Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
風の谷のナウシカA millennium has passed since the catastrophic nuclear war named the "Seven Days of Fire," which destroyed nearly all life on Earth. Humanity now lives in a constant struggle against the treacherous jungle that has evolved in response to the destruction caused by mankind. Filled with poisonous spores and enormous insects, the jungle spreads rapidly across the Earth and threatens to swallow the remnants of the human race. Away from the jungle exists a peaceful farming kingdom known as the "Valley of the Wind," whose placement by the sea frees it from the spread of the jungle's deadly toxins. The Valley's charismatic young princess, Nausicaä, finds her tranquil kingdom disturbed when an airship from the kingdom of Tolmekia crashes violently in the Valley. After Nausicaä and the citizens of the Valley find a sinister pulsating object in the wreckage, the Valley is suddenly invaded by the Tolmekian military, who intend to revive a dangerous weapon from the Seven Days of Fire. Now Nausicaä must fight to stop the Tolmekians from plunging the Earth into a cataclysm which humanity could never survive, while also protecting the Valley from the encroaching forces of the toxic jungle. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Reviews
shields.marge - 2016-05-30 11:44:12
Hmm, I'm pretty biased towards this movie. It is my favourite Miyazaki movie, and man is it gooood. For the time it was made in, the animation is wonderful, and even to this day I think it's the beautiful way that it was done that almost makes it a timeless piece.
As a massive fan of Studio Ghibli, I know that this movie was the foundation of the studio, the thing that led up to its creation. If they doesn't show how important this movie is to any Ghibli fan, I don't know what will/
I have personally done a year 12 English assignment on Nausicaa and I never grow tired of it. Heartwarming story that'll make you cry.
born - 2015-08-14 13:20:30
Nausicaä of the valley of the wind is an epic fantasy tale set in the post-apocalyptic future. This is a masterpiece,story is epic, characters are great and it's near perfect not just near perfect anime but a movie of any kind. If you haven't seen Nausicaä of the valley of the wind i feel so sorry for you.
taryn82 - 2015-08-07 13:46:31
From the soundtrack to the imaginative display of creatures, through the pertinence of characters and what drives them, this movie is a must-watch for all ages that carries powerful messages and, at least, one very important lesson.
All beings are linked in the world even though humans seek to destroy and fight over most things they can. There are always peaceful people in the middle of it who try to protect the world as they know it, but there are always more powerful and ambicious people who will readily disrupt peace where it once existed for their personal interest.
This is a movie that makes you feel all sorts of things, for it is so complete in the variety and way that scenes are depicted. There is a charming but clever sense of humor, especially in the people from the Valley, that helps break the tension created by the series of events.
Although it isn't an original opinion, I must say that Nausicaä is the best female hero I've ever seen. She is inspiring, caring, dependable and smart, and she easily connects with other animals, taming them in order to keep anybody from getting hurt. She also has a way with people, which makes her a natural born leader, even though she is a small-sized woman that others often underestimate.
Each moment surprises the viewer, much as an untold story, which is so hard to find these days. The general theme of the movie may not be new, but it is refreshing. Even though there is a post-war climate where things rot and toxins are all over the place, there is much beauty too.
I don't understand how I took so long to watch this movie but I'm so glad I did. I hope that these reviews, mine and others', will inspire you to watch it too.
uconsidine - 2015-05-04 01:01:30
[Old review is old.]
Nausicaä has aged so gracefully that it ends up being a dozen times more impressive than anything coming out right now in the industry. An exceptionally influential work of art in the anime canon, the sheer amount of passion and ambition carries over decades later to hold it up without strain, standing proudly right alongside modern creations like a legendary queen.
The film opens on an apocalyptic world that has been ravaged overtime by a relentless toxic jungle. Humanity struggles to live with something so lethal, and as unrest between warring kingdoms build overtime, one spark is all it could take to plunge humanity into the final battle leading to their extinction. However, in this unbalanced world, a group of people have found peace in a small valley where they live off of the wind and earth; a sanctuary from the ever spreading toxic jungle. But when the conflict from the rest of the world suddenly winds up at their doorstep, it appears that Nausicaä, the valley kingdom’s princess, may be the only mediator who can resolve the tensions between all parties.
