Anime: Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa 6x1g13

This is the best movie ever, there is no doubt about this fact, not only the best of anime, the best in the world. Hayao Miyazaki is the creator of this and the case, that the proceeds for this one was enough to fund Studio Ghibli(Similar to Disnep of America for Japan) is one superficial evidence for the awesomeness of this movie.
The Anime style is handdrawn and hand-coloured (no CG, also because it's over 30years old) but very special and a very good detailed quality. Many critics criticize that the "manga" is many more detailed but on the other hand they write that it's not possible to implement it. Actually I have not seen the manga yet but For me it's detailed enough.
The Songs were composed by the awesome Hisaishi Joe. It's an special coposition only made for this movie like the other following movies of the Studio Ghibli.
The Story is very good and really futuristic. I really like this post apocalyptic style with a little bit hope for an new future. And biology and fungi is one of my hobbies, it's no wonder that is is my anime number one.
The Character were very well styled and hve a good introduction in their background. The main Character was for many years Japan's idol number one, in my opinion it's legitimately because her Character is "kawaii" in a very specaial way.
Absolutly, it's an must see one!

Review
Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa (Nausicaa) could be said to be a landmark in the industry. This movie, released way back in the 80's became the foundation in which many pieces of art would search inspiration. Crafted by the mind of Hayao Miyazaki, the movie brought together many exciting elements from its time, such as a post-apocalyptic land, swordfighting, and huge airships. It had more though, it had a female lead of tremendous quality far ahead of its time for this industry, it tackled the problems of environment while depicting a world where men could bring down its own doom by harming the planet. In a way, Nausicaa matched the essence of many movies and series that were only achieved decades later (and in other pieces from Hayao Miyazaki).

This is the tale of young Nausicaa, a princess of a small kingdom, as she tries to understand the world she inhabits. Earth as we know it is no more. A bleak desert covers the land where industries once thrived and the remaining forests are home to dangerous giant insects and poisonous gases. Survival is the rule of this land, but for Nausicaa perhaps there is more behind these uninhabitable places.

---

1. A tale of modern themes
   Nausicaa is a tale with a modern theme. It tackles a fantastic version of a possible future, where humanity has exploited the land and nature for too long and lead it to an untimely end. This end, however, is not for nature, but for mankind. The Earth adapts, evolves, and makes use of its weapons to survive, even if that means we are her enemy. The horrifying colossal insects, the poisonous gases, the deserts, the air, everything here has a reason to be the way it is, and it falls for our brave young protagonist to understand it and warn the deaf authorities of its meaning.
   
   And it's also political
   The young princess' threat is not simply big bugs and deadly natural traps. She faces the stubbornness of men, their insistence in seeking an outer enemy, their lack of self awareness in the big picture. The small kingdoms that are left fight against each other for the few bits of fertile around still around, they are sick bastards wanting for war, for an enemy to defeat, and this ultimately becomes nature itself. Yes. Even after being wiped out when challenging nature, humanity once again picks a fight with it. This is perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the movie's tale. Not a grand adventure of our protagonist, not the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic land, but the repetition of mankind's mistake.
   
   A charming Ghibli work
   Backing this high-stake tale is the usual quality of the guys working along with Hayao Miyazaki. Nausicaa offers a collection of beautiful artwork along with the traditional expressive characters. These characteristics would be later improved by Totoro and other works, but here the signature of Studio Ghibli can already be seen. The post-apocalyptic scene is majestic, with grand forests, terrifying massive insects, and a good deal of blood and pain within it.
   
   And it's action-packed and thrilling
   The meaning behind this movie can be grand, but that's not where it stops. Nausicaa, our protagonist, is a kick-ass fearless heroine, taught in the arts of combat by a true master and ready to fight anyone who stands in her way. She is a powerful girl whose shoulder can carry a lot of weight and capable of finding strength in her amazing discoveries and aided by her charismatic allies. She is an example of a strong all-around lead, mixing her personality, fighting skills, and sense of adventure to fully explore this tale. Her journey is full of deadly combats in ground and air, clashes with military power, as well as the threatening huge almost-invincible-insects.
   
