestimated, while humans should never overestimate their limits.

Okay enough blabbing . I would like to know what your own views towards the ending is . After all Nausicaa seemingly, followed the route of her predecessors, and brought humans back to unachievable idealism and practical sufferings. The path of Nausicaa is strikingly similar to the one of the first Dorok Emperor.

And yea there are also some questions in my mind:

At the end, King Vu said that Kushana would be the legitimate heir of his throne, then the King died. However Kushana didn't accept the throne, and said that there was already a new king. Who was the new king?

Nausicaa said that she loved the people of the Valley of the Wind as much as the Ohmu, but in the manga it seemed that she cared the latter much more. She always thought about the Ohmu and was even willing to die with them. However she seemed not to care much about the valley people who missed her very much. Even at the end when everything was settled down, she didn't return to the valley. Instead she lived with the Doroks/Forest people. What's your view on this?

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I've just been puzzling the very same questions!
I've gone through the manga trying to find that elusive future king of Torumekia! Perhaps it's Chikuku? After all, Kushana was willing to form a joint Dorok-Torumekian kingdom, and Chikuku gave the name of an old Dorok king whilst addressing the crowds in book 6 I think...not sure what that was about either! Hmmm, maybe it's Nausicaa herself? Kushana seems very attached, almost in awe of Nausicaa towards the end.
Well, in truth I just don't know.
As for the people of the Valley, remember the coming of the new windrider? Tepa was her name I think. My view is that Nausicaa is a universal leader, the Doroks, wormhandlers and torumekians-in fact practically everybody becomes intertwined with Nausicaa in some way. She had to leave her people behind in order to do that, and maybe that's why Tepa steps in to take her place back home, Nausicaa's role has been moved on to something greater. It's not that she didn't care about the valley people.
In short, I'm rambling. I think I'm taking this Nausicaa thing way to seriously

Also, what do people think about the artwork in the manga? I used to think it was absolutley awsome, but after reading Akira I'm not so sure...though make no mistake, I still love it!

Hi Aliceface! Glad to meet you and welcome to the forums!

I am not sure (that's why I raised the question ), but I tend to think that the "king" Kushana referred to was Nausicaa. It was not necessarily or even likely to be a political king. Rather it was possibly more of a spiritual one. By the end of the manga Kushana was pretty much "converted" to Nausicaa's own ideologies. It was possible that she saw Nausicaa as the true spiritual leader. Or maybe she found herself far too guilty or incompetent to crown herself as the king of the gigantic empire.

For the Valley, I can see young Tepa growing into a Nausicaa-esque leader. But at that time, Nausicaa was still the chieftain, and no one was strong or respectable enough to replace her. The Valley of the Wind was a very small state with only a few hundred people (or even less). Most probably the chieftain had muliple roles: being the king, the foreign minister, the general, the judge and other roles all at the same time. So having a proper chieftain for making important decisions was highly essential for the Valley, especially for surviving and fighting for a share in the unstable world.

After Nausicaa had left the Valley, she fulfilled none of her roles. It was of pure luck that the encounter with the Doroks ended in a peaceful way. But without a leader, an open military conflict in the future would be a total catastrophy. In fact, after the collapse of the Crypt of Shuwa, she could very well get back to the Valley. However she chose to stay with the forest people instead. In my opinion it was quite irresponsible of her to neglect her fellow friends in the Valley.

P.S. I'd love to get a copy of Akira. But I can't find one in the library. And ordering them is far too expensive (US$36.50 for each volume) .

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I agree, Akira is WAY too expensive. Out here in the UK you have to pay extra for the American imports thats why I only have volume 1!

Hmmm, maybe you're right about the people of the Valley of the Wind. I don't know, I'm kinda glad that Nausicaa went to the forest people, I like to think of her happily slurping insect eggs with Selm

Oh I live in Hong Kong. Probably it costs even more to import Akira to here than to buy it in the UK. Eww... sheer luck...

In my previous post I have forgotten to respond to your question on the art of the manga. So I'd better do so now . Not having read Akira, I regard the art in the Nausicaa manga the best I have ever seen in all manga works. The drawings are very detailed and the line art is exquisite. At the same time the art shows ancient tone and a historical feeling, which is very appropriate to the context of the story.

