This is a manga that Miyazaki wrote for a newspaper aimed at children. It functions more like a graphic novel than a traditional manga, as most of the text appears outside the panels and there are very few speech bubbles (although toward the end of the story, it shifts closer to the conventional manga style). The surprisingly dark narrative addresses the devastation of war, betrayal, and the ugliness of human nature in desperate circumstances, including the deaths of several characters. The influence of Osamu Tezuka is visible in the art style of this manga (as it is in most manga from this era), but the style and motives characteristic of Miyazaki's later works, such as "Nausicaä," are also clearly present. In a way, this serves as a prototype for "Nausicaä."