'Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind' Manga Box Set Review: Peerless And Entirely Epic

Posted on July 29, 2026 in business-finance

Arguably one of the finest manga ever created is Hayao Miyazaki’s manga for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and this box set is genuinely wonderful.

Originally released back in 2012, this two-part hardback box set release is now available again for the very reasonable asking price of $50.81, and there’s more here to unpack than initially meets the eye.

Because I’m old, I bought the original much smaller 4-part boxset in 1995. This not only flipped the pages but also translated the Japanese onomatopoeic sounds into somewhat clumsy English equivalents.

This version is, firstly, much larger in terms of the page size, almost double in fact. Moreover, the pages are no longer flipped, so you read it the “correct” Japanese way, and the sound effects are kept in katakana with an index at the back.

The latter point may sound awkward, but you need to understand that in order to translate those sounds into English back in the 90s, Miyazaki’s art had to be changed. This version doesn’t do that and is much purer in that regard.

Despite all of this, the main translation is mostly unchanged from the 1995 version, which is fine as that was a great translation to begin with.

This edition also includes many of the colored cover art that was used for the Japanese releases, and you also get a nice poster, too.

The big thing for me, though, is that the increased page size means you can really appreciate the artistic finesse and immense scale of the story far more vividly, which brings me to the story itself.

For many, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is an anime movie, and while the movie is genuinely wonderful, compared to the manga it is only a very small part of a much larger and grander story.

For instance, yes, you have the God Warrior revived in the manga, but the nature of how that works, who revived it, and who the real “villain” is different than in the anime, and considerably more ambitious.

The anime merely depicts a border spat between a few small nations, whereas the manga is more global in reach and also deals with much of the underlying mysteries of the corrupted world the characters now live in.

Specifically, the recurring themes of unchecked technology seen in Future Boy Conan and Castle in the Sky play a much more direct and overt role in the manga, to suitably epic effect.

While this manga is by no means a new release, as the original Japanese run lasted a decade from 1984 to 1994, I am wary of spoiling the story here. There’s so much more to this narrative than what the anime movie depicted, and I want you to experience that for yourself.

Suffice to say, this manga is certainly worth your time, and this hardback box set is definitely the best and purest version you could read.

This hardback box set of the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga is available from retailers such as Amazon for $50.81.

Disclosure: Viz Media sent me this boxset for the purposes of this review.

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