   Not dramatic, but still there
   Nausicaa is a thrilling experience and it is aided by bits of tragic moments, especially when it comes to give a push to the heroine in her quest and giving her the required motivation to move towards the next point. Like most other later released Ghibli movies, you get to use these moments to fuel your anger towards the fuck*n stupid humans and their lack of collective intelligence. Damn you humans. I love my insects *kills a cockroach ing by*.
   

---

Comments
Nausicaa is yet another jewel made by the guys behind Studio Ghibli, and especially Miyazaki. It serves as the basis to future works, in special when it comes to the strong female heroine, a mark to most of its movies and a tool that is crucial to make every one of them a special experience. The young princess Nausicaa is a fearless warrior that picks the fight to herself and leads the tale with amazing skill. There are no useless moments, the stakes get higher and higher, and the thrill of her journey is one to behold.

The movie, however, aged quite a bit. Unlike Totoro or Grave of the Fireflies, which rely more on expressive characters than action, Nausicaa depends a lot on fluid motion and special effects. The quality is still amazing and is not a turn down, mostly because of the hand-made scenery and detail, but the clumsy movements and a somewhat lack of dramatization to the combat scenes makes it obvious this is fairly old. Anyway, watch it.

SPOILERS ALERT!! All my reviews have spoilers!

Nausicaa, I have a feeling that this review is going to be long…
So everybody seems to love this movie, and those that don’t, can’t seem to find a plausible explanation to why they didn’t enjoy it, well today I’m here to help you discover why you felt that, and why this movie didn’t reach you.
People judge animations by only looking at the amount of entertainment/joy/emotions it gave to each of them, but the truth is that each anime has his high and low points, so just giving a 10 because your friends told you or just based in your inner favoritism doesn’t get you to the real point.
Other important thing I need to say: I don’t measure animes only based in his time of release. I mean, when I was young The Power Rangers were like the world to me, well nowadays I simple can’t say the same and I can see the flaws the show had, so it’s important to understand how the magic continues to work through time when we’re talking about a classic, and how affect us today.
Nausicaa was released in Japan in 1984 and it was really something amazing and different at that time, since it brought some important themes like the after-war, the environment, and how the notion of pollution that our so industrialized and technologic world could bring. And these themes were brought to the family space with a mature lookout and a gorgeous setting for that time.
One year later it was released in US under a stupid name, a depressing re-edition, and a sad dub, so basically, most people got really involve by this movie when the name of Miyazaki started to spread out and gather fans with Mononoke-Hime (1995) and ten years later, in 2005, a good English re-released version came out, and this space of time between 1995-2005 left many fans curious so they decided to take a look at the manga… and I must tell you, it’s much more dense, exciting and interesting than the movie!!
Why? Because we need to understand the motives, the intentions and motivations of each character to understand why they do what they do, and the movie fails in this point.
Having in count that many read the manga, and already had a background setting of the story they give this movie a 10 because they can fully understand the story! So, I’m not going to judge this animation based on the manga, I’m going to clear my mind and make a review only to the movie itself!
I’m not going to say much about the good aspects, because there’s already many people praising them, I’m just going to say that the animation was very good for its time and even today is good; the thematic is interesting and still fits in our polluted world; the heroine is an amazing character capable of understanding and fulfils it’s role (although there’s some issues there too); there are no true villains in it since we’re talking about nature vs human nature, we might blame mankind but not completely because mankind need creativity and progress or degenerates… so this movie is GOOD in all those aspects, other important thing is that it actually follows the basics of a dystopian world and for all that I truly praise it.
Now let’s look at the bad side:
a) The most important thing – setting – is the first issue having in count the environmental crisis is not so well explored. You see this strange world filled with toxic spores in a jungle ruled by insects, but you never actually see anyone being choked by the air; you never see any insect devouring or biting a human – and this makes the setting completely superficial! And where are the other animals? Dead? Is it only bugs and Teto?? And, let’s face it! You, the guy/girl who can’t stand a fly or a beetle in your own house is going to cheer for the victory of the bugs?? Well, unless you’re a fanatic for bugs, you wouldn’t want them in your place, even when they represent something like being the protectors… So, who are you calling villains here?
Other problem with the setting: the injuries are rare; everyone seems to be pretty damn good avoiding damage (the almighty Yupa!!) and the blood is so scanty that can’t even make a good impact (well, family purposes). Even the ones that die don’t even attach any feeling to the viewer – you don’t know anything about them to feel sorry! You had like 5 minutes of the movie with Nausicaa’s father and Lastelle! Who cares about them when the whole movie is only focused in one and single person!! – again, superficial!
b) The story itself with the slow pace don’t seem to engage much the audience expectation, and that’s why some say “it’s boring!”. The catharsis seems somewhat weak, because of the issues I’m pointing here and some background sounds forgotten in important scenes;
c) The heroine – Nausicaa is also a problem - although she shows to have everything to be a great character, there’s a lack of impact in her! And when she shows confidence it’s in an excessive way, much unreal! But the fights are not easy because the opponent is strong – human nature – and she too used violence because she’s human!
In an environmental movie she appears riding a flying machine (!?) and what are we suppose to think? That they move by solar energy? Or by the wind, even when she’s in the jungle of spores where there’s no wind? If it was a relic left by the industrialization world isn’t she, our heroine, polluting the air too?
Nausicaa takes things from dead Ohm’s carcass to recycle it for tools (and maybe weapons are implied)? Yes, at the beginning is there when she hits the dead carcass shield with the ceramic sword… human nature can’t stop creating, recycling, progressing by the other things coast, it’s within us.
And this theme also guide me to other important matter: Mononoke-Hime is different from this one because the hero is the forest -> you see how the forest/nature see us (mankind); Nausicaa is the complete opposite -> is how humans see the forest – and each one of us see the forest differently, and this is why this movie is better than Mononoke!
Humans are moved by intentions, feelings, memories and motivations. When they look at the forest they have these 4 aspects in count – or either they want to enjoy it, or destroy it – and this response to nature will also suffer transformation within us if it’s either a jungle/swamp or a beautiful landscape.
Humankind needs progress (that’s why dystopia worlds happen) but it’s hard to conjugate nature within this progression, and I came to my final issue…
d) The rise – there isn’t any in the end! And this is very important; you want to see a solution to this dark world! Where’s the “chance” of rising? With the resurrection of the princess? I would pretty much prefer that she died and the solution appeared! But well, the wind came back again, and each one went to his beginning place, and I don’t believe the weaponry and industrialization ceased nor the constant vengeance ended…

