Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (anime)



Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a 1984 film animated by Topcraft and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on his earlier 1982 manga of the same name. It is part of the (rather small) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind franchise. The film was released in March, with a tight production schedule consisting of nine months.

Long After the End, Princess Nausicaä from a small village called the Valley of the Wind went to explore the nearby Sea of Decay. It's a place distinctively not for princesses, considering it has toxic spores that can kill in five minutes, but Nausicaä is quite a resourceful princess. Back home, everyone's lives changed when one day, a massive flying machine crashed from The Empire Tolmekia into the valley. They were carrying a God Warrior, a Living Weapon created far before the Seven Days of Fire apocalypse.

This jumpstarted an epic Coming of Age tale of war, of Nausicaä leaving behind her beloved home and getting tangled in a massive war between men and nature. The toxic Sea of Decay is spreading, and may soon engulf the world, leaving no place for human inhabitants. The military leader Princess Kushana wants to destroy the forest with the living God Warrior, but Nausicaä only wishes for peace between everyone. Although the film takes a side, it is careful to show the arguments of the other side, and never places a figure as a pure good or evil person, leading to nuanced Grey and Gray Morality.

It is a film that's still enjoyed today, and more than a few people will give you a glowing recommendation for it, despite its age. It still has an active (although small) fandom, consisting of dedicated people, and if you live in the right place, it's still being shown in cinemas, during Studio Ghibli Fest. It's still an influential film today, and there is no shortage of people willing to give it high praise.

If that's the status of the film today, imagine what the status was when the film released. The film marks the start of a Production Posse spanning three decades, between Hayao Miyazaki, Joe Hisaishi, and other Studio Ghibli staff like Isao Takahata--a group who would go on to release some of the most acclaimed films of all time. The Castle of Cagliostro is the film that signaled the start of Miyazaki's directoral career; Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is the film that signaled the start of Miyazaki's style.

"Kushana: (on her physical wounds) Whatever lucky man becomes my husband shall see far worse than that."
 * Adaptation Distillation: The movie was released in 1984. The manga began in 1982 and was only finished in 1994. The first two volumes written when the movie was released contain no plot resolution. Thus the movie contains a neat two hour version of the critical themes Miyazaki wished to use, given that he made both manga and movie, and supposedly only started the manga to secure capital to make the movie.
 * Major locations, such as the Crypts of Shuwa never make it into the film.
 * Artificial Limbs: Kushana. Also Scars Are Forever - "Whatever lucky man becomes my husband shall see far worse than that."
 * Back From the Dead:
 * Big Freaking Gun: Averted, for the most part. A notable exception is when briefly hefts a heavy machine gun to enforce compliance. It's a good bet that the thing weighs only a little less than she does.
 * Bioluminescence Is Cool: The forest and its glowing spores (predating Avatar by over a decade, mind you).
 * Blood-Splattered Innocents: A variation: Nausicaä's borrowed Dorok outfit, originally sienna red, is completely drenched in Ohmu blood when she tries to pacify the kidnapped Ohmu larva and keep it from plunging into the Acid Sea, Add some trimmings and modifications, and it becomes her signature outfit until near the end of the manga. Then, her new outfit, which is a shade of blue even deeper and more vibrant than the Ohmu's.
 * Bug Buzz: The familiar insect noises are subverted in that the flying ones sound much closer to prop-driven planes. Which is pretty clever when you think about it. Using machine noises for them subtly hints at their true nature.
 * Which also makes you wonder about Spiritual Successors like Don Pachi and Mushihime-sama and why those two are always about bees.
 * Canon Discontinuity: Warriors of the Wind was so horribly mangled that Miyazaki himself advises that fans forget that version ever even existed. This led to an amusing incident with a katana sent through the mail to Miramax exec Harvey Weinstein during the production of the English version of Princess Mononoke, advising him "No cuts."
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: If you see red insect eyes of any kind, someone is going to get screwed. If they're blue, your quest just got a lot easier.
 * Covers Always Lie: The legendary debacle Warriors of the Wind had a mystifying cover that had nothing to do with the plot of the movie - not even the patchwork one in the dub itself.
 * Cue the Sun: At the end of the film.
 * Disney Death:
 * Dressing as the Enemy: After she's captured by the Dorok refugees, Nausicaä trades clothes with a sympathetic Dorok girl in order to escape and stop the Ohmu from rampaging into the Valley.
 * Dramatic Wind: For most of the film. So much, in fact, that it's shocking when it actually stops during the Final Battle.
 * Dub Name Change: The Warriors of the Wind dub changed the names of most of the main characters
 * Nausicaä became Princess Zandra
 * Kushana became Queen Selina
 * Azbel became Milo
 * Uncle Mito became Axel
 * The God Warrior became the "Fire Demon"
 * Ohmu became "Gorgons"
 * Yupa and Kurotawa kept their original names, although Kurotawa was almost exclusively referred to as "The General" in the dub.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: The ending of the movie.
 * Empathy Doll Shot: Early in the film.
 * Family-Unfriendly Violence: Despite the PG rating, the film contains quite a bit of violence and blood. Not to mention the Ohmu…
 * Gecko Ending: When the film was in production, only a small amount of the manga has been completed. This leads to an interesting situation where Miyazaki changed his own story. In the manga, the God Warrior is introduced late into the story, and only fires its laser cannon near the end of manga — far beyond where the film ended. The film, however, has the God Warrior still fire its weapon when the event never happened in the manga.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Kushana in the English dub.

win over the gods lightly Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, fly over the sleeping forest"
 * Green Aesop: The entire point of the movie (as well as "nuclear weapons are bad", obviously).
 * Info Dump: At the beginning of the film, Nausicaä delivers a monologue about the world of the series in Expospeak.
 * More Dakka: In the anime, at least, there is no shortage in either the forms nor quantities of dakka.
 * Nude-Colored Clothes: In the film, Nausicaä's tights are tan-colored. For a while, there was a persistent belief that she was actually naked under her skirt (which would be unfortunate considering the number of times it flies up while she's piloting her glider).
 * Opposite Gender Protagonists: Nausicaä is easily the main character, playing a much bigger role than Asbel. Asbel only has a major role in the second act. Still, that doesn't stop them from sharing sweet scenes and helping each out when they land in the deadly Sea of Decay.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": The names of just about every character and location in the film can vary depending on the translation. In some extreme cases, this leads to a Dub Name Change (ie. the Toxic Jungle vs. Sea of Decay).
 * Title Theme Tune: The song "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind". It's not used in the film itself, but still serves as a memorable theme to the film. "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind,