In the post-apocalyptic future, large parts of the world have been swallowed up by forests of poisonous fungi. The remaining humans live near the fungus and its monstrous insectoid inhabitants trying to prevent its spread. One of the human kingdoms, the peaceful Valley of Wind, is swallowed up in the machinations of its larger warmongering neighbors. The princess of the Valley of the Wind, Nausicaa, has hidden potential and may yet change the fate of the world.
Written by edelriclvr
Story & Characters
**Please note, the review score in my review is somewhat normally distributed, meaning an anime with score of 5 is
average (NOT 6 as it is scaled on final verdict!), 7 is VERY good, and 10 means "cannot be improved any
further". I'm doing this to accurately reflect truly great works (and crap*y work too ^^;). Please add around
2 points to the overall rating to convert it to the scale most of other people use. Also, anime are reviewed within the
scope of anime, anime-movie are viewed within the scope of anime-movie... and so on. Please remember that anime is often
given 10 times more time to present story compared to anime-movie!**
*Informal Commentary*
I am surprised to see that there is only one review written (but it's really nice one) on Nausicaa of the Valley of
Wind (Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa.) This is Hayao Miyazaki's first anime-movie work made in 1984. The world of
Nausicaa is, in many respects, illustrates his anime-making style.
The world is set in far distant future; the time after people acquired technology of inter-stellar travel but has
destroyed themselves in a mysterious war known as "Seven Days of Fire." The war is suspected to be the primary
cause of the appearance of "Fukai", or the "Sea of Corruption," a toxic jungle inhabited by huge
insects, trees, and fungi that creates toxic air. Humans can only go there with special gas mask on. Habitable land
where humans and the creatures that exist today live is slowly encroached by ever-growing Fukai. The main character of
the movie is Nausicaa, a 16 year-old girl and the only child among 11 children the Chieftain of a small city-state
village Kaze no Tani, or the Valley of the Wind, made. Although the village is safeguarded from Fukai by the air that
blows from the "Sea of Acid," the village is still being affected by the toxins of Fukai, such as fall in
fertility rate (10 children born before Nausicaa died for mysterious reason.)
Nausicaa is a "Wind Rider" (Wind user in Japanese), who can use a powered "Kite" known as Moewe
(please pronounce in German, which sounds like Mehve) and a pilot of Gunship that has been serving as the primary
defensive force of the village. While she enjoys nature, which unfortunately means toxic Fukai in her world, finds
herself having have to assume the role of the next chieftain and a protector of the village.
One day, a huge Cargo Aircraft crashes near the Village. As a wind rider, she goes to find the incident and to save
lives. However, she couldn't save anyone, but she was able to hear the last words by the princess of Pejite, which
was to burn away the cargo. The day after the crash, militant state Tolmekia invades the valley, reveals the fact that
it has invaded Pejite to capture the "God Warrior" which could be used as a mighty weapon. Nausicaa is then
forced to participate in Tolmekia's military campaign with her Village's Gunship. On the way, she finds
herself having to guide Tolmekian authority to not to violate the taboo of Fukai, and to protect her village from
enraged Ohm, a mighty insect that acts as the defender of Fukai.
Rating: 8
Art
I must say that the artwork of Nausicaa is one of the worst in Miyazaki's series (but still one of the best in
anime industry!!) even taking into account that the anime was made in 80's. Because he was not very famous at the
time, there was a serious budget problem; in fact, the production of the movie was once halted. Nevertheless, his
artwork is certainly of the top quality. As usual with his anime, he puts a large effort into gadgets and backgrounds
because, given the extremely limited time of a movie, pictures inform viewers of his imagined world.
To my regret, in some places his use of mechanics design looks out of place. For example, Tolmekia uses tank that looks
like Panzerkampfwagen III, Germany's tank used in WWII, when the princess of Tolmekia claims that they have
re-discovered the technology existed before the Seven Days of Fire. I suspect that this is because Miyazaki wanted to
materialize his personal interest and hobby through this movie. In his other movies, you do still see some of his hobby,
like the fortress in Laputa, but it is a really good thing that he stopped throwing in such things out of place later
on. Nevertheless, I must say that his artwork is of top quality and the design of certain mechanics, such as Moewe is
very nice and scientifically correct that proto-type of Moewe is ACTUALLY BEING RESEARCHED in Japan. If anyone has been
to the international exhibition in Japan in 2005, you might have been very lucky to see the model of Moewe known as
"Personal Jet Glider."
Rating: 7
Sound
Not only the technology of computer-assisted designing has improved since the 80's, but so did the sound. Joe
Hisashi, a well-known anime-soundtrack artist, made Nausicaa soundtrack but you probably will feel that the music is
somewhat lackluster. Some music is really of top quality while for others some people might dislike. However, the bottom
line is that they all match the scenes/movie.
The obvious flaw in the sound is the use of stereotypical peripheral sound, such as gunfire or wind. They sound as if
they came out of an archive. I suspect that Joe Hisashi at the time was not very used to creating music, as it was one
of his earliest work. Later on, the quality of his music improves dramatically. In this movie, you do hear some music of
talent of Joe Hisashi, but not very often.
Rating: 5
Presentation
This movie is one of the first works of Miyazaki and apparently, he had no idea how to create a good movie. His ideas a
superb but he couldn't put them into one single material. If he re-makes Nausicaa now he would certainly create
much better one, but he was not used to film production at the time. However, while being an entertainment film, this
movie was able to deliver its underlying concept. Movies often have a concept to deliver besides entertainment value,
and in this case, it is about the protection of nature and animals. In fact, the movie won a recommendation by the World
Wide Fund for Nature (WWF, or the World Wildlife Fund, the most respected NGO for the protection of the environment). I
judge the presentation rating of the movie to be above average, not because of the way it is presented for entertainment
purpose (below average in that respect), but for delivering serious underlying concept to viewers.
The overall rating comes out to be quite low; however, this anime is strongly recommended as an early work of Miyazaki.
It has many flaws, but everywhere you see the great talents of Ghibli anime production team.
Rating: 6
Final Verdict
6.6667 (above average)
Reviewed by yuizaki, Apr 24, 2006
