is a
1984-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.*Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....
post-apocalypticApocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization either through nuclear war, plague, or some other general disaster. Post-apocalyptic fiction is set in a world or civilization after such a disaster...
JapaneseThe has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world, being currently the third largest by number of feature films produced.-Definition:Japanese Cinema is a hard thing to clearly define...
animated
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
, written and
directedA film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film. Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker....
by
Hayao Miyazakiis a prominent Japanese filmmaker of many popular animated feature films. He is also a co-founder of Studio Ghibli, an animation studio and production company....
, based on his
mangaManga consist of comics and print cartoons , in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 20th century...
of the same nameis a post-apocalyptic manga written and illustrated by acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki. It was serialised intermittently from 1982 to 1994 in Japan...
. The film has
environmentalistEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment...
undertones and was presented by the
World Wide Fund for NatureThe World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada...
when it was released in 1984. While created before
Studio Ghibliis a Japanese animation film studio, and previously was a subsidiary of Tokuma Shoten.The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro....
was founded, the film is considered to be the beginning of the studio, and is often included as part of the Studio's works, including the
Studio Ghibli Collection DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
s. Among its numerous awards, it won the
Animageis a Japanese anime and entertainment magazine which Tokuma Shoten began publishing in July 1978. Hayao Miyazaki's internationally-renowned manga Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was serialized in Animage from 1982 through 1994...
Anime Grand Prix prize in 1984.
Plot
The story takes place 1,000 years after the "Seven Days of Fire", an event which destroyed human civilization and most of the
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
's original
ecosystemAn ecosystem is a system of interdependent organisms which share the same habitat, in an area functioning together with all of the physical factors of the environment. Ecosystems can be permanent or temporary. Ecosystems usually form a number of food webs...
. Scattered human settlements survive, isolated from one another by the . Literally translated as the
Rotting Sea,
Sea of Fungus,
Sea of Corruption or
Toxic jungle in the
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
version, the Sea of Decay is a jungle of giant plants and
fungiA fungus is any member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. The Fungi are classified as a kingdom that is separate from plants, animals and bacteria...
swarming with giant
insectInsects are arthropods, having a hard exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet and include more than a million species that are already described. Insects represent more than half of all...
s, which seem to come together only to wage war. Everything in the Sea of Decay, including the air, is lethally toxic.
The main protagonist, Nausicaä, is a charismatic young princess of the peaceful Valley of the Wind. Although a skillful fighter, Miyazaki's Nausicaä is humane and peace-loving. She has an unusual gift for communicating with the giant insects (particularly with the Ohmu, gigantic, armored,
caterpillarCaterpillars are the larval form of a member of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly phytophagous in food habit, with some species being entomophagous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered pests in agriculture...
- or isopod-like insects who are the most intelligent creatures in the Sea of Decay. Their eyes turn red with rage and blue when calm). She is also noted for her empathy toward animals, humans, and other beings. An intelligent girl, and inspired by the mentor figure Yupa, a wandering samurai type possessed of great wisdom, Nausicaä frequently explores the Sea of Decay and conducts scientific experiments in an attempt to define the true nature and origins of the toxic world in which she lives. Her explorations are facilitated by her skill at "windriding"; flying with an advanced
jetA jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet of fluid to generate thrust in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets and pump-jets...
assisted
gliderHang gliding is an air sport in which a pilot flies a light and unmotorized foot-launchable aircraft called a hang glider.Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite-framed fabric wing...
craft. Yupa is searching for the mythological man in blue who, according to the legend, will appear surrounded by a sea of gold and reunite the people and nature.
One day, an airship crashes onto the cliffs near the Valley of the Wind. Nausicaä tries to rescue a shackled girl of her age from the burning wreck, but the girl dies after revealing that she is Princess Lastelle from the kingdom Pejite and that the cargo of the airship must be destroyed. The airship is from Tolmekia and the cargo turns out to be the embryo of a
kyoshinhei (Giant Warrior in the English version), one of the lethal, giant biological
weaponA weapon is a tool used to apply force for the purpose of hunting, attack, self-defense, or defense in combat.Weapons can be as simple as a club, or as complex as an intercontinental ballistic missile, and include those that damage individual or group morale.-Prehistoric weapons:Very simple weapon...
s used in the ancient
warWar is a reciprocated, armed conflict, between two or more non-congruous entities, aimed at reorganising a subjectively designed, geo-politically desired result...
