Book Description
Inspired by Gulliver’s Travels and set in the legendary days of the first flying machines in the 19th century, Castle in the Sky features evil pirates, power-mad secret agents, and Sheeta, a young girl wearing a mysterious blue stone around her neck. The stone lets Sheeta defy gravity — and float down into the life of Pazu, a tough young orphan boy. Imaginative settings, dramatic air battles, and memorable characters distinguish this classic Miyazaki adventure. In Volume I, Sheeta and her new friend Pazu must uncover the legendary secrets linking Sheeta's stone to the dangers and mysteries of Laputa, the Castle in the Sky.
Castle in the Sky Book 1 FROM THE PUBLISHER
Inspired by Gulliver's Travels and set in the legendary days of the first flying machines in the 19th century, Castle in the Sky features evil pirates, power-mad secret agents, and Sheeta, a young girl wearing a mysterious blue stone around her neck. The stone lets Sheeta defy gravity ﾽ and float down into the life of Pazu, a tough young orphan boy. Imaginative settings, dramatic air battles, and memorable characters distinguish this classic Miyazaki adventure. In this entry, the prize everyone is searching for is now very near. But will both sides destroy each other before they can set foot on Laputa?
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Director Miyazaki's animated films Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away are immensely popular among the manga/anime set. This is the four-part print adaptation of his third children's film, from 1986, which Disney released on DVD in April. The story concerns Sheeta, a princess in exile from the lost aerial kingdom Laputa, and her orphaned inventor friend Pazu, as they're chased by various scary military types and assisted by air pirates as they try to rescue a magic levitation stone. Miyazaki's production design is gorgeous, and the full-color reproduction is nicely authentic-anime buffs will drool over the floating city, cleverly retro-looking airships, half-rusted giant robot soldiers, lush landscapes and sensitively handled lighting in every scene. As with Miyazaki's other stories, the plot provides one enormous spectacle after another, almost nonstop action with very little actual violence. But the adaptation is simply a series of images captured from the movie, and much is lost in translation (both from Japanese into English and from motion into still frames). The ornately orchestrated set pieces that are Miyazaki's hallmark are often static or baffling on the page. Devotees of the movie will enjoy the chance to pore over its details in a facsimile of the Japanese manga version (there's even a glossary for the original Japanese sound effects), but the uninitiated are likely to be perplexed. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
KLIATT - George Galuschak
Castle in the Sky begins ominously: an air-ship, pursued by a band of pirates, cuts across stormy skies. The pirates force their way onboard, and in the ensuing battle Sheeta, a mysterious young girl, leaps out a window to evade capture. She does not fall; the sky swallows her. Sheeta floats gently through the air, and finally drifts into a mining town, where she lands in the arms of a boy named Pazu. Pazu is an orphan, an amateur inventor, and a handy guy to have around when pirates are chasing you. Dola, the pirates' leader, is a cross between the Sea Hag (of Popeye fame) and Pippi Longstocking, and she wants the strange-looking blue stone that Sheeta wears round her neck, the stone she believes gives Sheeta the ability to fly. Pazu and Sheeta must run away—from Dola and her hairy-chested sons, from government agents and tanks, and finally from gravity. Castle in the Sky, based on the movie of the same name, has a dreamy, fantastic air. The floating/flying sequences are especially well done. This manga is in full color, with English words and Japanese sound effects; a handy glossary at the end translates sounds such as Whoop-Whoop-Whoop, Ka-Thum, and evil grin. The volume is the first of four parts, and I recommend purchasing all four (especially since the first part ends in a cliffhanger). Suitable for junior high schoolers on up, this is a fine purchase for libraries with manga collections. (Vol. 1 of 4). KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 1986, VIZ, 164p. illus., Ages 12 to 18.
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