Miyazaki is a talented and experienced animator who certainly showed his skills in the manga. In the first volume, Teto was frigtened away when Nausicaa went berserk. Later he (or she?) returned to Nausicaa when seeing her depressed. As many as 8 panels are used to illustrate this simple action so as to bring out the complex emotions behind. Rarely can one see such a level of detail in the conventional manga works (oh generalization!), while one can easily find similar examples all through the Nausicaa manga (thanks to the master's experience in drawing storyboards). It is certainly a tiresome way to draw a manga. Nonetheless it helps Nausicaa (along with the top-notch plot and the thought-provoking philosophies) to blow all other manga titles out of the water.

So what's your own view on the art of the manga?

On the discussion of Nausicaa's responsibility as the chieftain of the Valley. I find her very similar to Siddhttha Gotama, the Indian prince who left his nation and family as a seeker of peace and truth, and the one who is later regarded as the founder of Buddhism.

Btw I wonder what you feel about Chikuku? Miyazaki said in an interview that he was not a child, but an entirely different creature possessing an incredible destructive power. What do you think his future would be?

P.S. seems like I'm rambling too!

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Hmmm, yes. I really really like the artwork, make no mistake, but occasionally I feel frustrated when Miyazaki hasn't quite drawn a face right so it looks a bit strange.
I confess that I am a complete perfectionist and I appreciate how damn hard it is to draw consistant faces especially throughout 7 long volumes!
Akira however, the drawings in that are so precise and accurate. Every face is extremely well formed and realistic and I can't help feeling that Otomo the author has a better eye for page layout as well.
But Miyazaki has a great gift for story telling and some of the pictures in Nausicaa are just so sublime, I wish I could draw like him!
I have ambitions for being a graphic novel artist myself and reading Nausicaa to me is like wanting to be a composer and then listening to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. You might as well not bother!
Oh and I agree that Miyazaki is really good at bringing out scenes like Teto.

Chikuku eh? I can see him leading the Doroks in the future maybe. He seems to me like a cute little kid with amazing powers, not an incredible being though.

Never heard of the Indian prince person! But he does sound like Nausicaa who ever he is

Umm... the inconsistencies do not sound very obvious to me, but I agree that they do exist (just like in some Miyazaki movies ). Well perhaps I am not that a keen observer, or I get far too absorbed into the story.

I searched through the web and managed to find a library in my city that has the first volume of Akira available. But it turned out that the book was stolen when I arrived there. (According to the librarian, the last check-out was back in 1998, so most likely someone took it away...)

Here's a part of an interview where Miyazaki shared his views on Chikuku. Still, just like you, I see him more of an innocent child with a special power (like Kiki), instead of a monster of devastating power. Maybe Miyazaki has drawn him in a too cute way and failed to show his potential bad side more vividly.

(For no reason at all I suddenly think of young Anakin Skywalker when talking about Chikuku. Maybe both of them look quite normal at their childhood, but also have a misty future. Well, I don't really like to see Nausicaa get killed by her student...)

quote:

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# In the latter half of the story, there was a good comic interaction between Chikuku and Charuka. They were a good combo. But what about Chikuku's character?

MIYAZAKI Chikuku was an incomplete character. Looking at him as a character, he possessed something of great danger. He gave no thought to the people around him. He liked Nausicaa, so he did what she wanted him to.

#Didn't you depict him purely as a child?

MIYAZAKI No, he's not a child. A child is an entirely different creature. I intended to depict him as a being with the potential for extreme danger.

#This question might make you feel sick, but was he like Akira?

MIYAZAKI There's no way I can answer that. Even though I created him myself,I was afraid of him when I drew him. I think that in strange situations he was a character who could display his incredibly destructive power.

#When did you first think of introducing such a character?

MIYAZAKI When I went to the ancient holy places in Dorok, he appeared suddenly.