.
It is later revealed that the Warrior embryo was unearthed by Pejite, but it was stolen by the more powerful state of Tolmekia (Torumekia in the manga). While transporting the Warrior and Lastelle (as a
hostageA hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
) back to their realm, the Tolmekians were attacked by insects and later crash-land in the Valley. The next day, the Tolmekians, under the leadership of princess Kushana, invade the Valley to kill the Valley king and to secure and revive the Warrior. Kushana explains that the God Warrior will be used to burn the Sea of Decay, although Obaba, a blind elder Valley woman, warns that attempting so will only anger the Ohmu and lead to more deaths and turn the valley into part of the Sea of Decay.
Kushana attempts to return to Tolmekia, with Nausicaä and several others as hostages. Before their departure, Nausicaä reveals to Yupa a hidden garden of jungle plants which are not toxic because they are growing in sand and water from a deep, untainted well. Nausicaä explains that the jungle is only toxic due to the toxic soil that covers the surface of the earth, even in the Valley; she has been trying to find the cause and a possible cure for her people, including her now-dead father. Since she has to depart, however, she has shut down the water flows which keep the plants alive.
The airships are attacked by a Pejitan gunship and several of the ships are destroyed. Nausicaä and another hostage make their way to a gunship that the Tolmekians took, but before they can leave, Kushana joins them. They are forced to make an emergency landing in the Sea of Decay. There, Nausicaä communicates with several Ohmus and discovers that the pilot of the Pejitan gunship is still alive. With the help of her glider, Nausicaä rescues the pilot from a swarm of enraged insects. However, the plane crashes and, along with Nausicaä and the Pegitan pilot, ends up in a strange, non-toxic world that is below the Sea of Decay. Nausicaä realizes the plants in the Sea of Decay purify the polluted topsoil, producing clean water and sand which remains hidden in the underground world. The pilot reveals that he is Asbel of Pejite, the twin brother of princess Lastelle.
Meanwhile, the people of the Valley of the Wind request weapons from the occupying Tolmekians to destroy toxic spores, which have infested the valley's forest. Enraged that they have had to burn their forest because of the Tolmekians, the citizens revolt, attacking the Tolmekians who have taken over the castle. The Tolmekians counter, forcing the valley residents to flee to an ancient ship on the shore of the acid lake, with the Tolmekians in pursuit.
Nausicaä and Asbel return to Pejite, which is devastated after the Pejite people lured the insects from the Sea of Decay into their town in order to kill the occupying Tolmekian forces. The Pejite people reveal that they will do the same thing to the Valley of the Wind to recapture the Warrior. To prevent Nausicaä from alerting the Tolmekians, they capture her, but she escapes with the help of Asbel and his mother. With her glider, she heads to the Valley, but along the way she encounters an enormous herd of enraged Ohmus who are following an injured baby Ohmu being used by the Pejite people to lure the Ohmus to the Valley. Nausicaä releases the baby Ohmu and gains its trust.
Meanwhile, the Tolmekians attempt to stop the herd with their armored vehicles but fail. Kushana, who had escaped from the hostages, arrives with the God Warrior to stop the Ohmu herd. The Warrior fires several beams from its mouth which on impact cause nuclear-like explosions, killing hundreds of Ohmu in each blast, but this only serves to enrage the insects more. The Warrior attempts to continue fighting the Ohmu, but because it was awakened too early (before it could finish growing), it collapses and dies. However, Nausicaä and the baby Ohmu are finally able to stop the Ohmu herd, but she is mortally wounded in the process. In front of the Valley people and the Tolmekian forces, the Ohmus use their gold-colored tentacles to heal Nausicaä's injuries. Nausicaä's dress is then seen by all her village as now being of blue color, stained by the blood of the baby Ohmu she rescued; thus Nausicaä turns out to be the mythological "man" in blue mentioned in the beginning. The film ends with scenes of the future, where people and insects live in peace with each other.
