Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Warrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.

Director:

Hayao Miyazaki

Writers:

Hayao Miyazaki (based on the manga by), Hayao Miyazaki (screenplay by)

Stars:

Sumi Shimamoto, Mahito Tsujimura, Hisako Kyôda

Top Rated Movies #234 | 3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sumi Shimamoto	...	Nausicaä (voice)
Mahito Tsujimura	...	Jihl / Muzu (voice)
Hisako Kyôda	...	Oh-Baba (voice)
Gorô Naya	...	Yupa (voice)
Ichirô Nagai	...	Mito (voice)
Kôhei Miyauchi	...	Goru (voice)
Jôji Yanami	...	Gikkuri (voice)
Minoru Yada	...	Niga (voice)
Rihoko Yoshida	...	Teto / Girl C (voice)
Masako Sugaya	...	Girl A (voice)
Takako Sasuga	...	Girl B (voice)
Chika Sakamoto	...	Boy A (voice)
Tarako	...	Boy B (voice) (as TARAKO)
Yôji Matsuda	...	Asbel (voice)
Mîna Tominaga	...	Rastel (voice)

Storyline

An animated fantasy-adventure. Set one thousand years from now, the Earth is ravaged by pollution and war. In the Valley of the Wind lives Nausicaä, Princess of her people. Their land borders on a toxic jungle, filled with dangerous over-sized insects. Meanwhile, two nearby nations are bitterly engaged in a war and the Valley of the Wind is stuck in the middle.

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Plot Keywords:

post apocalypse | princess | giant insect | pollution | dying planet | 

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Taglines:

1000 years from now...the only hope for the Future is in the hands of a Princess. ("Warriors of the Wind")

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

The disastrous "Warriors of the Wind" dub left its cast without any billing. Among the unnamed actors from that cast was Cam Clarke as Asbel (name changed to Milo) and Susan Davis as Nausicaä (name changed to Zandra).

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Goofs

When Nausicaä is underneath the toxic jungle and walks under a sand hole, Teto disappears from her shoulder before reappearing in the next shot.

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Quotes

Nausicaä: It's so beautiful. It's hard to believe these spores could kill me.

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Crazy Credits

As the credits roll we see life returning to normal in the valley: Kushana, Kurotowa and the Tolmekian fleet leave peacefully, after Nausicaä has unheard words for Kushana. The denizens of the Valley of the Wind replant trees in the burned-down forest. Lord Yupa and Asbel ride Yupa's beasts to the Toxic Jungle and explore it. When the text "The End" appears on screen we see Nausicaa's discarded helmet in the forest, alongside a green, non-Toxic Jungle sapling.

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Alternate Versions

The film had the Toei logo at the beginning when released in Japan in 1984 but unlike the World Wildlife disclaimer (which IS included in both Japanese and some non-US releases), the Toei logo was replaced in most subsequent video releases with either the Studio Ghibli logo or an older Tokuma Shoten/Hakuhodo logo.

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Connections

Referenced in Adventure Time: Bonnibel Bubblegum (2017)

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Soundtracks

Saranbande
Written by George Frideric Handel (as G.F. Händel)

User Reviews

A Masterpiece of Animated Cinema

Director Hayao Miyazaki won a place in my heart after I saw his 2001 film Spirited Away. I'm in no position to claim to be an expert on Miyazaki (I've only seen three of his films), nor am I really a big fan of Japanese animation; but I can safely say that Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is one of the very best animated films I have ever seen. The beauty of the animation is stunning, with its close attention to detail--every frame is constructed as a work of art--and the story is enthralling. As with other Miyazaki films, the majority of characters are much more three-dimensional that you typically get in Western animated features, and nearly all of them aren't exactly what they seem to be.

Nausicaä, which is based on Miyazaki's gargantuan Manga series, is set in the distant future, after fires destroyed much of the earth. The world is being consumed by the Sea of Decay, a toxic forest that spreads through airborne spores and is protected by giant insects called ohmu. The Valley of the Wind is one of the last pure places on earth, and its Princess, Nausicaä, is a strong-willed yet free-spirited young woman seeking to solve the mystery of the Sea of Decay. A nearby nation, which claims to have harnessed the power that allowed humans to rule the earth a thousand years before, takes over after a plane carrying a mysterious living cargo crashes in the valley. What follows in the film is a struggle, not of good versus evil, but of man versus nature. The story is complex, as is its message, and Miyazaki has ingeniously spun deep complexities into the animated characters: what look like foes may not be, and what look like friends may be a bit more dangerous.

The animation is colorful, sweeping, expansive, and beautiful, as are the plot and characters. There is an immediacy to the story that makes a big emotional impact and makes us question how we handle our position in nature. As one of the characters in the film asks, have humans become but a tribe destined to be swallowed by the Sea of Decay? It is ultimately a film about compassion in the face of violence and war, which is what makes it so different from Western features.

Disney's recent DVD release is excellent. The film can be watched either in the original Japanese audio or Pixar's dub with Patrick Stewart and Uma Thurman, and there are separate subtitles for each language track--a literal one (hallelujah!) for the Japanese track, and a more closed-captions style set for the English track. The film is so stunning in the Japanese that I have never considered watching the dub, though a fellow film buff has said that it is "not so bad." After this film was released in the US in the 1980s in a completely mangled version called Warriors of the Wind, Miyazaki suspended all US rights of all his other films until the distributor would honor the stipulation that they be released without any editing. The fact that Disney, which is known for watering down nearly everything it touches, has done this with such a non-Western-style movie is amazing.

Details

Official Sites:

Disney [United States] Disney's official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

25 November 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Warriors of the Wind

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$495,770

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,736,506

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nibariki, Tokuma Shoten, Hakuhodo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min 95 min (1985) (edited)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1