Art & Animation

Considering the year this movie was released/made, I am astonished! Watch the movie in blu-ray, and you can appreciate it even more, like I did. Really nice character designs. The scenery is drawn/animated spectacularly.

Sound

Voice acting is really good, songs are nice. The soundtrack is gorgeous! The music felt really special and unique most of the time~
At one point in the movie, Nausicaa is surrounded by many animals, which produce various amazing sounds. The scenery was also amazing there. I wish there were more such moments.

Story

A nice "future" world is shown, depicting what happened after the pollution and emerging of new species. Nausicaa's efforts towards peace and her struggle are shown really nicely. However, I have to say that this movie uses something I hate watching: armies of humans trying to subjugate other (often powerless) humans and other species by using mean, unfair methods. Still, a nice story, but at times it seemed rush and even cut off (I found out that the movie is made after a manga, and thus it's not surprising that the movie could not convey everything without rushing things).

Characters

Really good character depiction, especially Nausicaa's. We can see struggle, one's beliefs and good portrayal of relations.

Value

Definitely a classic masterpiece. It lacks some things, but it's also amazing given its settings and the year of releasing.

Enjoyment

At times it was really good, even amazing, especially when amazing nature scenes and sounds were shown/depicted. The story is also good, solid, although somewhat overwhelming. The story is also somewhat rushed, and some important scenes were cut off. A really nice watch though~

ANIME EVOLUTION SERIES
Full list of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.telechargertorrent.org/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=page&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

As I said already, the early 80’s was a time for war dramas to appear and along with Barefoot Gen and Hokuto no Ken, came around the same time this movie. It is the first of numerous family oriented movies made by Hayao Miyazaki, another colossus in the hall of fame, along with the other dudes I mentioned in previous entries. His take on the subject is far more fantasy based, without taking away the actual feeling of dread with what has happened to the world.

