‘The Pre-history Of Nausicaa’ (ナウシカ前史) is the 4th release from the Hayao Miyazaki Imageboards series of art books published by Iwanami Shoten; the earlier titles are namely for Castle In The Sky, Nausicaa as well as Totoro.
As the title might suggest, this book showcases concept art work for several animated projects that Hayao Miyazaki ( when he was in his 20s ) developed and explored prior to Nausicaa. Although none of them actually came to fruition, the visual development work laid down eventually culminated in the creation of Nausicaa, Castle In The Sky as well as Princess Mononoke, with familiar character designs that are immediately recognizable.
Out of the 188 pieces of art work collected in this book, 58 have never been released before until now. Having reviewed many and also read most, if not all of Miyazaki’s released art books, it is truly fascinating to see his early works showcased in this book, especially those that are been released for the first time ever. There is also a short section at the end of the book where renowned Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki talks about each of the projects and ideas.
Publisher book synopsis – Hayao Miyazaki creates hand-drawn illustrations to conceive his ideas for his films and to communicate the concepts to his staff. These are called “image boards”. Hayao Miyazaki Image Board Series is a complete collection of Miyazaki’s “image board” artwork held at Studio Ghibli including unpublished works. In this large book with a trim size of 35.0 x 27.7 cm (12.8 x 10.1 in), portrait, the illustrations are reproduced at or close to their original size, in its true colors and texture of the original drawings realized by high-quality printing. Discover how the fascinating world of Miyazaki’s creation begins.
(above & below) These fold-out imageboards for a fantasy/Japanese period themed anime project look absolutely fabulous, especially with the large print size.
(above & below) These concept art pieces bear strong resemblance to the God Warrior from Nausicaa as well as the robot from Castle In The Sky.
(image above) One of the animated projects that Miyazaki was developing and exploring was ‘ROWLF’, originally a comic by renowned artist Richard Corben.
So far, all of the books from the Hayao Miyazaki Imageboards Series have been excellent, and this 4th book is the latest worthy addition. I’ll go further to say that of all the titles released so far, this book is the most fascinating and exciting for me to read because of the previously unreleased art work featured. Very highly recommended.
I also recommend checking out all the other three books from the series, namely Castle In The Sky, Nausicaa as well as Totoro.
“The Pre-history Of Nausicaa Imageboards ナウシカ前史 宮﨑駿イメージボード全集 4” details :
Dimensions – 2.68 x 25.7 x 36.4 cm
Softcover, 192 pages
Full color, In Japanese language
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Nausicaa Imageboards Art Book Review
Castle In The Sky Imageboards Art Book Review
My Neighbor Totoro Imageboards Art Book Review
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July 24th, 2025 at 3:16 am
Hey thanks for sharing! It’s really cool to see some of the concept art for Rowlf. I remember reading about it in Starting Point. I think this is really cool, but I’m a bit on the fence about buying it, since a lot of these pieces were in the Nausicaä Watercolor Impressions book.
Minor correction: I think Miyazaki would have been in his 30s when he made these? If I recall, he was about 40 when the first chapter of the manga was released.
So, does this mean that Porco Rosso is next? I recently got a copy of The Art of Kiki’s Delivery Service at a thrift shop (great find), and it’s interesting, because I’m pretty sure it’s the only Miyazaki-directed movie where Hayao did not draw the image boards for. If this is a Miyazaki series, they may skip it for that reason.
July 27th, 2025 at 2:27 am
Coffee – Oh, about his age when he drew these art work, I was merely transcribing the information that the publisher provided, perhaps it was over a span of time over his 20s/30s ? I’m not entirely sure.
I do hope the publisher will release books for all the movies that he worked on, with the exception of Kiki’s as you mentioned.