Books like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 7

I need six stars for this volume.No, I need sixty.I can't even begin to react to this. The story, the incredible and wonderful characters, the world and its mind-blowing history... to describe and evaluate them is beyond my capabilities.What I will say is this: This series was finished long after the movie we all know and love was released. And while said film was the start of something wonderful (Studio Ghibli, to a large extent), I wish the manga had been finished first.If the film followed the manga to the letter, it would be an epic to rival Lord Of The Rings.And I cannot say that lightly.But I will explain why I say it. One, length; a proper Nausicaa film would be at minimum double the length of the original, and likely closer to triple or even quadruple. It would probably be broken up into several volumes, and that would be fine because this story is worth it. Two, scope; though their focuses and messages are different, both Nausicaa and LOTR are about really, truly, saving the world. Three, power; in this respect, at least for me, Miyazaki surpasses Tolkein.I have this mental image of a world in which Nausicaa is as long as it deserves to be on film. There would be day-long gatherings to watch Miyazaki movies, culminating appropriately enough in Nausicaa. Groups of fans would sit in awe for hours, so enraptured that their popcorn would go cold and the butter on it congeal. Drinks would sit abandoned until they went flat- or until someone punching the air in jubilation missed the air and knocked them over. Still, no one would dare pause the movie. And afterwards, when night had fallen (as surely it must), they would all sit back and close their eyes and rest in amazed stupor.The philosophical discussion that would arise when everyone had reconfigured their brains would be lengthy, and morning light would find this imaginary group still hard at it, arguing about morality and war and environmentalism and peace and nurturing and history and truth and faith and love. And more than that.I wish Mr. Miyazaki would make that movie.