Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Overview: Nausicaa came out in 1984 and was the 2nd movie ever directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was also one of only 2 Miyazaki movies that was based on one of his original manga. The other was "The Wind Rises" in 2013. Nausicaa is an unusual movie, so it often gets overlooked and it is among the most underrated Miyazaki movies here in the US. A large part of the problem was an absolutely BUTCHERED port of the movie called "Warriors of the Wind" released by Disney in the 1980s. Nausicaa was intended to teach morals to a younger audience, but was NOT purely a children'smovie in the way that Disney executives wanted it to be. 25 minutes of footage including all of the violent scenes were cut out. The anti-war theme was removed. The mutant insects representing nature were changed to be evil and the giant robot representing Nuclear warfare was changed to being presented as good! In effect, "Warriors of the Wind" preached the EXACT opposite message of what Miyazaki intended! A few of Disney's changes were at least understandable in the context of the 1980s and corporate marketing. Nausicaa could hardly be marketed to small children as a "Disney Princess" if she went into a berserker blood rage and brutally murders 4 soldiers with a God damn war hammer. Yep, Nausicca fights Robert Baratheon style! (this actually happens in the film!) Disney destroyed Nausicaa by trying to change it into purely a small children's film, which it was never intended to be! Fortunately, Nausicaa was FINALLY re-released in the West in its original form...in 2005! Plot: 10/10 Nausicaa takes place in a post apocalyptic world, several hundred years after a global war destroyed most of the planet's life in just 7 days. The majority of the planet is covered by toxic jungle and dominated by mutant insects. The majority of the planet's soil was so polluted by the war, that the only plants that adapted and survived were highly radioactive and toxic to humans. Although it later turns out that these future flora can be raised to be non-toxic if grown in some of the remaining clean soil. Nausicaa is the princess of the small Wind Valley civilization squeezed between 2 perpetually warring military juggernauts, much like the US and USSR. Nausicaa is one of very few humans left alive who still believes that nature hasn't turned its back on mankind and works to reconcile mankind with nature. She desires to learn how to live with the mutant insects and de-toxify the forest rather than try exterminate the insects and burn down all the forests to make way for more cities. Nausicaa unwillingly becomes involved in a massive war between the 2 neighboring superpowers and must stop a plot to resurrect one the giant, organic, WMDs that caused the apocalypse in the first place. Nausicaa must find a way to both end the war, and stop the insects from wiping out mankind, which is a pretty tall order for most princesses! I don't want to spoil too much, but the plot, adventure, world building, and allegories are absolutely spectacular for a young adult movie, especially factoring in the time in which this was written. Themes, messages, and execution: 10/10 Nausicaa takes on many themes and messages for a young adult film. Nausicaa broke the 1980s mold of American "good guys" and "evil" Soviets and instead presented both military superpowers as deeply misguided, but not innately evil. In fact, even the film's villains are morally ambiguous and have sympathetic characteristics, which was completely outside the norm for most movies in the mid 1980s, ESPECIALLY movies aimed at young people. The movie is un-apologetically feminist, but not in a way that seems forced, preachy, or obnoxious. I don't think I need to explain that this wasn't normal in 1980s Japan where female characters were either getting constantly captured (Hi Yuria from Hokuto) raped, or both. Usually it was both. Nausicaa managed to have a strong environmentalist message without turning to crap like Captain Planet or fucking Birdemic. That is actually a lot harder than you might think! There are very few actually GOOD environmentalist movies. Most make the mistake to be simultaneously obnoxious and preachy, while at the same time blaming pollution on a few "bad guys" instead of mankind as a whole. This leads viewers to mistakenly think that they aren't contributing to the problem and don't need to do anything, unless they are a corporate scumbag dumping tons of toxic waste into the ocean for the lulz! Nausicaa also manages to teach a strongly pacifistic message during a time when nearly ALL popular movies were pro war like Rambo 2 and 3, Red Dawn, Commando, etc. WE are good and WE must exterminate THEM because THEY are BAD! That was the basic message of nearly every fucking American movie in the 1980s. Nausicaa not only bucked nearly every social trend of its time, but it delivered Miyazaki's personal values and opinions in a way that was nuanced and well done instead of propaganda beaten in with a meat tenderizer (see 1980s anti-drug commercials). If you are politically to the right, you MAY take a disliking to Nausicaa since it is probably the most leftwing film NOT directed by Sergei Eisenstein. However, it is an extremely well made film, so you SHOULD appreciate it no matter what your political opinions are. For example, I am not politically far right, but I think Triumph of the Will is on a purely technical level one of the best films ever made. I will even begrudgingly admit Gone With the Wind is a great film...although I like Triumph a lot more. Basically, don't listen to someone who says Nausicaa sucks due to its political leanings. That is bullshit! Art: 9/10 The art and specifically the fluidity of the animation isn't quite on par with some of Ghibli's later works. It doesn't look nearly as pretty as Mononoke or Spirited Away. However, it looks AMAZING relative to most other anime of the 1980s. Only a few 1980s anime movies like Akira and arguably Ghost in the Shell really look significantly better than Nausicaa. Music: 9/10 The Wind Village flute theme will get stuck in your head for months! I deduct 1 point for deadly ear worm status! Overall: 10/10 Nausicaa is an underrated masterpiece! I basically can't praise this movie enough. If you haven't seen it yet, go out and do so. Also if you had the misfortune of having to see "Warriors of the Wind" PLEASE go and watch the original. It is a LOT better!