Cast
The film stars the following voice actors in the 1984 Japanese and 2005 re-dubbed English versions:
| Character | Japanese | English 2005 dub |
|---|
| Narrator |
(none) |
Tony Jay Tony Jay was an English actor and voice actor. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was known for his voice work in animation, film and computer games...
|
| Nausicaä |
Sumi Shimamoto , real name , is a veteran Japanese voice actress born on December 8, 1954, in Kochi, Kochi Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from the Toho Gakuen School of Music, she joined Gekidan Seinenza, a theatrical acting troupe...
|
Alison Lohman Alison Marion Lohman is an American actress. She has had lead roles in the films White Oleander, Where the Truth Lies, Flicka and Drag Me to Hell as well as smaller parts in Matchstick Men, Big Fish and Beowulf...
|
| Lord Yupa |
Goro Naya is a veteran seiyū who was born in Hakodate. His younger brother is seiyū Rokuro Naya.He is most known for the roles of Koichi Zenigata , Juzo Okita , and Shocker Great Leader ....
|
Patrick StewartPatrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor. He has had a distinguished career in theatre for nearly fifty years, including performances as various characters in Shakespearean productions...
|
| Kushana |
Yoshiko Sakakibara , sometimes mis-transliterated as , is a veteran seiyū who was born in Chiba.She is most known for the roles of Armaroid Lady , Sylia Stingray , Haman Karn and Mouar Pharaoh , and Shinobu Nagumo .-Notable voice roles:*Mitsuko Asatani in Cat's Eye*Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki in Ghost in...
|
Uma Thurman Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress. She has performed predominantly in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action thrillers. She is best known for her work under the direction of Quentin Tarantino...
|
| Kurotowa |
Iemasa Kayumi is a male seiyū, actor, and narrator from the Tokyo Metropolitan area. He is currently affiliated with 81 Produce.-Television animation:*Angel Heart *Ashita no Nadja *Case Closed...
|
Chris Sarandon Christopher Sarandon is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Prince Humperdinck in the film The Princess Bride, as Detective Mike Norris in the first entry of the Child's Play series, as the speaking voice of Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas and its spin-offs,...
|
| Mito |
Ichirō Nagai is a male seiyū from Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. He was formerly represented by Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society, but is now represented by Aoni Production.-Television animation:*Akuma-kun *Bikkuriman...
|
Edward James Olmos Edward James "Eddie" Olmos is a Mexican American actor and director. His most memorable roles are Commander/Admiral William Adama in the Battlestar Galactica re-imagined series , Lt...
|
| Lastelle |
Miina Tominaga , better known by her stage name of is a Japanese seiyū and tarento from Nishi-ku, Hiroshima. She is currently attached to Mint Avenue....
|
Emily Bauer Emily Bauer is an American singer, dancer, actress and voice actress. She is also credited as Emily Blau.-Biography:...
|
| Asbel |
Yōji Matsuda ' is a Japanese actor and seiyū from Tokyo.-Film:*Ayano Asuka Gumi *Blue Christmas *Doctor Magura *The Hidden Blade *Kaabee...
|
Shia LaBeoufShia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor, voice actor, and comedian.LaBeouf began his comedy career when he was 10 years old, and then launched his acting career in 1998 at the age of 12. He became known among younger audiences for his part in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens, also appearing...
|
| Mayor of Pejite |
Makoto Terada |
Mark HamillMark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director and writer, Hamill is a best known for his role of Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the iconic voice of The Joker in the DC Animated Universe.-Early life and education:Hamill was born and raised in...
|
| Obaba |
Hisako Kyōda is a Japanese seiyū from Tokyo who, among other roles, voiced Slappy Squirrel in the Japanese dub of Animaniacs.She is most known for the roles of Genkai , Omusubiman , and Yukari Godai...
