Books like Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 5 by Hayao Miyazaki

The world of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind has been devastated by the Sea of Corruption, a vast toxic forest that mutates flora and fauna and releases poisonous spores. Industrial societies have collapsed, and the planet is slowly being swallowed. At the periphery of this spreading sea, a scattered collection of small kingdoms survives on fragments of land. The Valley of the Wind, home to only about five hundred citizens, maintains its fragile stability through ocean breezes that shield it from the surrounding poison. The story follows Nausicaä, a resident of this precarious kingdom, as she navigates the dangers posed by the expanding corrosive forest, a new mutant mold threatening to consume everything, and the political tensions between the warring Dorok and Torumekian empires. Emperor Namulith seeks to unite these powers with Princess Kushana’s aid, while Nausicaä works to protect her people and preserve the delicate balance of their world.

First publish date: 2004