Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

An incredible journey. If you've seen the movie, it corresponds roughly with the two first books, albeit in a bit simplified manner. The manga is more of the same, but delves much deeper into the dynamics of the world and builds upon the same themes of environmentalism, anti-war and sacrifice. The manga is more gritty, the horrors of war and its effects on the psyche are not downplayed and all this culminates in a highly thought-provoking philosophical combat about existence itself.

I could find some parallels with Frank Herbert's Dune, with a hostile world that is much more than it seems at first glance, and with a messianic figure, a noble from far away lands who befriends the natives and trancends their role to become a determined and fierce force of their own.

In this age of political tumult and environmental crisis, I think this book is as important as ever.