|
Tress MacNeille Tress MacNeille is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated series The Simpsons, Futurama, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs and some Disney movies....
|
| King Jihl |
Mahito Tsujimura is a veteran Japanese seiyū. He is employed by 81 Produce. He has a blood type of AB.-Notable Voice Roles:*Konoemon Konoe in Negima*Gopher in Kingdom Hearts II and the Winnie the Pooh series...
|
Mark Silverman |
| Muzu |
|
James Arnold Taylor James Arnold Taylor is an American voice actor and the current voice provider for Fred Flintstone.-Notable roles:...
|
| Prince Milo |
|
Cam Clarke Cameron Arthur "Cam" Clarke is an American voice actor, made famous for his many starring roles in popular video games, animated television and film. Born in Burbank, California, he is the son of movie actor and director Robert Clarke...
|
| Gikuri |
Jōji Yanami , born on August 30, 1931 in Tokyo, is a veteran seiyuu. He is currently represented by Aoni Production.He is best known for the roles of Chuuta Ban , One of the San-Aku , the Narrator and North Kaiō , Super Zeus and Ittan Momen .-TV anime:*Bikkuriman *Cooking Papa...
|
Jeff Bennett Jeff Glen Bennett is an American voice actor in cartoons , movies and games. He also had guest roles in live action shows such as Freddy's Nightmares, Married...with Children, and is also notable for voicing the Autobot Prowl in Transformers Animated, Johnny Bravo, and voicing Kyle Katarn, amongst...
|
| Lastelle's Mother |
Akiko Tsuboi |
Jodi BensonJodi Benson is an American voice actress and soprano singer. She is best known for providing the speaking voice as well as the singing voice of Disney's Princess Ariel in The Little Mermaid and its sequels...
|
| Gol |
Kōhei Miyauchi ' was a veteran Japanese seiyū born in Kagoshima Prefecture. His real name was Takayuki Miyauchi and his nickname was "Miya-chan"...
|
Frank Welker Franklin W. "Frank" Welker is a veteran American actor, who specializes in voice acting. He is responsible for a broad spectrum of character voices and other vocal effects that have appeared over the last 40 years in American television and motion pictures.Welker is listed as number one on the...
|
- Children's voices by Paul Butcher
Paul Butcher is an American teen actor.Butcher is best known for playing the role of Dustin Brooks, brother of Zoey Brooks, in the four seasons of the TV show Zoey 101. He has a role in the 2008 movie Surviving Sid...
, Ashley EdnerAshley Louise Edner is an American actress.Edner was born in Downey, California, the daughter of Cindy and Bob Edner, and the younger sister of actor Bobby Edner...
, Molly Keck, Richard Miro, Jordan OrrJordan Del Spina is an American child actor and voice actor.Del Spina was born in Sarasota, Florida, the younger brother of Ashley Rose.-Filmography:* Gilmore Girls as Aaron* Judging Amy as Jordan...
, Aimee Roldan, Grace Rolek, and Ross Simanteris
- Additional voices by Newell Alexander, Rosemary Alexander, Tom Amundson, Stephen Apostolina
Stephen F. Apostolina is a voice actor who is also known as Steve Apostolina and Steve Apostolima. His wife is Karen R. Apostolina.- Anime Roles :* Argento Soma - Army Official B...
, Mitch Carter, Robert Clotworthy, David Cowgill, Wendy Cutler, Ike EisenmannIake Eissinmann is an American actor, voice actor, producer, and sound-effects specialist who has been active in the entertainment industry since he was a preteen.-Career:...
, Jean Gilpin, Nicholas GuestThe Honourable Nicholas Haden-Guest is an American actor. He primarily works as a voice actor, but is best known for a TV role, as the principal in the NBC teen sitcom, USA High...
, Bridget HoffmanBridget Hoffman is an American actress best known for her work as an anime voice actress. She also serves as an ADR scriptwriter and ADR director.-Anime:* Strait Jacket - Nerin Simmons* Ah! My Goddess: The Movie - Belldandy...