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I'm not sure about the end actually. Half of me thinks that it's an incredibly brave and noble thing for Nausicaa to have done, to destroy the future human race who were to have lived in harmony with earth in order to save her own race. I also think it was true that it was pure arrogance for the creators of the crypt to re-write the earth, it was them that destroyed it in the first place. What right did they have to modify it just so they could live?
I think it's a very interesting fact that the earth will always remain and flourish no matter what we do. It is only us that will die out!

the other half of me is a bit confused. If all of nausicaa's people do spew blood as soon as the forest is purified then it's all been a bit pointless really! Also there's that little comment that the blood of the crypt was the same as the blood of the Ohmu. I don't really understand this. Surely the Ohmu were good, even if they were created my mankind?
Actually I'm a bit hazy on the ending, I've just lent all my books to my friend for a week, maybe you could explain it a bit more?

Chikuku didn't come across as dangerous at all! He struck me as a cute little child especially near the end when he had that little scene with Kushana about how she was really a bird with broad wings and a big heart or something. Awwwwww . Ok, he has amazing powers, but he doesn't seem dangerous!

In my opinion what Nausicaa had in her mind was that the human race would eventually evolved to adopt to the pure environment. As an ecologist, she should have a good idea on how long it would take for the purification to complete, and how capable humans were on adapting to changes of the environment. She probably had enough confidence that humans would gradually manage to evolve or develop new technologies that could sustain their survival. After all, it is assumed that the purification process would take thousands of years to complete. By the end of process, humans should either have developed well enough to survive . (or have already extincted due to various reasons, like wars, diseases, etc )

But would Nausicaa's own positive speculation hold true? I am not that sure. I always have the impression that humans were already very close to extinction during Nausicaa's time. What Nausicaa had done might be only an unintended kick that brought the human race closer to the edge of the cliff.

As for the part on the blood of the crypt and the ohmu, I don't think the blue blood itself (despite of the possible cultural references) was a symbol of nobility. Rather, it was the selfless acts of the ohmu that made them noble. I think the idea here is that even though both the crypt and the ohmu were creations of the humans for the purification process (as shown by their blue blood), the ohmu chose their own fate of sacrificing their bodies, while the crypt simply followed the "programming" without a critical and independent thought.

The same idea applies to mankind, who was the creation of the pre-historic humans (do they have blue blood in their veins btw? ). Only by holding their own paths in their hands could lead them to the way of nobility like the ohmu. While submitting to the "programming" would degrade them to a level even lower than that of the conventional organisms, as they give up their dignity and free will just for the sake of survival.

My best impression of Chikuku is the scene of him talking with Charuka on Nausicaa. Charuka argued that Nausicaa's wings were man-made, so she could not be the one. But Chikuku replied that humans with wings were no longer humans . An innocent and direct reply that any child would make.

By the way, if you were Nausicaa, would you make the very same decision of bringing down the crypt, or would you take an alternate path?

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I think that I would have been tempted to leave the crypt and except the new peaceful race of humans, if I were Nausicaa. I would probably have been thoroughly fed up with mankind by now after all that war etc.
But, it's really just speculation. If I were Nausicaa i'd probably have fallen off my mehve by the end of page one !

Thanks for explaining the blue blood thing, it really got me confused!
You seem so amazingly knowledgable about this! I'm afraid I haven't had time to read so much into the story, my impression is only skin deep really.

What do you think about Nausicaa as a character? I think she's definatley one of the most developed characters in graphic novels and very realistically human. My friend however finds her a bit annoying and too 'goody goody', ya know, all the sobbing over Ohmu and stuff. What do you think? DO you have a favourite character? My favourite is Kushana.

Another question, what do you think the God warrior was, and what was his role? I don't really understand why he suddenly appeared, except to show that monstrous man made creatures (like the Ohmu) can be great and gentle. I thought the idea of Nausicaa being Ohma's mother was very strange, it suddeny made her seem so much older. What do you think?

quote:

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Originally posted by Aliceface
DO you have a favourite character? My favourite is Kushana.

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“Miyazaki is the greatest living animator… His frames are brilliantly, sunnily ‘lit’, with exhilarating shifting perspectives and cinematic movement, and a drawing style that is as detailed and dense as Brueghel.” — Philip Lopate, Film Comment

Post last edited by Konan on 06.29.2005, 05:51 AM.

