Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: Watercolor Impressions (Studio Ghibli Library) [Hardcover]

Hayao Miyazaki (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: November 6, 2007 | Series: Studio Ghibli Library (Book 1)

From the vaults of Academy Award-winning director, Hayao Miyazaki! Original watercolor illustrations used as concept sketches for both the manga and film versions of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Take a peek behind the curtain to see the creative process of the most acclaimed anime director in the world today. This full-color, over-sized, hardcover book also includes Miyazaki's earliest sketches that eventually became the basis for some of the most beloved anime movies of the past 20 years.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's most beloved animation directors. In September 2005 he was awarded the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement, and his Studio Ghibli received the Festival's Osella Award for overall achievement in 2004. Miyazaki's films include Spirited Away, winner of the 2002 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle, all of which have received great acclaim in the U.S. Miyazaki's other achievements include the highly regarded manga series Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which is published in English by VIZ Media. Nausicaä, like many of the director's movies, is now available on DVD in the U.S.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; 1 edition (November 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421514990
• ISBN-13: 978-1421514994
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 1.1 x 10.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #346,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hayao Miyazaki is the prominent director of many popular animated feature films. He is also the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, the award-winning Japanese animation studio and production company behind worldwide hits such as PRINCESS MONONOKE, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE and SPIRITED AWAY.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful impressions April 14, 2010

By Parka TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Length: 0:32 Mins

Here's the other art book for Nausicaa, the other being The Art of Nausicaa, which is in Japanese and not available to English as it wasn't translated. This one collects all the art created using watercolour for both the manga and film.

About half of the book is on the manga. There aren't any comic panels but you'll see a lot of covers, such as those he did for Animage, a Japanese anime and entertainment magazine. The covers are printed huge, often fullpage. Very beautiful and feels very different from the mainstream manga with the use of watercolour. If you remove the dust jacket, you'll see some of the Animage covers that have been published.

For the film section, there are storyboards, background concept art and character designs. Since I've the other art book as well, I see a bit of duplication of drawings, but printed in different sizes.

There's plenty of accompanying commentary for the art. He talks about everything from his thoughts on drawing covers, which he dislikes, and drawing Nausicaa (character) out of character, which he dislike even more. You'll find a lot of interesting stuff regarding clashes with his artistic vision for the manga and film at that time. At the back is a longer piece of interview which looks at how the idea of making Nausicaa came about.

All the drawings that appear in this book are drawn by Miyazaki, dating way back to 1982. It's amazing to see how far Miyazaki has come.

Nausicaa and Miyazaki fans will find this book to be a nice collectible.

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressions, indeed! November 25, 2007

By Arash Mohebbi

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I ordered this more out of curiosity than anything else, expecting a fairly slim volume on a par with the Nausicaa comics: instead, it comes in as a pretty hefty tome, with many of Miyazaki's covers and "thinking out loud on paper" moments. His commentary (mainly captions to each image) is humble and reveals an intriguing glimpse into the mind of one of Japan's most famous and prolific Anime directors. I mean seriously, you'd never read a Pixar or Disney director apologies about "I didn't want to do a magazine cover, but the art director was insistent", or even revealing his intent to use Oni as main characters early in preproduction (yeah, those never made it to the final film).

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A rare and interesting look into Miyazaki's Nausicaa October 17, 2008

By Christian Jaeschke

Format:Hardcover

This book is excellent. It combines great concept art, poster art and background info on the Nausicaa movie and manga by Hayao Miyazaki. The attention to detail and research undertaken to create Nausicaa and the world she inhabits is breath taking. The progression of basic ideas (wanting to do a Japanese period drama anime of 'Beauty and the Beast') to final concept (creating 'Nausicaa' as we see her today) was especially interesting to me. This book is a high-quality coffee-table book. The only downside is that many of Miyazaki's comments on his work are especially self-deprecating. Cheer up mate! Highly recommended. 10/10

I don't know if the other Art of Nausicaa book found at Amazon is similar or the same. Can anyone help there?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best companion for the movie and the manga October 2, 2008

By Roberto C. Miranda Espejel

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I received this item some days ago, and it's far beyond what I expected to see, the size is big enough to fully appreciate the beauty of every image (each one is complemented with commentaries from Miyazaki himself).

This is, in my opinion a must have for any Nausicaa fan, there are individual sections for the movie and the manga, and even a section for other images, always in the Nausicaa universe.

It's so amazing, well worth the price

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully published book. January 22, 2013

By DubDarek777

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Must have for any Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli fan. Beautifully published book. My aspiring artist teenage daughter loved it as a Christmas gift.

5.0 out of 5 stars Nausicaa's art book is an amazing gem! November 24, 2012

By A. Zugel

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The Studio Ghibli art book series is marvelous. The images are well laid out with great infomation about the film and the film process. If you are a Miyazaki fan I would highly recommend this series.

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful artwork July 4, 2011

By Sozaku Nixe

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I absolutely love this book I've had it for almost a year now and just can't stop looking through it. Miyazaki's watercolors are amazing and this is a wonderful collection of his watercolors for Nausicaa. It also has a section that shows how the characters progressed over time into what they are in the manga and anime. Wonderful gift for any Miyazaki lover.

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great title from Studio Ghibli Library June 28, 2011

By Stop Motion Maniac

Format:Hardcover

This Studio Ghibli Library title is slightly different than most of the others. It's a hardback, and it also comes with a dust cover. The book is 208 pages, but contains no screenplay from the film like most of the other titles.

The book is divided into the following chapters:

Illustrations done for the Nausicaa manga
Images drawn for the Nausicaa motion picture
Motifs that inspired Nausicaa
Interview with Hayao Miyazaki
Period Drama as Motif
Early History of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Hayao Miyazaki Sketchbook

This title follows a slightly different layout and ordering, but I've enjoyed it nonetheless.

Highly recommended.