A review by emily_mh
Shuna's Journey by Hayao Miyazaki

adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This graphic novel had some unique formatting in that there was more narration than speech, and what speech there was rarely occurred in speech bubbles. I actually thought it worked well for the story as it didn’t feel too wordy and at the same was able to convey lots of information. The art style itself was great, perhaps a little too sketchy for my taste, but the watercolours used were fantastic. 
The narrative itself had a wonderful fairytale-like quality to it that even on the surface level was enjoyable and well-structured. But the translator’s note by De Wit opened my eyes to richer layers of meaning and put into words some thoughts I had about the story. Namely, how the story is an allegory for [white supremacist] Western society being dependent on slave labour elsewhere and also being alienated from the production of goods, especially food. De Wit also points out both the fictional world and the [white supremacist] Western world contain “a people grown estranged from nature, a world knocked askew by greed.” There’s a definite sense of unnaturalness about the fictional world, one that is clearly mirrored in reality. I also didn’t realise how much this work influenced Miyazaki’s later works. Finally, I thought there wasn’t much to Shuna’s character but De Wit detailed how unique Shuna was in that his quest in not motivated by emergency, but by “a streak of pride and stubbornness verging on obsession”, and his desire for things to be better. Definitely a translator’s note worth reading! 

As a final note, I always love Miyazaki’s world-building and that was no different here. I love how even when there are recognisable elements, he’s always able to add some twist that firmly places the story in a different world. In this particular story, I loved the strange creatures (perhaps intentionally strange to represent our [white people’s] warped relationship with nature?) and the detailed and varied clothing brought a lot of depth. 

NB: De Wit doesn’t note the nuance of it being white supremacist Western society that is alienated and dependent on slave labour. I thought this was an important distinction to make as it is white people who have created this alienation and dependency, and people of the global majority in the West are forced to be a part of this system. 
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