Eww... sorry for the long reply... (^_^;; )

Hehe Nausicaa really has to have incredibly strong back muscles to keep herself balanced on the mehve (just a belt for holding the whole body...). If I were Nausicaa I am sure I would fall off from the mehve, or crash it beforehand.

Provided that, as Nausicaa, I could master the technique of mehve-flying , and withstand all the pains and sufferings throughout my journey and eventually reach the crypt, I might as well be so determined that I would not allow the nature/mankind to be manipulated by those malicious pre-historic humans. After all, death would not be too much a concern for me, as I should have dead for countless number of times (inside the Ohmu, during the fighting with the Doroks, etc). And I would value the dignity and nobility of life much more than the state of being alive.

But if I were suddenly sucked into Nuasicaa's world when I was enjoying vol 7, and it turned out that I became Nausicaa, I would be more of a commoner that places life over everything, including freedom. Well, how good could those virture do to me (and the mankind) if we were doomed to extinction in no time? If we accepted the deal of the crypt, at least we could keep our lives. We had to leave the environmental and ecological stuff after the crypt issue had been over. After all a living man should be able to do more ecological work than a dead man.

For Nausicaa as a character, I second your view that she is indeed very well-developed (and so as Kushana, I like her too ). She is determined, confident, strong in both physical and spiritual sense, charismatic, and caring. She is also a good ecologist, pilot and warrior all at the same time. She is even willing to sacrifice herself without hesitation. Even so, despite of being one of the "brightest" characters in the manga, one can easily see the darkness of her. As the ghost of nihilism claimed, her hands, just like every other, is full of blood. We can see her being blinded by rage, and engaging herself in brutal killings. Ironically she might even turn out to be the true villain that led mankind to utter destruction. All of these aspects contribute to form a three-dimensional and belivable impression of Nausicaa in our minds.

Still, I can see where your friend is coming from. I feel that the nearer to the end of the story, the more "messianic" Nausicaa has become. She is not a total goody-goody, but is a saviour-esque person with a vision much higher than the most of us, which makes us difficult to identify ourselves with her (the sobbing over ohmu and stuff ). Even for me, though I would really love to meet Nausicaa in person, if some Nausicaa-esque lady appeared in this world, I would either think that she is annoyingly mad, or respect her from a long distance away. As incongruous as it may sound, I think Nausicaa is believable, but not exactly realistic.

I like Nausicaa more at the very start, but when the plot unfolds itself, Kushana's charm overshadows that of the Valley Princess. Kushana is a charming wounded bird indeed: strong, determined and daring, but with a tender heart deep inside. The scene of Kushana lying in the trench with all the injured, at the same time humming a rhythm, has left the strongest impression in my mind. Kurotowa is interesting too and I identify myself the most with him.

The God Warrior as a plot device has appeared as early as in vol 1. I expected that it would play a major role in the ending chapters so I did not find it too much a surprise. Yet I was surprised with the way it played its role. Influenced by the 1984 movie, I anticipated an utter destruction of the world by a troop of revived God soldiers. However Ohma turned out to be a judge of peace with Nausicaa as his "mother". Miyazaki probably wanted to convey a message that technology is not necessarily evil (contrary to his earlier ideas). A technological advance can either be a constructive tool in good hands, or destructive weapons of the malicious individuals. Another message is the contrast between truth and apperance. Ohma seemed to be like the other destroyers that put an end to the pre-historic human civilization. But in fact he was as innocent as a child. This message is echoed in Mononoke Hime.

Talking about Nausicaa's strangeness, by the end of vol 6 and the start of vol 7, Nausicaa lost her ohmu suit and had to put on a cape instead. Since then I feel that she had deviated from her usual behaviour and had been particularly "messianic." Throughout the first 6 volumes, with the ohmu suit, she was more like a fighter/warrior of peace that fought alone with both her sword and mouth. But having a cape in volume 7, she had turned herself into a princess of peace, with a ultra-destructive weapon and a group of followers in her command. She also refrained herself from using a sword (someone from the Valley offered her a sword but she refused to take it) and fought only with her mouth. I wonder if there are any symbolic meanings in these changes. What is your view?