This was Hayao Miyazaki’s first big project, made before the formation of Studio Ghibli, and right off the bat it’s evident that we have a master writer and director at the helm. Every element in this script is handled cleverly and carefully, from the different reasoning and rationale of every party involved in the conflict, to the marvelous world building and art direction. He creates a successful balance of showing and telling, evident in nearly all of his family films afterwards. There’s enough dialogue so that youngsters can follow what’s going on, but he also makes sure to animate absolutely everything in the script so that the visuals tell the story as well as the dialogue, which what all good films should strive for. I’m convinced that a deaf man watching this movie without subtitles would be able to completely understand it just by going off of the animation alone. This is part of the reason why Hayao’s films are so accepted and treasured: they can be enjoyed at so many levels and that’s where a lot of the appeal comes from. There’s honest effort to tell this story as well as possible by using all of the tools of filmmaking.
Even when nearly everything’s spelled out clearly in all aspects, it doesn’t feel condescending whatsoever, and there’s just as many subtle things that audiences can discover and think about on their own. The character relationships all feel deep and strong without showing too much, the settings are so detailed that every rewatch uncovers new visual aspects that only add to the rich environment, and the script knows just when to shut up and let the visuals alone handle the storytelling. One of the best examples is when Nausicaä leads one of the giant insects back to the toxic jungle. Once it’s gone, she discovers another lone insect, an ancient looking Ohm covered in calming blue eyes, staring at her from miles away. The next minute is dedicated to letting the image sink in and watching the creature slowly turn and slide away across the horizon. Subtle moments like this interspersed expertly throughout the film are just enough to let the audience absorb everything that’s been presented to them, letting them take in the scale of this massive story (and for those who have already seen the film, that scene is a clever bit of foreshadowing for how the Ohms view Nausicaä by the end).
If there was one major problem, after a long time of charming and poetic dialogue and expert pacing, the ending appeared to be pulling a fast one out of nowhere. Compared with an easygoing flow of contemplative themes and subtlety, the conclusion felt a tad bit rushed, as if compensating for long runningtime or something. Now, don’t get me wrong, the actual content of the finale and resolution is fair, and the film leaves on an extremely good scriptural note with the visuals leaving as much of an impression as the rest of the time. It just felt like it was going about 20% faster than it should have, especially evident in the dialogue. You can sort of tell as they rush into the epilogues with the overlaid credits, it could have been handled just a bit better. In no way does that make the ending bad, because it’s a very memorable finale and in any other movie I might not have complained as much as I’m doing now, it was just a noticeable drop from fantastic to just…good. It doesn’t bring the movie crashing down in the least, we have a great film with a good ending, that’s all there is to it.
Nausicaä herself is one of the best anime protagonists, period. Absolutely everything she does is entertaining, respectable, lovable, and at times even inspirational. She’s kind and reasonable to absolutely everyone she encounters, but has her limits when people do particularly horrible things. We feel every bit of her emotions as she goes through the film, we laugh with her in the beginning, we cry with her when the going gets rough, we root for her whenever she takes action, and we stand by everything she does in order to get this conflict resolved. She is a perfect character to get behind in a story full of clashing opinions and endless turmoil; she couldn’t care less about any political spectrum and just focuses on the preservation of life, no matter who it belongs to. This results in a fantastic outlier to the other groups, as well as someone we can follow morally as an inspiration. Much like the characters observe in the movie, when we see her confidence and leadership, we truly believe that she will bring around a good ending in response to everything bad going on. So there’s one of my favorite characters in anime, and she’s certainly my favorite woman written by Miyazaki, and considering his resume, that’s saying a lot.
Thankfully, Nausicaä has an entire cast full of different beliefs and distinct, memorable personalities to work with when searching for that happy ending. Despite not getting too much focus overall, Lord Yupa is an unforgettable wise man with a surprising knowledge of swordplay, and his actions leave as much impact as Nausicaä’s. Kushana is a great leader character with an understandable motivation beneath her armor, her army sidekick (whom I’ll just refer to as :-\ ) is awfully fun to watch, and it’s pretty entertaining to see their relationship gradually brought to light overtime. Obaba, Asbel, Estelle, the Pejites, the Tolmekians, all of the residents of the valley, be them the snarky old men or the energetic children, every single one of them are described perfectly through however many lines they get in the script and by the animation portraying how they act. As a first major piece, Hayao definitely put as much effort into all of his characters as he did with the plot and his world. With subtle dialogue and body language, strong relationships and personalities are made evident with ease, and it’s yet another aspect that Ghibli excels at in all of their films. One last tiny thing to touch on, I’m glad that the relationship between Nausicaä and Asbel grew without ending in another forced romantic item, because that would have been so very easy to do in order to squeeze out a bit more cheap, unneeded emotion that has nothing to do with the themes at hand. The script knew what to focus on, and I’m overjoyed that it did because we have an entirely lovable cast to carry this story. All of these characters have understandable political viewpoints and represent the entire spectrum of how to deal with the same problems, and this is what makes good, smart conflict.
Hold on, how old is this animation? More than 30 years? Hot damn. This movie is the reason why I have a hard time crediting messy animation from anime around the same time. Because frankly, this film still looks incredible. During the time, this was an unbelievably ambitious project, and it makes sense that it would need unbelievably ambitious animation to pull it off. The sheer amount of polish applied to the lineart, cell shading, and backgrounds has helped it out immensely in the long run. Obviously the animation style has aged nontheless, and it looks out of place compared to today’s anime market, but I give so much credit to the team behind the art for making it stand the test of time much longer than that other 99% of anime from before the early 80’s. Hell, if most messy material from the 90’s was blown away by Nausicaä after just a decade, I think it’s safe to say that the animators went above and beyond regardless of a couple aspects that feel old nowadays.
The cinematography, the character animation, the intricate backgrounds, the surprisingly vibrant colorization, all of these aspects are still incredible to behold. The designs used to show the vast world are so inventive and sometimes just plain clever. The style of the insects are unforgettable, as are the airships and how detailed their form and build is. One of the smaller ships straight up looks like a pistol with wings, that is so intriguing to me, and loads of little things like that throughout the array of fictional technology make it enriching to bask in. Using lots of segmented background paintings to animate the massive Ohms is so clever and fun to watch, I just love how creatively they used limitations as advantages to portray Hayao’s art.
The sound department is where a couple more complaints lie, which again, is making it sound like a bad thing when many more amazing things lie in this movie’s sound design. The music was composed by Joe Hisaishi, who became a staple for Miyazaki’s future projects, which was a good idea because these two go together like Hitchcock and Herrmann. The moving orchestral pieces fit perfectly with the epic story, and many of his compositions are notorious for being easy to get stuck in your head after the film’s long over. Some are beautiful, some are atmospheric, some are responsible for a couple tears, but in Nausicaä’s case, some have stayed in the 80’s while the rest of the film clearly hasn’t. As much as I love the man’s work, Hisaishi’s synths hurt this anime more than they add to it. When some of the quieter scenes are coupled with calming electronic music, it ends up being effective. But oh man, when the first Ohm crashes out of the jungle and the cheesy action video game music starts up out of nowhere…oh boy. Some tracks have aged better than others, and unfortunately there were quite a few places where not only did the score feel out of place, but the editing of said score felt choppy and lazy. Even though I do kinda like that cheesy 80’s action chase track for just being…well, cheesy, next to Hisaishi’s symphony it really pales in comparison.
2005 brought us a great dub courtesy of Disney that adds yet another level of likability and delight to these characters. Everyone involved does a solid job with their portrayals and I can’t think of a single voice that felt out of place or uninvested in deliveries. Major props to both Patrick Stewart for an awesome Lord Yupa, and Alison Lohman for being the complete embodiment of Nausicaä, nailing almost every single one of her lines with great emotion and impact.
Alright, I think I’ve swooned over this film long enough for you to get the picture. I really do think that this film is one of Miyazaki’s finest, top 5 at least, and I always have a blast watching it no matter when the occasion. Everytime I sit down to experience it again, I end up loving it even more. As a film that just gets more and more impressive, as a exceptionally important anime, as a brilliant family movie, and most importantly, as an emotional adventure, it’s definitely worth your watch.
Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind:
8.6/10
koepp.amelie - 2015-04-05 07:08:34
For April 2015, I decided to watch some Ghibli movies. I decided to go with the dub since this will be a review for an anime causal like me. No plot summary here since that's easy to find on the internet. I'm going to write some of my thoughts. I'm going to look at three things that Miyazaki is well known for: flight, environmental, and pacifism. Those all exist in this one, since it's considered one of his firsts.
Flight: Most of the transportation is air-based except for the animals and the tanks. Nausicaä's main form of transport is an air-glider.
Environmental: The air in the Sea of Decay (or Toxic Jungle in the dub) is toxic and will kill in five minutes. It is toxic due to the pollution of the Earth since clean water and soil make the plants save to be around. The movie is not subtle in saying it's humanity's fault, and outright says humanity shouldn't exist if it has to depend on the warrior giants.