TITLE: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind MANGA, ANIME: Nausicaa was originally a manga with story and art done by Hayao Miyazaki (Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away) that, ironically enough, was only created so that the movie could eventually be made, as Toshio Suzuki, the producer, couldn't get money for a film that wasn't based on a manga. It was serialized in Animage magazine from February of 1982 to March of 1994, and was licensed Stateside by Viz Media, and consists of a total of seven collected volumes. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was created before Studio Ghibli actually existed and distributed byToei, but is considered to be the first of its movies, and was directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was released theatrically in Japan on March 4th, 1984. It was first bought Stateside by New World Pictures in the 1980s as a horribly butchered version known as Warriors of the Wind, which caused Ghibli to add a no editing clause to all of its future licensing contracts. When Disney licensed the Ghibli movies, they rereleased the movie in its original uncut format and redid the dub track, coming to DVD on February 22nd, 2005. STORY: A millenium after the "Seven Days of Fire" that destroyed the world as we knew it, forests of poisonous plants and fungi and giant bugs are spreading through the world, isolating and swallowing human settlements. Nausicaa is the humane princess of one of the few untouched human settlements known as the Valley of the Wind, known for its peaceful inhabitants. However, an airship that crashes in the Valley and its cargo will expose the Valley to the machinations of its larger, more powerful, warlike neighbors... Nausicaa is considered to be Miyazaki's life's work in many circles of anime fans. And I can honestly believe that; the effort that went into the story in weaving together so many differing subplots into one coherent whole that merges at the story's end. There are, that I can remember off the top of my head, two political subplots, two involving the poisonous forests, two involving weapons to destroy the forest, and probably a few plot threads I'm missing somewhere in there. The environmental themes can get a bit heavy handed at times, and the fairly black-and-white dichotomy of the characters seems a bit simplistic. Also, you can see Miyazaki archetypes developing in most of the characters; there's the kind, resourceful young heroine (Nausicaa), the older, mature woman who has lost her way but is redeemed in the end (Kushana), the plucky young male sidekick (Asbel), the older wise woman (Obaba) and man (Lord Yupa) mentor figures, and, unfortunately, they aren't characterized much beyond that. ART: The Ghibli character design conventions are clearly being developed here; big hair, small noses, and a very specific eye style. However, the animation itself is still incredibly exquisite; the backgrounds, Ohmu herd scenes, and the jungle and its creatures are amazingly designed, and the animation sequences themselves are incredibly beautiful. MUSIC: Joe Hisaishi did the work on the music for this, as he has on all of the Ghibli films since. However, this one is tinged with a little more of 80s influence; there are synthesizers that run rampant through the music, and while they're used to pretty decent effect and blend with the orchestral parts of the pieces, it dates the music. SEIYUU: I haven't really watched the subbed version of this in quite some time, but, for the most part, from what I can remember, it was a pretty good job on the Japanese end of things, and I recognize some of the seiyuu from other productions (one was Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke, most notably). VOICE ACTORS: I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm beyond pleased at the English voicework for Nausicaa. Some of the names on the production include Patrick Stewart (Star Trek), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), Shia LeBeouf (Transformers), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), and Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica), and they all do an amazing job voicing their characters and not making them sound ridiculous or like their voicework doesn't fit the character. DUB: Again, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I have absolutely no criticism whatsoever for the dubwork on this. Translations are done accurately, there's no intentional flubbing of the original meaning, and it's fairly well done. Yes, some of the expository dialogue and the dialogue that states what they're doing as the character does it (there's a name for it, I'm sure of it) is kind of annoying, but, really, it could be far, far worse. LENGTH: The movie starts to drag about an hour and a half in, but the creators recognize it and pick up the pace at that time. The overall pacing is slow, but builds towards the climax of the film. OVERALL: A slower-paced film with an excellent interweaving of subplots into a coherent whole with slightly archetypal Miyazaki characters, beautiful art and animation, if beginning to show the Ghibli character design archetypes, wonderful if slightly dated music, solid seiyuu, and amazing voice acting and dub work in English. Definitely worth a watch. STORY: 8/10 ART: 8/10 MUSIC: 7/10 SEIYUU: 8/10 VOICE ACTORS: 9/10 DUB: 8/10 LENGTH: 8/10 OVERALL: 56/70; 80% (B)

