Nausicaa

Yes, now you know. And here, Greek princess in Homer's Odyssey, which I read when young and had no impression of Nausicaa then.

Oh, speaking of Studio Ghibli works (of which Nausicaa is one), I dug up this old old post of mine (May 2008, ok, so not that old). I've since watched most of Studio Ghibli's anime, including Totoro, Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery, etc. I didn't watch Ponyo on a Cliff earlier this year though, as I didn't have the opportunity before its run ended. Maybe later if I'm really keen:

Friends introduced me to Studio Ghibli (notably Jean!) after they returned from the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo Japan. Previously heard of Totoro, a popular work by that studio, but never watched it as there were never any English subs. I know I know, most of the films are now distributed by Walt Disney and should be fully English (tho I would still prefer to watch it in Japanese audio and read subs). Actually the most well known film here is probably Spirted Away, which I didn't watch either, cos I think the reviews for it weren't that great if I remember correctly. Anyhow, to cut the long story short, lately have been trawling CD stores for the Studio Ghibli productions after picking up one, "Howl's Moving Castle" (which I just found out is based on a British book!). Despite being quite confused by some points in the storyline, I enjoyed the presentation of the characters, esp the girl and little boy, Markl and the fire, Calsifier. I'm now thinking of getting the book to clear up some points and see if it is nice too. I know some people don't read the book after seeing the movie or vice versa but sometimes I like to do both and each can have its own charm and anyway, most of the time the two are not really identical.

Howl's Moving Castle is probably the first Studio Ghibli anime I watched, if my poor memory doesn't serve me wrong. I also bought the CD and the book. I blogged about it last year too:

Well, found and finished Howl's Moving Castle, the Dianna Wynne Jones book (tho not the one with this cover) on which the Ghibli animation was based on. As I mentioned, books and their adaptations can be wildly different and this was the case here. Can clearly see where the director of the animation has headed in his own direction and frankly the movie has a rather different storyline altogether that only shares two similarities - the aging of Sophie & the contract Calsifier has with Howl. Up for borrowing too...

Oh, realised there's quite an extensive wiki entry on it too! But only to be visited after you read as there are quite a few spoilers.

Generally, in most of Studio Ghibli's works, the anime is very different from the manga/original work. Case in point is Nausicaa, Valley of the Wind. In that it may be confusing that the characters actually even change their traits.