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click below for sample pages
"Shuna" is an all-watercolor manga published under Animage JuJu
Bunko (Bunko is in smaller size than ordinary manga tankobons). It is more
like a picture book than a manga, since it has only one or two panels per page,
and no balloons for dialogues. Published in 1983, Shuna is considered
by some as a Nausicaä prototype. Compared to Miyazaki's
anime work, the story of Shuna is very dark and intense. But as in his
other works, it is filled with characters possessing a strong will to live,
and ends with hope.
The visuals are stunning. It is beautifully and delicately colored in watercolor. There are many familiar images which you also find in Miyazaki's later movies, such as giants, ruins overgrown with plants, a boy, a girl, and goats.
THE STORY
Shuna is a prince of a very poor country. His people have very little that they can grow on their poor land, and are starving. Shuna hears of the Land of the Gods and of the Golden Wheat growing there, and so he journeys there to bring the seeds back to his people.
After a very long and hard journey, he finally reaches the Land of the Gods, and steals some seeds. But he is severely punished for his crime. However he is nursed back to health by a girl whom he once rescued from slavery, and who now lives in a mountain village. She also plants Shuna's seeds and protects them from the elements. Eventually, the crop season comes, and she now has to choose a husband...
Fan translation (panel-by-panel)
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The manga shown here are Copyrighted by Nibariki/Tokuma Shoten/Viz
Communications/and other respective right holders. The artwork and translations of published material are reproduced here only for the purpose of encouraging interest in, and discussion about, the works of Miyazaki. |
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