Btw I bought the manga in last November (so most probably you have a longer experience of reading it and is more knowledgable on it ) and have fallen in love with it ever since. Nevertheless I have only read it 2 or 3 times. As one said, "nothing spoils a good thing like overuse". But I am being defeated by the temptation and may reread the manga this month.



P.S. to Konan: its really rare to see a Nausicaa manga fan who regard the Master of the Garden as his favourite character.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Jiji
P.S. to Konan: its really rare to see a Nausicaa manga fan who regard the Master of the Garden as his favourite character.

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__________________
“Miyazaki is the greatest living animator… His frames are brilliantly, sunnily ‘lit’, with exhilarating shifting perspectives and cinematic movement, and a drawing style that is as detailed and dense as Brueghel.” — Philip Lopate, Film Comment

I see what you mean about the cloak and the loss of the ohmu suit, although at the end she comes out of the crypt wearing an the suit again, only it's been dyed even more blue by the crypt's blood. And I also remember the part when she refuses the sword offered to her, perhaps she realises her hands have already shed too much blood. I don't think there's any particular symbolism in the donning of the cloak except perhaps to show that Nausicaa has grown and changed. She's no longer the girl she was in book one. I also think that she seems much more subdued and, well bitter is too strong a word, but sad. She's had to withstand so much, such as Teto's death and the demise of the Ohmu. I can' help feeling that Nausicaa will never be the same carefree girl anymore.
Even the artwork suggests she is older, if you compare the way she looks in book 1 and book 8 she looks different.

I agree about the scene with Kushana and her men in the ditch whilst she sings, it's the scene that made the greatest impression on me too, although the bit with Kushana and her mother was quite moving as well. Kuratowa is a great character, he's so cool! He's definately the character with the best sense of humour.

Yeah I guess I forgot about the god warrior's appearance in bk 1 now you mention it. I haven't seen the film of Nausicaa though so I didn't realise it would appear later.

I feel quite sorry for the master of the garden, he seemed so lonely

Btw what are you comparing the god warrior with in Mononoke Hime?

I am not sure if Suliman is made to be an archetype of a "goddess." A pity that there is not much in-depth portrayal of her background and personality. She just seems to be another Miyazaki villain to me (with a moody mind that can start and end a war with almost no reason at all.)

For the Master of the Garden, I feel that he is quite sad and lonely. He has the qualities of the "goddess" archetype, like having a level of thought well over the commoners, and being despaired with the mankind. But Miyazaki deliberately illustrated him as a passive character, which does not fit into my impression of the "goddess" archetype. A goddess can be silent, and can have no interest in the world, but still have some sort of control or influence over certain affairs. The Master of the Garden, however, was created by the pre-historic humans (as a heedra) to take care of the garden. All he can do in his almost endless span of life is to stay in the garden to look after the remains of the human culture. He has no choice, or has no interest in making an alternate choice. In this sense he is very much like the computer of the Crypt. While the computer followed the programming to preserve the human technology, the Master of the Garden followed the orders of his ancient masters as a steward of the garden.

Back to the god warrior part, I was talking about its contrast between truth and appearance. San in Mononoke is very much like Ohma in the sense that both of them has a frightening look (the audience first impression of San from the movie poster/trailers is a savage with blood smear around her mouth), but are not evil deep inside. It was only when someone with an open mind (Nausicaa/Ashitaka) wiling to get near, that their true motives and intentions can be better understood.

Nausicaa has definitely changed a lot between vol 1 and vol 7. At the very start, she was not necessarily carefree (she was after all a to-be chieftain at that time), but was still quite cheerful, broadminded, outspoken, and a bit reckless. In her eyes you can see strength and hope. By the end of the whole story, however, she becomes much more mature than her old self. There is still a a spark of hope in her eyes. But the most obvious thing you can see is her tiredness. Despite of her strong will, both her mind and body is totally exhausted by her long journey of seeking peace and truth. Probably this is the reason why she chooses to stay with the Doroks and the forest people after all the events has over. She really needs a rest.