Pacifism: The villagers of the Valley of the Wind do their best to survive with the Sea of Decay. Trying to destroy the Ohmu just makes the Sea of Decay spread more. The other two civilizations, Pejite and Tolmekia, want to control the Giant Warrior in order to destroy the forest, which would kill everything. Killing is also shown to be really bad, with Nausicaä breaking down after killing some men who killed her dad.
I didn't understand, unless Miyazaki's goal was to be unclear, why it's called a Sea of Decay or a Toxic Forest since it's more of a woods. I remember the main thing about this when I was young was I thought Nausicaä usually wasn't wearing pants, but when I saw it this time I saw it was just she must have one heck of a wedgie. While certainly not as bad as Ponyo, Miyazaki did better later on.
kmuller - 2015-01-28 11:47:40
Nausicaa is second hayao miyazaki's movie anime, right before Ghibli Studio built. It's highly recommended for nature and animals lovers because it's tell about the polluted world (not really seen) which many creature (especially insect) have been mutated and it's all because of human
Even WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) approve it
Do not compare the graphic with anime nowadays.
johns.jamal - 2015-01-03 04:47:08
Nausicaa is one of the few anime movies I've seen and it certainly delivered on all fronts. Ghibli films are pretty renowned in the anime community for putting out top-notch movies, and Nausicaa is no exception.
The world was fantastic and beautiful, and the female lead was refreshingly free of the common anime stereotypes. Music was a throwback to the days of classic anime, in the best possible way. The characters, story, and message of the film all meshed seamlessly and were driven by a powerful narrative.
Very few issues with Nausicaa as I see it. If you don't like the art style of older anime you might be put off by it, but you really shouldn't let that keep you from watching this one. 8/10
joanny38 - 2014-11-28 21:27:19
When I was younger, I actually was not that interested in it. I barely even finished it. Now that I am older and have come back to it and watched it... it plays a big part in my life now personally because of attempting to understand two sides of the coin when it comes to gingers / redheads. Seeing how Nausicaa and Kushana are sums up how you can go one way or the other from right or wrong and trying to find a balance as you grow.
bryce85 - 2013-05-18 10:39:36
I first watched "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds" when I'd only watched a couple of films that are directed by Miyazaki. I was blown away at the time, and thought it was the best thing he's done. Now that I've seen a lot more of his films, I can conclude that... it still is one of the best things he's done.More dramatic, more intense than Miayazaki's normal work, "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds" is aimed an older audience. The prelude, with the wind blowing across the uninhabitable wastlands, is a memorable one, and the desolate scene captures the title perfectly (although the masks that the people from that scene wore made them look like dogs from a Hanna Babera cartoon, which confused me for a bit). This is followed by the opening credits that uses ancient civilization style paintings to tell a prophecy that foreshadows events to come. Right from the start, everything about this film is eye catching. And from the terrifying sights of the stampeding Ohmu herd to the emotional scene at the acid lake that made me wince; from the flashback of Nausicaa's childhood to the tear jerking finale, "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds" is just full of memorable and touching moments. The story is epic and imaginative, but feels incomplete - perhaps the manga was incomplete at the time of animation or something, but the film doesn't really feel self contained despite already being longer than most other animated films. I'd like to know what happens after the film ends and also see some more about the background to the conflict shown in the film.Even though many people view "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds" to be Miyazaki's first outing for Studio Ghibli, and even though it's generally considered to be part of the Ghibli collection, the film was actually made prior to the studio being founded. Being one of Miyazaki's earlier works, although it does have some of the "Miyazaki aura" about it, it also feels refreshingly different at the same time - like it was made before he discovered his "winning formula" and started sticking to it. This is probably why this film possesses a kind of rawness and intensity, and it's something that I really like about it. However, I'm sorry to say that the human character designs are very Miyazaki-esq even back then, especially with Nausicaa herself looking like all the other female leads in all the other Miyazaki films. What's more, because the film is quite grim at times, the conventional Miyazaki character designs feels a little out of place. Nausicaa is probably one of the best heroines Miyazaki has ever created. Not only does she prove to be a worthy princess, constantly doing the best for her people, but she's also ready to lend a helping hand to others in need: people she doesn't know; people who have done her wrong and even non-human creatures. Although at first she annoyed me a bit with some bland monologues such as "my heart is pounding", I was soon won over by her qualities of intelligence, compassion and bravery etc. And the fact that she is not prone to making mistakes (as shown when she loses control of herself and goes into a rage) just serves to make her more human. Of course, no hero or heroine would be complete