, Sherry Hursey, Rif Hutton, Edie MirmanEdith S. Mirman is an American voice actress best known for the voice of Fujiko Mine from Tales of the Wolf, and also for both Miriya Parina Sterling and Nova Satori from Robotech. She is credited alternately as Penny Sweet and Edie S...
, Peter RenadayPeter Renaday is an American voice actor.-Film:*The Aristocats as the truck driver*Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost as McKnight-TV series:*Angel as The Beast's Master...
, and Lynnanne Zager
Production
Nausicaä was produced with animators hired for the one film and paid per frame. One notable animator was
Hideaki Anno, born 22 May 1960 in Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan, is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion...
, who later produced
Neon Genesis Evangelion. Anno was assigned to draw the challenging God Warrior's attack sequence, which according to Toshio Suzuki is a "high point in the film".
Releases
The film was originally released in Japan on March 4, 1984, and sold almost a million tickets.
Warriors of the Wind
A
heavily editedEditing of anime in American distribution describes the process of altering anime to prepare it to be distributed in the United States and sometimes also Canada, and forms part of the process of localization. The process is generally applied only to series intended for broadcast on American...
and English dubbed version of the film was released theatrically in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
, shown on HBO and released on
VHSVideo Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, was a video tape recording standard developed during the 1970s. It was released to the public during the latter half of the decade. During the late part of the 1970s and the early 1980s it formed one-half of the VHS vs Betamax war, which it...
by New World Pictures in the 1980s as
Warriors of the Wind. According to
Nausicaa.netNausicaa.net is an English-language fan website established in 1996 to contain information discussed on the Miyazaki Mailing List and to be a general resource for information regarding Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli, and related topics...
, the voice actors and actresses were not even informed of the film's plotline and more than 30 minutes were cut from the film because New World felt that "the parts were slow moving". As a result, part of the film's narrative meaning was lost; some of the environmentalist themes were diluted as was the main subplot about the Ohmu, altered to turn them into aggressive enemies. Most of the characters were renamed (for example, Nausicaä became "Princess Zandra"). The cover for the VHS release featured a cadre of male characters, who are not even in the film, riding the resurrected God Warrior — including a still-living Warrior shown briefly in a flashback. It was released around the world under various different titles, such as
Sternenkrieger (literally "Star Warriors") in Germany. It was rumored that
June ForayJune Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters . Her career has encompassed radio, theatrical shorts, feature films, television, record albums , video games, talking toys and other media...
provided the voice of Zandra, though this has been proven as untrue.
Many fans of
Nausicaä, along with Miyazaki himself, dislike this version; Miyazaki suggested that people should put it "out of their minds." Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki have asked fans to forget its existence and later adopted a strict "no-edits" clause for future foreign releases of its films. On hearing that Miramax co-chairman
Harvey WeinsteinHarvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films...
would try to cut
Princess Mononokeis a 1997 Japanese animated historical fantasy feature film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. It was first released in Japan on July 12, 1997 and in the United States on October 29, 1999 in select cities and on November 26, 1999 in Canada....
to make it more marketable, one of Studio Ghibli's producers sent an authentic
katanaA Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. These are categorised in several types according to size and method of manufacture...
with a simple message: "No cuts".
2005 English re-release
An uncut and re-dubbed version of
Nausicaä was released on DVD by Buena Vista Home Entertainment on February 22, 2005 for Region 1. This DVD also includes the Japanese audio track with English subtitles. Optimum Home Entertainment released the film in Region 2, and the Region 4 DVD is distributed by
Madman EntertainmentMadman Entertainment is an Australian company which specialises in the distribution of Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. The company is owned by the ASX listed Funtastic Limited and Madman Entertainment is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia, along with Warner...
. The 2005 DVD version made it around the world uncut.
Glider
Various gliders are seen in the film, and the protagonist, Nausicaä, uses a jet-assisted one-person
gliderA fixed-wing aircraft, usually called an airplane, aeroplane or plane, is an aircraft capable of flight using forward motion that causes air to pass over its wings to generate lift. Planes include jet engine and propeller driven vehicles propelled forward by thrust, as well as unpowered aircraft...
