But let's take a diversion to a more highbrow sort of fantasy, created by the one anime director that literally everyone knows.
SHUNA'S JOURNEY (Shuna no Tabi), by Hayao Miyazaki. First published in 1983 and first published in North America in 2022.
PLOT:
Shuna is the prince of a far-away valley, where the people work hard to scrape what sustenance they can get from its cold, thin soil. Shuna learns of a glorious golden grain, grown in a land far beyond his own. Determined to gather some for his own, he sets off on his trusted yakul. Along the way he faces off against slavers, cannibals, strange monsters, and the forces of nature itself, with only a few allies to aid him.
