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Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

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This article is about a film. For the manga of the same name, see Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (manga).

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is a 1984 film by Japanese writer, illustrator, and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, based on his manga of the same name. The movie has an environmentalist undertone and was presented by the World Wildlife Fund when it was released in 1984.
Contents

Movie

Synopsis

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The story takes place 1,000 years after the "Seven Days of Fire," an event which destroyed human civilization and most of the Earth's original ecosystem. Scattered human settlements survive, isolated from one another by the "Sea of Corruption" (fukai, sea of rot/fungus in Japanese), a lethally toxic jungle of fungus swarming with giant insects which seem to come together only to wage war.

The title character, Nausicaä (Naushika transcribed into Japanese), is a charismatic young princess of the peaceful Valley of the Wind. Her name comes from the princess in the Odyssey who assisted Odysseus; part of her character comes from a Japanese folk hero known as "the princess who loved insects". Although a skillful fighter, she is normally humane and peace-loving. She has an unusual gift for communicating with the giant insects (particularly with the Ohmu, the gigantic armored caterpillar-like insects who are the most intelligent creatures in the Sea of Corruption). She is also noted for her empathy toward animals, humans, and other beings, and for her skill at "windriding", flying with an advanced glider-like craft with a jet assist called a mehve.

The Valley of the Wind becomes threatened when another state, Pejite, unearths a God Warrior (kyoshinhei) which is then stolen by a more powerful state, Tolmekia. The God Warrior is one of the lethal giant bioweapons used in the ancient war. Pejite and Tolmekia hope to use the God Warrior against each other and, ultimately, against the Sea of Corruption. While transporting the Warrior back to their realm, the Tolmekians are attacked by insects and subsequently crash-land in the Valley. The very next day, the Tolmekians invade the Valley to secure and revive the Warrior, eventually forcing the peaceful people of the Valley into armed resistance. The situation deteriorates as the fight to possess the God Warrior escalates out of control and the inimical fukai strikes back against those who attack it.

The story holds deeper meaning beyond war, however. Even the insects seem to be working toward some secret harmony and the lethal fungal forest seems to have a vital role in Earth's new dominant ecosystem.

As she is forced to aid prisoners, villagers, enemies, mutant insects, and artificial bioweapons, Princess Nausicaä increasingly becomes a Joan of Arc figure—a warrior maiden inspired by a supermundane vision to defend all life against destruction.

Releases

A heavily edited and English-dubbed version of the film was distributed and shown on HBO and released on video in the 1980s as Warriors of the Wind. According to [Nausicaa.net], the voice actors and actresses were not even informed of the film's plotline, and the film itself was so severely edited it ran only 84 minutes. Much of the storyline was lost - especially the parts where Nausicaä works for a peaceful way of combating the toxic corruption of the world. Most of the characters were renamed (Nausicaä became "Princess Zandra"), and the story was rewritten somewhat.

Most fans of Nausicaä, along with Miyazaki himself, dislike that version (Miyazaki said people should put the version "out of their minds") [link] Studio Ghibli has asked fans to forget its existence, and has subsequently adopted a strict "no-edits" clause for future foreign releases of its films. A common rumor tells of Miyazaki sending Harvey Weinstein, the man in charge of handling the Disney/Miramax release, an authentic katana with a simple message: "No cuts"["A god among animators"] by Xan Brooks, The Guardian, September 14, 2005 "There is a rumour that when Harvey Weinstein was charged with handling the US release of Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki sent him a samurai sword in the post. Attached to the blade was a stark message: "No cuts." / The director chortles. "Actually, my producer did that."" when he heard that Weinstein would try to cut Princess Mononoke to make it 'marketable.' A re-dubbed uncut version from Disney was released on DVD on February 22, 2005 for Region 1. (This DVD also includes the Japanese audio track with subtitles.) Optimum Home Entertainment released the film in Region 2, and Region 4 distribution is handled by Madman Entertainment.

The original version was - after its release in the 1980s - banned in Eastern Europe and briefly boycotted in Germany due to its unsettling presentation of ecological crisis.[link]

The Nausicaä manga is published in English by VIZ Media. Earlier editions of the English manga and fan translations often used the title Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, omitting the definite article.

