This is Hayao Miyazaki's thousand page graphic novel that serves as the basis for his film of the same name, and also Princess Mononoke.

Seven or eight years ago, I used to babysit a Japanese girl who watched the movie over and over and over again. You'd think I'd know it by heart, but I could never get past the giant slugs and worms and centipedes and such. Blech!

It's interesting that those kind of movies appeal to young girls. I would think the gross-out factor would be a strike against them, but it seems like the opposite is the case.

(This coming from someone who as a girl read over and over again about a giant writhing brain--A Wrinkle in Time--and brain-eating ear slugs--novelization to The Wrath of Khan. Okay, okay, so I'm a hypocrite. Got a problem with that?) ;)

It's also where the name of the Nausicaans from Star Trek is derived.