Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä

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]

Nausicaä Main

Shimamoto, Sumi Japanese

Kushana Main

Sakakibara, Yoshiko Japanese

Lord Yupa Main

Naya, Gorou Japanese

Asbel Main

Matsuda, Youji Japanese

Teto Supporting

Yoshida, Rihoko Japanese

Ohmu Supporting

Kurotowa Supporting

Kayumi, Iemasa Japanese

Niga Supporting

Yada, Minoru Japanese

Pejite Mayor Supporting

Mugihito Japanese

Mito Supporting

Nagai, Ichiro Japanese

Takahata, Isao Producer

Miyazaki, Hayao Director, Script, Screenplay, Original Creator, Character Design

Shiba, Shigeharu Sound Director

Tanazawa, Takashi Episode Director

Reviews

Aug 20, 2024

CaptainSalty

Recommended

I went to see this film in theaters during the Ghiblifest 2024, where I also rewatched Spirited Away. This film blew me away that despite it being Ghibli's first, I'm hesitant to say it may be the best I've seen so far. I loved the world they had set up with the forest and different nations, the ways of transportation via wind, the characters and their diehard dedication to them, the beautiful soundtrack, the captivating story. I loved all of it. It feels on par with Spirited Away yet I want to lean more towards this film for its more interesting world. Both were spectacular ... and I highly recommend watching this film, a wonderful experience. If you love Ghibli and want to see their first project before they were an established studio, this is a huge treat.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 13, 2024

DylansTrashTaste

Recommended

This is the first movie I watched during my Ghibli binge, and it did not disappoint! However, it seems that people either think this is one of Ghibli’s best works and that it changed the animation industry forever, or that the movie is a poorly written, preachy dumpster fire of a film with unlikable characters and a confusing plot. I don’t fully agree with either side though, and while I think this is a great film, there’s several flaws that I believe it possesses.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film that takes place 1,000 years after a great war that ... wiped out a majority of the population. The film follows a young girl named Nausicaä as she tries to bring peace to the valley and protect the environment as well as the creatures that live there.

Story:
6/10
The first 30 minutes of the movie really managed to invest me in the world that these characters are living in. I wanted to learn about why their world functions the way it does, what certain things mean, and background on how everything leads to the events of the film. But, the movie never expands on a lot of the very major things in the plot. I understand that sometimes it’s better to leave some parts of the story unexplained, as it creates more mystery, but here it just felt like they didn’t have enough time to explain certain things. Which is wild since I felt the movie was too long, but that’s probably because so many parts felt like boring filler. However, the parts of the story that the movie does expand on are beautifully told. This movie carries the same values that most Ghibli works do; strong messages of environmentalism and anti-war sentiments, and I believe the movie gets its themes across very well.

Art:
8/10
Despite this not technically being a Ghibli film, Nausicaä still has that signature Ghibli style. The animation techniques are outdated but still very interesting to watch, especially the way they made the Ohmu move. I also found the environments did a great job at capturing this feeling of isolation and barrenness. Nausicaä and Teto’s designs were the only ones that really stood out to me, Nausicaä’s outfits looked great and Teto looked adorable (I really want a plushy of him).

Sound:
9/10
The soundtrack for this movie was fantastic. It has that retro 80s’ synth, and it really makes this movie stand out as THE Ghibli sci-fi film. The voice acting was pretty good, I liked Nausicaä’s voice a lot (I’m talking about the English dub, I haven’t seen the original).

Character:
7/10
The issue with the characters in this movie is that none of them stood out to me besides Nausicaä (and I guess Teto). I loved Nausicaä’s character so much. I’ve seen other people say that her character feels like a mouth-piece for Miyazaki, though I don’t agree. I feel like in order for a character to be a mouth-piece, their ideals have to feel forced, as if they’re out of character every time they preach something. But Nausicaä’s beliefs feel very natural, since she’s a very strong-willed character. But while she’s strong-willed, she’s also a very docile pacifist. I think one of the best moments in the entire film is when Teto bites her, but she doesn’t do anything to stop him, and after a moment he realizes he has no reason to be afraid and licks her. This scene manages to perfectly show Nausicaä’s entire character. Now I wish I could adore the other characters as much as I adore Nausicaä. All of the other characters either don’t get enough screen time, or feel very one dimensional. The characters are yet another aspect of this film that go unexplored. The villain, Kushana, works as an intimidating big bad, but nothing more. Asbel is a character that we learn practically nothing about. And Lord Yupa was just the standard mentor character who, say it with me, we learn NOTHING about. It kind of baffles me that Kushana, Asbel, and Lord Yupa are all listed as main characters when I can’t tell you a single character trait for any of them. But Nausicaä carries the film, so I guess I shouldn’t expect the other characters to have the same amount of development.

Enjoyment:
7/10
Despite my grievances, I still really enjoyed this film, especially the first 30 minutes. I think this is a great Ghibli film, and I can understand why so many people love it, however I can also understand why people may hate it.

Rating:
7/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 29, 2024

Achi88

Mixed Feelings

I'm only writing this review since there's so few mixed or negative ones, if I had enjoyed the film I wouldn't have bothered since that would just be heaping praise on the huge pile of prior praise, but more negative viewpoints might be more important to showcase.

The film started out strongly by setting up an interesting post-apocalyptic world. But as the story progressed things just happened willy-nilly with zero to no explanation, and by the end the whole story and world just felt shallow and basic. At the start you might wonder: Wow, why is the world ruined like this? Why are there giant ... insects roaming about and why do they have a spreading eco-system that kills the world? Why does Nausicaä seem to be able to communicate with insects? What's all that stuff about a prophecy? The answers given were: WAR BAD. POLLUTION BAD. INSECTS CLEAN POLLUTION SOMEHOW. SHE JUST CAN SOMEHOW. LOL I DON'T KNOW, MAGIC I GUESS. Not satisfactory answers in the slightest, so at the end I just felt like I'd watched a two hour long children's fable or an overly convoluted and long Captain Planet-episode.

The positives are the good (not great) animation, the fact that the violence depicted in the film actually has realistic effect (not like in Porco Rosso where the guns don't seem to actually do anything and I don't even understand why people are afraid of them), and the music is quite pleasant as well. If the runtime had been ~90 minutes and if they had explained the stuff that happened a bit better then the movie would have been a 7 or 8, but as it stands I can't give it more than a 6, slightly above a passing grade.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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	Poll: Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Beatnik - Jul 9, 2008	155 replies	by Zinks_the_End »» Yesterday, 4:57 PM
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	Almost to the 40th anniversary mydaddy - Mar 8	8 replies	by DarkConan1412 »» Mar 14, 3:24 AM
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