without that self sacrificing quality, and it’s obvious that Nausicaa has it by the bucketload. I think her willingness to put her body on the line and sacrifice herself for the sake of others is what makes the film such an emotionally engaging one.Aside from the character designs, the animation is very good in general. The alien creatures that inhabit the world look amazing - I especially liked the fluid, worm like movements of the Ohmu (when they're not in stampede mode). The art is very detailed, and the bleakness of the settings really comes across in the scenery. However, the hand to hand combat sequences are somewhat lacklustre, probably not helped along by the cartoony character designs. The aerial battles are also less than convincing - the execution is okay, but the difficulty those massive planes have in dealing with some tiny little gunship comes off as a little odd. At the end of the day, I guess combat sequences just aren't Miyazaki’s forte.The environmental undertones are clear for all to see, with the story being set in a post apocolyptic world that's the result of destructive human activities. What's interesting is that, over a decade later, Miyazaki directed "Princess Mononoke", and that is often considered to be a perfected version of "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds" due to to its more mature understanding of the environmental issues. Compared to "Princess Mononoke", the finger pointing that goes on in this film does feel a little naive and preachy. But the strange thing is, despite all the flaws in this early prototype of Miyazaki's, or perhaps because of them, "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds" strikes a chord with me that the more polished "Pincess Mononoke" never quite did. With its mismatched style, incomplete story and naive environmental messages etc, "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds" is very much an unrefined gem. But a rough diamond is still a diamond, and this film has something about it that allows it to outshine most if not all the better made Ghibli films. A must watch for any fan of Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli.
huel.casandra - 2013-03-13 21:44:31
Writing an unbiased review of Nausicaä is difficult- it's hard to write an unbiased review of one's favorite movie. Why is it my favorite? Read on.
"Who could have polluted the entire Earth?" Such is the question posed by the film's titular protagonist. The world lies in shambles- man nearly destroyed it completely during the Seven Days of Fire, using giant "god warriors" genetically engineered monstrosities built for war. The Earth's old infrastructure is ruined, and yet humanity goes on. Such is the post-apocalyptic world of Nausicaä.
Nausicaä, the protagonist, was born in the eponymous Valley of the Wind, home to a small, peaceful, farming village. She spends her days exploring the toxic jungle just outside the valley on a small, powered glider.
One day, an airship crashes near her village carrying mysterious cargo, and soon, the village finds itself sitting in the middle of a war. For the sake of spoilers, I'll stop describing the film's events right here and start giving my impressions of the movie.
Aesthetically, Nausicaä is very strong. The movie's visuals have aged quite well- it looked good in 1984 and still looks good today. While there are a couple minor issues with color (in some shots it looks like Nausicaä's not wearing her leggings), each shot is vibrant and full of detail.
The movie's vehicles are especially noteworthy- most of them seem to have been inspired by WWII (especially the aircraft). As for alternative, slightly more organic means of transport, Nausicaä features gigantic flightless birds called "Horseclaws" which wound up serving as the inspiration for the chocobos of the Final Fantasy franchise and, quite likely, the ostrich horses of The Last Airbender universe.
As far as music goes, Nausicaä is excellent. The sweeping orchestral pieces are nicely complemented by the interspersing electronic pieces, and frankly, I can't get the theme music out of my head.
The story and characters are memorable- while there's lots of fantastical high-flying heroics, the characters (especially the protagonist) feel rather realistic. Nausicaä herself has a number of moments that make her feel more human- for the sake of spoilers I shan't mention what they are, but Nausicaä is a warrior princess who despises war- she's got a heart, and that's a lot more than I can say for most action-heroes. Besides the protagonist, each character has his and her own motivations, desires and personality- nobody feels clichéd- they could all be confused for real people under the right circumstances.
There's interesting politics in the world of Nausicaä- the warring kingdoms that sandwich the Valley of the Wind have notably different leaders, apparent internal tumult and unique cultures. My only real regret with the film is that I didn't get to learn more about the kingdoms of Pejite and Torumekia (though the manga the movie's based on does go into depth in the world of Nausicaä, and I honestly wish it could be converted to a television series).
The story itself is unforgettable- while it is occasionally heavy-handed in it's ecological and anti-war message, it's very strong as a whole. Every time I watch this film, it feels brand new. It makes me feel as if I'm soaring miles about the ground, and that's why it's my all-time favorite movie.
NOTE: The original English dub of Nausicaä was titled Warriors of the Wind and is widely regarded as terrible on account of its cutting out the film's ecological message along with plenty of other content. I haven't seen it and don't plan to. The 2005 re-release is much better.