1983 Hayao Miyazaki manga to be published in English for the first time

Shuna’s Journey journeys to North America.

What with him being the most celebrated anime director of all time, it’s easy to forget that Hayao Miyazaki is also a manga artist. Sure, he’s spent the majority of the last several decades focused primarily on creating the lion’s share of the incredible animated filmography of Studio Ghibli, but he’s able to bring that same combination of thoughtful imagination and meticulous attention to detail to the still-picture comic format as well.

As a matter of fact, the first English-language translation of one of Miyazaki’s manga has just been announced.

宮﨑さんの『シュナの旅』の英語版が、11/1に北米で発売されることになりました。翻訳は『レッド・タートル』のマイケル・デュドク・ドゥ・ヴィット監督の息子さんで、ロンドン在住のジャーナリスト・翻訳者であるアレックス・デュドク・ドゥ・ヴィットさんが担当しています。 pic.twitter.com/4wEZoqVOss

— スタジオジブリ STUDIO GHIBLI (@JP_GHIBLI) February 23, 2022

If you’re thinking “Wait a second, I didn’t know there was a manga version of Princess Mononoke, or that Nausicaa spent time riding around on a deer,” worry not, you didn’t miss those details. That’s because despite the similarities to the visual design of those two anime classics, this is actually Shuna’s Journey, which Miyazaki wrote and drew in 1983, one year before the release of Nausica of the Valley of the Wind and 14 years before Princess Mononoke hit theater screens.

▼ Cover of the Japanese collected edition of Shuna’s Journey

A:「シュナの旅」、あとがきもあわせてぜひ読んでみてください pic.twitter.com/rcXIOTcA5W

— スタジオジブリ STUDIO GHIBLI (@JP_GHIBLI) August 13, 2021

A fantasy adventure about a prince on a quest to save his mountainous homeland from the perils of an ongoing famine, Shuna’s Journey is made up of lush watercolor panels, a rarity in the manga industry where the vast majority of artwork is monochrome ink.

絵の塗りの　時間がかかりすぎる問題で

宮崎さんの　シュナの旅の
塗り方を参考にしようとおもい
頁を紐解きますが

つい　読み耽ってしまう…

新海さんの　星を追う子ども　との共通点にも
そこかしこで気付きますね　 pic.twitter.com/NhiF4DlAdC

— asatrillion@アサおけら帝国アニメ好き (@asatrillion) June 5, 2021

シュナの旅の絵本。超絶に多神教美学、このページ。
ゾワッとした、感動した。 pic.twitter.com/4UyaExncDp

— やぎぬ〜ま！３ (@Kali108Lilith) March 17, 2020

The entire tale is told in a single volume, and its English release is being handled not by one of the dedicated overseas manga publishers, but by First Second Books, a New York-based graphic novel specialist.

▼ The hero’s steed in Shuna’s Journey (right) shares its name, Yakkul, with the mount of Princess Mononoke’s Ashitaka (left).

アシタカの相棒であるヤックルは、『シュナの旅』にも登場しています。#もののけ姫 pic.twitter.com/MgLI9p9hAR

— ジブリのせかい【非公式ファンサイト】 (@ghibli_world) August 13, 2021

▼ Another comparison between Princess Mononoke (left) and Shuna’s Journey (right)

一族の長になるはずだった若者が旅先で怪僧と野営するというアイディアは、宮崎駿監督が1983年に描き下ろした絵物語「シュナの旅」にもありました。ちなみに、同作品のラジオドラマでシュナの声を演じたのはアシタカと同じく松田洋治さんです。#もののけ姫 pic.twitter.com/pogNW1cXsr

— キャッスル@ジブリフリーク (@castle_gtm) August 13, 2021

The English translation for Shuna’s Journey is being done by London-based journalist/translator Alex Dudok de Wit, whose name might be familiar to Ghibli fans. Not only is Dudok de Wit the author of an in-depth analysis of Grave of the Fireflies, his father, Michael Dudok de Wit, is the director of The Red Turtle, the 2016 French/Japanese co-production created with help from Studio Ghibli.

First Second Books’ English edition of Shuna’s Journey is scheduled for North American release on November 1, which just so happens to be the same day as the grand opening of the Ghibli theme park in Japan.

Source, top image: Twitter@JP_GHIBLI
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