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is a 1984 Japanese Animated movie, and it marks the very beginning of one of the most beloved film studios of all time, Studio Ghibli. The studio was not founded up until 1985, one year after the release of Nausicaa, with the studio's first official production being Castle in the Sky, which hit the theaters in 1986. Regardless, Nausicaa is still often considered to be the first Ghibli film by many, and for good reasons. If you don't know the name Ghibli, then I do hope some of it's productions ring a bell to you. Studio Ghibli createdsome of the most amazing movies such as Spirited Away, Grave of the Fireflies and Princess Mononoke. When you compare Princess Mononoke, which was released in 1997, to Nausicaa, you will spot a lot of similarities between the two. Although Mononoke is full of green landscapes, lush meadows, and dense forests, while Nausicaa's world is full of dry wastelands, poisonous mushroom woods and huge insects, they both share a lot of similarities and themes with each other. Both movies are about the coexistence of man and nature, and while both are full fledged epic adventure stories with a lot of spectacular visualized action, at a cost they are driven by a pacifistic anti-war message, which is fully expressed by the character of Nausicaa herself. Nausicaa is a young princess who lives in a distant future, where the world has been destroyed by some catastrophic event or a nuclear war. All that is left in the world of Nausicaa are big wastelands, poisonous forests and many other frightening dangers that roam the Earth. Meanwhile, two nations are at war, and Nausicaa's home, the small valley of the wind, is stuck in the middle of the conflict. Nausicaa is a wonderful protagonist. She is strong, inspirational, caring and loving, brave and always concerned about the well-being of her people as well as all living things. She is a character that every little girl, and even boy can look up to, and creating strong characters is something that runs through the whole of Hayao Miyazaki. While he did not direct all of Ghibli's films, his name is often synonymously used when talking about them. He is without a doubt not only one of Japan's greatest film makers, but one of Cinema's greatest artists. Nausicaa was adapted from the first two volumes of the original manga by the same name, which Miyazaki himself wrote and drew. All together the manga was created in between the time span of 1982 and 1994, containing a full 7 volumes, so I do think that this should have been a TV series instead of a movie. Miyazaki has created a little epic with Nausicaa. Already the first scenes radiate an enormous atmosphere and magic. You can see our lead protagonist on a trip to a mushroom forest, equipped with a breathing mask and a glider, she sets out on a journey of discovery to get to know the world of insects. It is a post apocalyptic world that has been destroyed by mankind hundreds or thousands of years ago in what is only said to be "The seven days of fire", which already hints at the vast destructive power of mankind and intrigues the viewer enough to watch it. The setting of Nausicaa is amazing. What Miyazaki and his team created here looks absolutely fantastic, and despite the prevailing destruction in the film, everything seems eerily alive and literally captivates the viewer, which is certainly fitting to the character of our heroine Nausicaa. She also sees the beauty of everything around her, and my favorite moments are the scenes in which she delves deeper into those mysterious poisonous forests, where everything around her is deadly, and yet also filled with beauty and wonder. Equally as important to the visuals, is the movie's musical score. This movie marks the first collaboration with composer Joe Hisaichi. Hisaichi moved on to score all of Miyazaki's films, and his music is among the very best, alongside that of composers like John Williams and Ennio Morricone. His music is captivating as always and makes a significant contribution to the magic of this film. The soundtrack includes some very atmospheric and harmonic pieces, and also contains some very aggressive songs that sound extremely electronic, and I love every second of it. Every time a piece was played during an epic scene, it made the scene even better and more exciting to watch. I find it also remarkable how often there is no musical score and the film just plays ambient sounds, dialogue or action, but then at a perfect moment, the music sets in and makes your heart rate go up. Nasuicaa features a lot of great action, the conflict between insects and humans, as well as the interpersonal conflicts that offer a lot of room for amazing set pieces. The fights are fought not only with guns, but also with swords, which plays to the film's medieval touch with kingdoms and princesses. There are also many flight sequences with big and small airships, which is very typical for Miyazaki, who