About this item
Hayao Miyazaki is probably best known in the West for his films; My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service are celebrated for their lavish animation and sophisticated treatment of their young heroes. But among his many fans in Japan, his epic manga tale, Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, which Miyazaki later made into a animated movie, is often cited as his greatest work. Indeed, the Comics Journal once described the first volume as "the best graphic novel ever." Many critics favorably compare the story to such fantasy classics as C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia or J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. In Nausicaä, as in most of his work, Miyazaki centers his narrative on a strong young woman who struggles to create peace in a world torn by war.
About the Author
Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tokyo on January 5, 1941. He started his career in 1963 as an animator at the studio Toei Douga, and was subsequently involved in many early classics of Japanese animation. From the beginning, he commanded attention with his incredible ability to draw, and the seemingly-endless stream of movie ideas he proposed. In 1971, he moved to A Pro with Isao Takahata, then to Nippon Animation in 1973, where he was heavily involved in the World Masterpiece Theater TV animation series for the next five years. In 1978, he directed his first TV series, , then moved to Tokyo Movie Shinsha in 1979 to direct his first movie, the classic In 1984, he released , based on the manga (comic) of the same title which he had started two years before. The success of the film led to the establishment of a new animation studio, Studio Ghibli, at which Miyazaki has since written, directed, and produced many other films with Takahata. All of these films enjoyed critical and box office successes. In particular, Miyazaki's received the Japan Academy Award for Best Film and was the highest-grossing (about US$150 million) domestic film in Japan's history until it was taken over by another Miyazaki work, In addition to animation, Miyazaki also draws manga. His major work was the manga, an epic tale he worked on intermittently from 1982 to 1994 while he was busy making animated films. Another manga, , was later evolved into his film
