Hayao Miyazaki

This is the first time I believe this story has been translaed to Spanish, and the timing couldn't have been more auspicious given Hayao earned his second Oscar. I am uncertain if this edition was translated directly from Japanese or it is a second translation over the English version. One part of the text mentions it is a Japanse -> Spanish translation. But at the same time, the book includes a 3 page message from the English language translator.

As I expected, even though this edition was printed in Mexico City, the translation is in Spain Spanish instead of a neutral Latin American. It isn't badly translated per se, but it does use some seseo verb tenses and unusual words that are not in common use in Latin America.

What we do get is very high quality printing with glorious riveting colors. So while I might regard some linguistic preference reservations about the translation despite being a Mexican subsidiary of the US editorial, the printing quality is fabulous. A worthy collector's item for hardcore Ghibli Studio artwork fans.

I was always aware Hayao wrote Nausicaä manga over the years, but I never knew he wrote this story. And given my copy is the 2nd print barely fresh out of the printing house, I have high hopes sales will be good enough to entice the editorial to translate the rest of Hayao's work to Spanish. Manga sells like hot pancakes in Mexico no matter the cost, and I have high hopes Nausicaä would sell very well even if each tome was priced at 300 mxn a pop.

Given I am unfamiliar with Hayao's work, I entered this book with no prior knowledge of it, only that it instantly has artwork and character designs that were used later on in Nausicaä and The Princess Mononoke.

It is a simple story, imbued with Hayao's magical touch and a strong & brave female supporting character to help Shuna along the way. A fast read that I finished in just 1 hour, it's a fun story that can be enjoyed even by people that are not well attuned to Hayao's feature films.

Good read.… (meer)

Loosely based on a Tibetan folktale, Shuna's Journey was originally published in 1983, two years before the launch of Studio Ghibli. Reading it now, it’s this epic, ancient, futuristic, sprawling storyline full of gods and slaves and ancient decaying civilizations. It contains all the themes you come to expect from Miyazaki - particularly his focus on people grown estranged by nature and a world knocked askew by greed. It has a noble hero and a smart heroine. And yet, Shuna's Journey is not a manga proper but rather an illustrated story. It almost reads a storyboard for a film that never was. The watercolor illustrations are quite wonderous as one would expect from Miyazaki.
The storyline might be one of Miyazaki's most somber and adult stories he has ever penned. Shuna's Journey tackles themes of human trafficking making this work more teen and adult oriented than a work for children. This is not to say that older children can't understand this, it just skews more towards an older audience. I would say this is suitable for middle grade readers and up.
To have this in print, is a rare gem, and a fascinating glimpse into Miyazaki's early career. You can see in this story Miyazaki's key narrative occupations coming to life and it's a beautiful and epic thing to witness.… (meer)