loves the concept of flying. The insects look incredible, from the smallest one to the giant ones that give a sense of great danger. Of course there are also many quiet and thoughtful moments that radiate warmth and familiarity, giving viewers access to the world of Nausicaa and it's characters. Overall, the film has some brutal parts, but it can definitely be recommended to a younger audience, and that is thanks to it's young, super sympathetic and brave title character Nausicaa, and the important message that is conveyed by the film. When it was released in 1984, it even got the recommendation from the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) because of it's environmental and peaceful message. In a world that appears so threatening, a world where nations have huge flying armies, our heroine gracefully flies through the air with just her glider, a glider that has no guns attached. Nausicaa does use weapons in the film, but mostly to defend herself or to carefully stop a negative situation from occurring and taking place. She is someone who is curious, who loves to explore and wants to understand the true meaning of the things around her, and she is never appalled by things like sickness or old age. She just remains loving and there are some wonderful moments where the old people of her village are speaking with kind words about her and her amazing personality. If there is one thing I hated about the movie, it is that all of the stuff with the different kingdoms and what nation is doing what, this all got convoluted in the finale and became very boring to sit through. Like I also said, the movie should have been turned into a TV series instead of a movie, so that it could have fully explained some of it's aspects. These issues, as well as me seeing a much better version of the same movie (Princess Mononoke) hold me back from giving the movie a perfect 10. Moreover, the movie suffers from a slow pace at times and a long length which makes it a chore to go through rather than an enjoyable movie at times. Regardless, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is a rich and beautiful film that should be seen by everybody, especially if you are into animation and adventure films, and just stories that include a lot of fantasy. With all of that being said and done, I give Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind a score of a 7/10.

When I talk about Miyazaki, I usually speak about how he tends to just narrowly miss the mark of making an amazing film. Nausicaa is a perfect example of how Miyazaki narrowly misses the mark of creating a truly magnificent film. However, Nausicaa shows perfectly Miyazaki's attitudes towards living with nature instead of trying to exploit it. Story: The story isn't interesting, well, the basic storyline isn't all that much to really care about. There are a bunch of Deus ex Machina (god from the machine) that just really, really bugged me. Nausicaa herself is a basic Miyazaki protagonist, she doesn'tunderstand why the evil technologically advanced people are doing what they're doing, but she knows that she has to stop them. But again, the magnificence of the story is brought out by how Miyazaki shows how technology can, and shouldn't, be used to defeat nature. He shows it incredibly well, however it's never shown in a subtle way, sometimes it feels really forced. Art: Ghibli. Almost every character is a archetype. The same stupid beards and the same faces for every female and every male character. It gets REALLY boring. There are some interesting creatures, but they're nothing to really make this anime's art any more impressive. Sound: I honestly didn't enjoy the music a lot of the time, especially now it feels incredibly boring and dated. You kind of get used to it, but it really ages this already old anime. Character: I felt that all the characters in Nausicaa were stereotypes. Unlike in Mononoke, the characters in this anime felt one-sided and boring. I didn't believe that they stood for anything and they certainly never grew or changed. I found their interactions predictable and I found myself getting bored quite a lot of the time. But it was interesting to see the stock characters that Miyazaki has created. If you watch all of his films it's very interesting to see the same characters in all of his different films. Another thing that makes Nausicaa subpar to Mononoke or Spirited Away (Miyazaki's Masterpieces) is that there is a VERY clear distinction of good and evil. This was the greatest flaw for me, the fact that there was a good and evil really kind of bugged me because it really detracted from the man vs nature theme. Enjoyment: I both like and dislike this anime. For me it reaffirms my belief that Miyazaki is not a perfect filmmaker. But I like how he grows, and Nausicaa is perfect for showing his growth as a director. I found myself bored for a lot of this anime, but I enjoyed certain scenes. Many people I know claim that this anime is a "classic" but I'm not sure if I agree with them. It is certainly not an amazing anime, but it shows the attitudes of Miyazaki in the most straightforward way. However I do believe that it's something that people should watch.