[...] (a friend via Twitter) for his marathon research in documenting every second cut from Miyazaki’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind to create Warriors of the Wind and the cuts made to the original Japanese programs to make the [...]

[...] Miyazaki’s art, and there are obvious references to individual films. The cat-fox companion from Nausicaa, the blue crystal that is the key to another world from Castle in the Sky, and the lone male [...]

[...] the first directed by Goro Miyazaki, son of Hayao Miyazaki. [...]

Ah, this is interesting; the Wikipedia page for the manga says that there are conflicting sources for both takes on the comic’s origin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausicaa_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(manga)#Production). At least I wasn’t imagining it :)

Obviously, he eventually gave in to pressure to make an animated version after the manga became popular very quickly. Quite a bit had to be streamlined (such as Pejitei in the movie taking the roles of both Pejitei and the Dorok empire from the manga) to prevent the basic story from being changed too much, though.

I was very surprised, years later, to learn that Miyazaki had really only wanted to make the movie. Apparently when he initially pitched the film, no-one wanted to produce it because “anime movies that aren’t based on a manga won’t sell.” So Miyazaki rolled up his sleeves and created the manga, purely with the intent of using it to get his movie made. These days we tend to look down on creators who use comics purely as a stepping-stone to movies, often criticizing their intent as cynical or mercenary, and doubting their artistic integrity or their dedication to the medium. Yet despite Miyazaki’s so-called “mercenary intent,” the Nausicaa manga he created was, IMO, a masterpiece.

Food for thought!