Shuna's Journey Manga Review

An underrated manga by THE Hayao Miyazaki. It's only one volume long! It was actually published back in the 1980s but it didn't get an English translation until now (well, 2022).

Shuna's Journey follows Shuna, who is the prince of a small valley in the mountains which is experiencing a famine. One day Shuna meets a traveler who has some small golden seeds that are unable to be planted, but the traveler tells Shuna that he can find a giant field where golden grain grows to feed his people. The field is in the far west where the moon resides. 

On his journey he runs into some slave traders, and rescues two girls from them. One is named Thea and the other girl is her sister. They are supposedly fallen princesses. Shuna tells Thea his plan, and she is happy for him and tells him if he succeeds, she should meet him in a village in the north. 

But Shuna then hears from another traveler that the place Shuna needs to get to so he can find the all the golden grain is hard to reach. 

Well, that's all I can tell you before it gets into spoilers. You'll have to read the manga to see if Shuna accomplishes his quest and meets Thea again!

I also found out that the story is based off of Tibetan folklore. This is my first time reading something inspired by Tibetan folklore!

I loved this book so much. I love anything Hayao Miyazaki puts out. He really is a masterful storyteller. Shuna's Journey reminded me a lot of Miyazaki's other works Nausicaa the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke. So if you like those movies, you'll like this too!

With all this gushing I gave it 5 stars. 

Do you like Hayao Miyazaki's movies or any other Studio Ghibli movie (they're not all directed by him)?