XPost: rec.arts.anime.misc   
   From: hiro@nobaka.invalid   
      
   The film of Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind (Kaze no Tani no Naushika) has   
   been a favourite of mine since before I even knew who Miyazaki was, but   
   last week I finally read the manga too. Everyone seemed to think the manga   
   was much better than the anime so I was looking forward to it.   
      
   But as I waded into the 1100 page story, my first reaction was that I   
   preferred the film: the manga is a tale of unrelenting war, more so   
   than the anime, and without the beauty of the film to counterbalance the   
   carnage. Moreover, in the film, Nausicaä's mystical powers are hinted at   
   rather than being drilled through your head on every page, and her role as   
   messiah and fulfiller of ancient prophesies is left to the viewer's   
   imagination until a scene at the end, rather than being shouted from the   
   rooftops by everyone she comes into contact with. So subtlety is not one of   
   this manga's fortés, which surprised me given who the author is. Another   
   rather trite aspect is how all the baddies (except for the "big boss" at   
   the end - is this based on a computer game or something???) end up   
   redeeming themselves and becoming nice guys.   
      
   Nevertheless there are a couple of things to be said for the manga: it is   
   very plot heavy and gives you plenty of food for thought, particularly   
   about the nature of life and humankind’s role in the world.   
      
   And then there's the ending, where Nausicaä has the end product of   
   thousands of years of civilisation: the sum total of human knowledge, in   
   her grasp--and destroys it! I really liked that. Nausicaä wanted life to be   
   free, unconstrained by the dead weight of human history and the sterile   
   edifice of technological achievement.   
      
   Overall I would rate the manga as being more thoughtful and thought   
   provoking but for enjoyment and storytelling the anime is both better   
   looking and better told.   
      
      
   --   
   ______________________________________________________   
      
   It is better never to have been born. But who among us has such luck?   
   One in a million, perhaps.   
   ______________________________________________________   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)