Description:

A millennium has passed since "Seven Days of Fire," an apocalyptic war that almost wiped out human civilization. Since then, the earth is covered with an ever-growing "Sea of Corruption," a vast forest of fungi that secretes poisonous miasma and invasive spores, along with large and deadly insects inhabit within. In order to fight for more habitable lands unpolluted by the Sea of Corruption, the Kingdom of Torumekia has declared war against the Dorok Empire. Nausicaä, princess and heir of a small city-state named "Valley of the Wind" which pledged alliance with Torumekia, is now forced to join Torumekian to invade Dorok Empire. This war will change her life and the fate of human race forever. (Source: ANN)

Description:

Is a manga which Miyazaki wrote for a newspaper targeted for children. It is more of a graphic novel than a manga, since most of the text are written outside of the frames and there are very few dialogue bubbles (though towards the end of the story, it moved closer to the traditional manga style). The surprisingly dark story deals with the devastation of war, betrayal, and the ugliness of the human nature under desperate situations, including deaths of several characters. One can see the influence of TEZUKA Osamu in the art style of this manga (as in most of the manga written in this time), but you can also clearly see the style and motives you find in Miyazaki's later works such as "Nausicaä". In a sense, this is a prototype of "Nausicaä".