For Nausicaa's loss and regain of the ohmu suit, probably Miyazaki thought that it was necessary to have an echo of the already-fulfilled prophecy of "the Blue-clad One on the golden fields," so he had to make Nausicaa's suit blue again. Interesting that the very same scene in vol 2 (and the 1984 movie) is highly mythical and fantastical, with Nausicaa being lifted high up into the sky and "dance" on a field of the ohmu feelers, while the one of the 1994 finale is much more down-to-earth, with Nausicaa dancing with her friends on the ground shone by golden sunlight. What is your view on this? Also, do you think there is any special meaning on the new suit being "more blue" than the old one?


P.S. finally managed to take a look of Akira and Domu (another manga work of Otomo). The artwork is very detailed, but I still gets occasionally confused with the characters (for Akira only). Anyway they are good mangas indeed. Nevertheless I like Nausicaa more . Have you ever read Domu btw?

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I don't think there's any special meaning about the more blue suit at the end except maybe that Nausicaa's finished her role as the 'blue clad one' I also much prefer the image at the end of nausicaa dancing on the golden ground, I can imagine all the golden shadows flickering around the dancers. It seems much more alive than the early bit where Nausicaa walks on the Ohmu feelers (it's lucky she didn't have ticklish feet!), much more joyful. It's a really satisfying bit of the ending, despite the questions that remain I think that bit is my favourite part. That and the journey Nausicaa takes with Selm to the end of the sea of corruption. Yay! It's making me feel all happy just thinking about it

As for the Master of the Garden, he didn't strike me as being god like, just a lonely Heedra ticking away in the darkness waiting for visitors. No, I agree with what Jiji says. He's not god like because he has no choice but to eatch over the garden. We never found out what became of the two brothers of Kushana btw.

The comparison with San puzzles me. I never saw the posters but although the blood around her mouth is the first thing you notice she's also very beautiful (unlike the god warrior!) and also she's sucking out the blood from the wolf god's wound which shows she's caring. I see where you're coming from though.

I've never heard of Domu before. I'm saving up my cash to get Akira bk 2, don't tempt me It's actually a bit silly to compare Akira with Nausicaa because they're both so totally different. They're poles apart when it comes down to story, although they both deal with a post-apocalyptic world I suppose....

Btw did I ever tell you Jiji that your English is amazing? I'm so envious of people who can speak languages- I'm hopeless!
Anyway, gushing over

Domu is the masterpiece. i think that it is the marvelous work of Otomo, for me.

i have a bit thought of "Blue clad one". i will write in another time.

I'm curious now Nanashi What's Domu about then? IS it better than AKira? Oh, can you get it in England though?

To me, one of the most memorabe part was Nausicaa's confession to Selm (through telepathy) after telling the worm handlers the "truth" of the toxic forest. Nausicaa has never failed to stun me with these words, which are embodied with an immense amount of strength and hope, despite of the tough environment and fate lying ahead. These words also remind me of the theme of Mononoke Hime: the will to live (生きろ)

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And besides, something inside me calls out passionately to the landscape I saw, the end of the Sea of Corruption to which you led me. The world is beginning to be reborn. Even if our bodies cannot tolerate that purity, even if the moment we are exposed to it, we spew blood from our lungs, just as the birds migrate across the land, we shall live, and live again. For the sake of a single sprout, countless forest spores rain down again and again, dying a useless death. My own life was supported by the deaths of ten older brothers and sisters. No matter how wretched, every life-form lives by virtue of its own power. On this planet, life itself is its own miracle.

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Another scene that has left the greatest impression on me is Nausicaa's vision of the spirit of nihilism (the skeleton) when she was on her way to the Daikaisho. Nausicaa appeared to be an innocent little girl in white (which strikes me for resembling the angel of On Your Mark so much ), but with her limbs covered with blood, and standing on a pile of dead bodies. Somehow an angel of life striving for peace and truth, is also cursed, filthy, sinful, like any other humans, and exactly like an angel of death.

