Shuna's Journey/Trivia

Trivia about Shuna's Journey includes:

Fountain of Expies: Instead of a single character being exported over and over again, there are multiple characters exported to separate works at Studio Ghibli. The yakul species was exported straight into Yakul in Princess Mononoke. Shuna himself has traits from both Princess Nausicaä and Asbel, and his journey to the west resembles Ashitaka's story in Princess Mononoke. Thea resembles Therru from Tales From Earthsea, her hairstyle being a particular similarity.
- The characters aren't the only things exported. Some locations were moved straight into other Ghibli productions. The farm where the golden grains grow resembles the forest in Princess Mononoke and the bottom layer of the Sea of Decay in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Shuna's village is analogous to the Valley of the Wind.

[Thea] is cousin to Sophie in Howl's Moving Castle (2004), San in Princess Mononoke (1997), and of course Nausicaä.

—Alex Dudok de Wit, Note from the translator

No Export for You: The graphic novel was published in 1983, but despite from one of the most beloved creators in Japan, it was never exported until 2022. There is perfectly good reason to export it, to capitalise on the Hayao Miyazaki name after the success of films such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, but that never happened. After a decade of no films from Miyazaki, the graphic novel was finally exported.

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