Miyazaki pretty much brought Disney level of quality in Japanese animation. Sure, Osamu Tezuka in the 60’s had already been influenced by Walt and even sured him in thematics. Still, anime productions were up to that point low-budget productions, hardly looking eye-candy enough for mass audiences who demand good visuals. Sounds superficial but it is true that good visuals make good ment and most people won’t pay a ticket to go watch a movie with mediocre artwork.

To be honest, those two Momotaro movies back in the 40’s easily matched Disney film quality but they were also founded by the military, which never repeated again after the war. And no company wanted to fund so much money into making an animated feature for the still rather small audience of Japanese animation. It wasn’t even close to the several millions of faithful audiences, parents and children going to the cinema in order to watch eye-popping visuals and funny characters.

But as I said, the 80’s were the era of change for both the east and the west. Disney started to lose its place at the top as its movies were beginning to not be as interesting as they used to and many had already come into with Robotech and a few other anime with interesting concepts and were ready to try something different. Miyazaki finally managed to get his funding as well and eventually created on of the highest budget featured films of that era; the adaptation of his own manga, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Now before I go on, I must make clear that his original work was still in the making and this was only supposed to be a summary of it. The actual story in the manga is far more elaborate and complicating, longer in duration and far more philosophical than what the movie ended up showing. But for that time it was still the most mature family-oriented animated-movie, and that was enough to deem the project a success.

So what is Nausicaa? Is it just a war drama between two nations at war? No, it is also about the shape of the world as well, having turned into a huge poisonous jungle, full of gigantic insectoids that attack humans when provoked. It is also about the relics of an ancient humanity, whose weapons still are found and used in war. It is also about the struggle of a single girl to maintain order and discover a way for mankind to survive the ever growing jungle. Although the way the plot unravels feels simple to grasp for those who lack long-span attention, the themes and symbolisms the movie is filled with are numerous and provide food for thought for those who pay attention to the details.

If I could sum the movie’s premise, I would say it is about nature getting angry with mankind and its constant wars and a girl tries to find a way to stop all the impending destruction. So yeah, one could easily label this film as nothing but anti-war propaganda for tree-huggers with a rather simple take on the whole problem. Which is true as far as the plot is concerned but in reality it is a lot more. First of all, having direct messages like “war is bad” and “be good to nature” in a family-oriented film is just fine and expected. Plus, back then such themes were hot topics with the Cold War and the fear of the Amazon forest being levelled in a few decades. So you can’t really blame the film for showing the deepest worries of its time. Plus, it is not exactly happy-go-lucky in its plot either, so one can’t label it kiddie stuff either. Many people in it are killed in rather horrible ways out of human folly and even the villains have their reasons for being… well, not exactly evil but ruthless. It is a savage world after all and each tribe wants to get resources from the other tribe; how hard is it to see it happening? And even the so-called angry nature, it is not presented as good-natured as most western films do. It is in fact shown to be completely neutral and amoral, reacting to humanity’s actions only to prevent further destruction. All that are much more realistic that, let’s say, the plot in Avatar. Visuals aside, that movie had less depth than a rain pond.

Thematics aside, there are many other elements to notice in it. Like for example Nausicaa, the main heroine. WHY IS SHE A GIRL??? Surely, back then having such a dynamic character was a role reserved for males, yet all of Miyazaki’s main characters are always girls. So what, is this also some propaganda in favour of feminism as well??? Not at all, Miyazaki loves having young girls as heroes, because it brings out easier the antithesis between their innocence and the cruel world they live in. The most shocking moments in it is when Nausicaa herself, being up to that moment a happy girl trying to help others, is suddenly being taken over by murderous intension after watching her people and family being attacked and killed by invaders. At that moment you really see the shock she goes through and the pain she causes to others in the same way others caused to her, a thing that would feel almost natural and expected if she was a boy. So no, Nausicaa is a great Miyazaki archetype exactly because she IS A GIRL.