I feel that after going through the long journey of the seeking of truth and the struggle for peace ever since she has left the Valley, Nausicaa has become a "wounded bird" like Kushana, and can never be truly happy again . Back in vol 1, you can see she her having a broad smile on her face when she greets Yupa. But by the end, when she meets her friends again on the golden ground after bringing down the crypt, you can only see a tiny smile on a tired face. Sometimes I feel sympathetic to Nausicaa. Just when she stepped into the period of adolescent, fate immediately worn off her young energetic spirit and replaced it with a mature but tired and disillusioned one. No matter how mature the Valley princess has become, she has lost her youth completely and can never be a joyful teenager again.

Oh I have almost forgotten the two plump brothers of Kushana . Maybe they will stay in the Garden forever with the heedras, but I am actually glad that they have found their own spiritual peace and fulfillment there. One may argue that staying in the Garden is essentially mesmerizing oneself for the entire life. But I think that if one can find his own interest, value and worth, and is able to achieve self-actualization there, while not being able to do anything constructive outside it (due to the environmental constraints or other factors) , it is not really a sin or evil to stay there 8] .

By the way do you think the Crypt and the Garden are independent of each other ? Both of them are in Shuwa after all, and may be connected in some way as they both serve as centres for the preservation of the human knowledge. I worry that when the Crypt collapsed, the heedras there may die or the Garden may be destroyed by the impact...

For my point about San, to put it simple, I think both the god warrior and her are misunderstood by the commoners (readers/audience excluded) who tend to focus on outward appearances alone. Only those who can open their heart and accept these "outcasts" can truly understand them. Undoubtedly San is a beautiful girl at her age , but the general perception of her in Tatara-Ba is a demon that brings nothing but destruction. This is very similar to the case of Ohma, in which everyone sees him as a laser canon. But he is actually an intelligent being that hopes to bring about peace (though not necessarily by the right way ). As an audience myself, I expected San to be a barbarian when seeing her bloody face in the poster . It was not until I saw the scene of her sucking the bullet out that I realized that common impressions of hatred may in fact have deeper sides waiting to be unveiled by serious minds. An age-old teaching of "don't rely solely on your eyes."


Talking about Domu (literal translation: Dreams of children), the plot of this award-winning manga is not as complex as that of Akira, and I cannot not say critically which one is better, as the two are vastly different with each other (though I can say I like Domu more personally ). The story starts with a series of mysterious murders in a housing estate. When the plot unfolds itself, the focus moves to a young girl and an old man, and the amazing psychic duels between them. Parts of the fighting have a very strong "Matrix-feel," though the charcters are neither as handsome as Neo nor Agent Smith . Be warned that certain scenes can be as violent as Akira. The English translation has two versions, one published by Dark Horse Comics (2001), and another by Mandarin (1994).


P.S. actually my English is not that good, esp oral English . Whenever I meet the foreigners, I automatically have my mouth wide open, but no words come out of it.

And btw, Nanashi, I look forward to see your views on the manga.

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My light novel review blog: ラノなの！@ novel.co.nr

Ah yes, Nausicaa's confession to Selm is wonderful. I'd forgotten about that! It's a very powerful bit- but then Nausicaa is full of very powerful bits! It's enough to make you want to explode. Tha's how I felt anyway when I'd finished reading it for the first time. SO that skeleton was nihilism was it? that makes sense. I got a bit confused when the skeleton was referring to itslef as the holy one (which holy one?! I thought. The Dorok holy one or the monk in the temple with Chikuku?) But now it's all clear. When Nausicaa found out through Selm that the dark place full of bones was inside her I realised that the skeleton was some kind of feeling inside NAuscaa, not the holy one....I think
I believe the garden will survive independantly of the crypt. I thought the atmosphere of the garden was different from the crypt as if the garden had evolved slightly away from it's original purpose. It wasn't so stern and unforgiving as the crypt - maybe the master of the garden is more human than we realise? He certainly seems to care for the animals and Nausicaa. I also can't see any reason why the garden should die, after all the gradual purification of the earth has not been stopped therefore the new plants and animals meant to re stock the planet will still be needed. It's only the future humans that Nausicaa has destroyed.

Domu sounds really good! But agent smith and Neo good looking? I think Neo just looks gormless! AS for agent smith.....well he's not so bad I guess!