Cast

Lord Yupa in action
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Lord Yupa in action

The film stars the following voice actors in the 1984 Japanese and 2005 re-dubbed English versions:

Manga

Seven volume graphic novel
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Seven volume graphic novel

See longer article: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (manga).

Miyazaki's manga version of Nausicaä was written over a period of 13 years, with breaks taken to work on Studio Ghibli movies. Serialized in Tokuma Shoten's Animage magazine, the first chapter was published in February 1982, and the last chapter in March 1994. As can be expected, the manga is far more complicated than the movie. The tale depicted in the movie roughly corresponds to only the first quarter of the manga, which is where the story had got to when the film was produced, with significant differences in plot.

Aside from the plot, there are major differences in other areas – the characters are properly fleshed out and the environmentalist tone in the manga is more sophisticated than that of the movie: it is similar to the complicated worldview of Princess Mononoke. Nausicaä herself is portrayed as being much more potent, with abilities that are not always explained.

Mehve

Nausicaä flying her Mehve over the Valley of Wind
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Nausicaä flying her Mehve over the Valley of Wind

The mehve (Japanese: メーヴェ) is a fictional one-person plane/glider. It is unarmed, though the pilot can deploy non-lethal flash grenades to disorient pursuers. It has an approximate wingspan of 4 meters, and does not provide any protection from the elements for the pilot who is completely exposed to the wind. Although its performance specifications are not clear, it is slow enough to allow the pilot to hold onto and control it with nothing more than his/her arms and body weight. The mehve also possesses V/STOL capabilities. The name 'mehve' is an adaptation of the German word 'Möwe', meaning 'seagull', relating to its form and white color. Also note that the Valley of the Wind is near the sea and it is the constant wind from the sea which protects its inhabitants from the toxic atmosphere of the Sea of Corruption. Recently, the Japanese-led OpenSky Project was able to build a real-life, working Mehve. Photographs and background in Japanese can be found [here]

See also

References

External links


The Works of Hayao Miyazaki
Films
The Castle of Cagliostro | Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind | Castle in the Sky | My Neighbor Totoro | Kiki's Delivery Service | Porco Rosso | Princess Mononoke | Spirited Away | Howl's Moving Castle
TV series
Future Boy Conan | Lupin III
Manga
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind | The Age of the Flying Boat
Misc.
On Your Mark


Studio Ghibli Films
Pre Ghibli Films
 (1968) • Puss 'n Boots (1969) • Flying Ghost Ship (1969) • Animal Treasure Island (1971) • Alibaba and the 40 Thieves (1971) • Yuki's Sun (1972) • Panda Go Panda (1972–1973) • Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (1977) • Chie the Brat (1981) • Gauche the Cellist (1982) • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
Ghibli Films
Castle in the Sky (1986) • The Story of Yanagawa's Canals (1987) • My Neighbor Totoro (1988) • Grave of the Fireflies (1988) • Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) • Only Yesterday (1991) • Porco Rosso (1992) • Ocean Waves (1993) • Pom Poko (1994) • Whisper of the Heart (1995) • Princess Mononoke (1997) • My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) • Spirited Away (2001) • The Cat Returns (2002) • Howl's Moving Castle (2004) • Tales from Earthsea (2006)
Studio Ghibli Shorts
The Sky-Colored Seed (1992) • Nandarou (1992) • On Your Mark (1995) • Ghiblies (2000) • Ghiblies Episode II (2002) • Mei and the Kittenbus (2003) • Koro's Big Day Out (2003) • The Whale Hunt (2003) • The Invention of Destruction in the Imaginary Machines (2004) • Imaginary Flying Machines (2004) •  (2004) • The Day I Harvested a Star (2006) • House-hunting (2006) • Monmon the Water Spider (2006) • The Night of Taneyamagahara (2006)
See also...
Masashi Andō • Hideaki Anno • Ghibli Museum • Mamoru Hosoda • Megumi Kagawa • Kazuo Komatsubara • Katsuya Kondō • Yoshifumi Kondō • Yoichi Kotabe • Goro Miyazaki • Hayao Miyazaki • Yoshiyuki Momose • Tomomi Mochizuki • Yasuji Mori • Hiroyuki Morita • Mamoru Oshii • Shinji Otsuka • Yasuo Ōtsuka • Toshio Suzuki • Isao Takahata • Kazuo Oga • Tsukasa Tannai •

 

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