Also, unlike most of everybody else, Miyazaki never sexualizes her to feel like a thing of male lust. In fact, nobody in the entire movie seems to have a role specialized for his or her genre. Even the invading general is a woman for example and it doesn’t feel weird or sexual to anyone. Miyazaki manages to subvert the whole gender role fuss that is so stereotypical in almost any other story and uses it purely to transmit messages. Heck, we might as well see everybody as asexual, which is again interesting on its own. And he managed to do that by simply giving them all buggy clothes that hide their actual body figures. Everybody in the film wears clothes that he can almost swim in, or really bulky armours, all with the in-story excuse that they protect the body from the dangerous gasses.

Gender roles and baggy clothes aside, the very setting of the world is wonderful in a spooky way. The way the poison jungle is depicted and the way the insects in it move and communicate is just special in its own way. Also, Miyazaki loves the feeling of flight, and thus there are numerous scenes where Nausicaa and many others fly in the sky with quite interesting looking flying machines. Thus the entire movie shows a scary world and the wish to escape from its sadness by flying free in the skies.

Also, the fight scenes are quite good on their own. There is great variety in the way people and monsters fight, from swords and shields, to muskets, to airships shooting at each other, to crustacean beasts running amok by the thousands and trampling anything in their path, to huge demon machines firing laser beams that level several kilometres in their path. All accompanied with numerous simple to understand dialogues around why people are constantly forced to fight even if they know it is only causing grief. You won’t find this stuff in a typical kiddie movie.

By the end of the movie, you actually have managed to understand why everything happens as it does, what are the roots of the problem, and even up until the last minutes you have no idea how all this mess can be solved. You get to understand how everybody feels and acts and why he or she acts as such. It is quite easy to direct your sympathy towards them for all they are and all they try to accomplish, each on their own way.

The ending may feel far fetched but in the context of the film it is somewhat excused and if you don’t overthink it, you may actually love the feeling of sadness and hope it is so filled with. It is a really powerful one and it is not about the good hero duelling the evil tyrant or something like that. This movie never befalls into that mediocrity. Thus after all the things you have seen throughout the film, with the scary jungle and the nations at war, and Nausicaa soaring the skies in a quest for redemption, thousands of monsters marching and demon machines rising to turn everything to dust… you get an equally powerful ending which is no longer about the power of weapons or fear or hatred. It is something a lot more buddhistic if I may say and I liked it for what it is all about.

Although the movie pales before the manga, it is still a very powerful piece of art that is good to watch no mater how old it becomes. To be blunt and biased about it, Avatar is similar in themes yet complete bull before it. And so are most other movies who try to transmit messages but do it too artificially or in an average way. So yes, I like this movie for all it is and for all it never tried to be.

And now for some excused scorings.

Ancient legends say that when Archangels asked to God why He wanted to create a ugly thing like the world He answered:
"Because one day a guy named Miyazaki will create Nausicaa... that guy really rocks!"

I don't know if this legend is real, but this doesn't change the point:
Nausicaa really changed the world of the animation as we knew it.
Nausicaa launched the career of Anno as an animator, also gave life to Ghibli studium opening the road to the birth of several new small studios (Gainax for example) that increased dramatically the variety of anime proprosed to the public.

Animation
For the Standard of the 1984 is really amazing,
and as I said you can discern the hand of Hodeachi Anno in some scenes, so I think it deserves 10 points

Sound
Joe Hisashi has done a good job, creating music that matchs perfectly with the story, but what is really amzing is the perfect coordination of time between music and animation.

Story
I' think that the actuality of the story is what really is astonishing in this movie: the pollution of the hearth due to the stupidity of man is the real focus of the story and often your eyes will lose the movement of the main character only to indugiate on the background that is for me the real protagonist of the movie

Character
What a man can say?
The main character is Nausicaa!
This says all




Bilion of words have been spent on this movie and
certainly mine won't do the difference, and a lot
of thing could be said but I think that sometimes
a few words are a thousand times more effective that a long recension similar to the tens already wrote, so i will say only this:

Nausicaa has a ""Historical Value"" that can't be understimated, and without watching it your comprension of the world of anime will not be good, so i strongly reccommend to watch it!