-shaped machine with
folding wingfolding wing is a design feature of aircraft to save space in the airfield, and time, and is typical of naval aircraft that operate from the limited deck space of aircraft carriers. The folding allows the aircraft to occupy less space in a confined hangar because the folded wing normally rises over...
s. According to the accompanying film book released in Japan, the glider is called , the
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
word meaning
seagull. An official scale model lists it as having an approximate
wingspanThe wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from the left wingtip to the right wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent,...
of 5.8 meters (1/20 model measured to be 29 cm), while the design notes indicate it weighs only 12 kg. In 2004, the Japanese-led
OpenSky Aircraft ProjectOpenSky is a Japanese project to create a jet-powered glider inspired by the Möwe aircraft flown by the protagonist in the Hayao Miyazaki anime Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind...
began attempts to build a real-life, working personal jet glider based on the glider from the film. Two full size gliders with no power source carrying the code name M01 and M02, with a half sized jet powered remote controlled mock up called
moewe 1/2 was built. The designer and tester of the project refused the official endorsement of the project by Studio Ghibli and
Hayao Miyazakiis a prominent Japanese filmmaker of many popular animated feature films. He is also a co-founder of Studio Ghibli, an animation studio and production company....
, noting that he did not want to cause trouble for them if an accident occurred.
Soundtrack
Numerous soundtracks and albums relating to the film have been released.
- Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind: Image Album (風の谷のナウシカ イメージアルバム 鳥の人) released November 25, 1983
- Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind: Symphony (風の谷のナウシカ シンフォニー 風の伝説) released February 25, 1984
- Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind: Soundtrack (風の谷のナウシカ サウンドトラック はるかな地へ) released March 25, 1984
- Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind: Drama Version (風の谷のナウシカ・ドラマ編) released April 25, 1984
- Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind: Best Collection (風の谷のナウシカ BEST) released November 25, 1986
- Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind: Hi-tech Series (風の谷のナウシカ・ハイテックシリーズ) released October 25, 1989
- Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind: Piano Solo Album released March 15, 1992
Manga
Miyazaki's manga version of
Nausicaä was written over a period of 13 years, with breaks taken to work on
Studio Ghibliis a Japanese animation film studio, and previously was a subsidiary of Tokuma Shoten.The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro....
films. Serialized in
Tokuma Shotenis a publisher in Japan, that was established in 1954.The company was one of the largest entertainment publishers until the 1990s. Some of their products included music, computer and game software, movies , magazines, manga and books. One of their most famous subsidiaries was Studio Ghibli...
's
Animageis a Japanese anime and entertainment magazine which Tokuma Shoten began publishing in July 1978. Hayao Miyazaki's internationally-renowned manga Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was serialized in Animage from 1982 through 1994...
magazine, the first chapter was published in February 1982, and the last chapter in March 1994. As can be expected, the story of the manga is far more complex than that of the film. The tale depicted in the film roughly corresponds to only the first quarter of the manga (which is all that had been written at the time the film was produced), with significant differences in plot.
In addition to the plot, there are other significant differences in the story – the characters are more developed and the environmentalist tone is more sophisticated, echoed in the complex worldview of
Princess Mononokeis a 1997 Japanese animated historical fantasy feature film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. It was first released in Japan on July 12, 1997 and in the United States on October 29, 1999 in select cities and on November 26, 1999 in Canada....
. Nausicaä herself is portrayed as being much more potent, with abilities that are not always explained.
The
Nausicaä manga is published in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
by
VIZ MediaViz Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, is an anime, manga and Japanese entertainment company founded in 1986 as Viz, LLC. In 2005, the Viz, LLC...
. Earlier editions of the English manga and fan translations often used the title
Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, omitting the definite article.
Video games
At least two video games were released based on the manga and the film.
- Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was a computer game based on the movie Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind . The game's platform was the NEC PC-8801 home computer...
(video game)
- Nausicaä Kiki Ippatsu
Nausicaä in the Nick of Time was a Japanese computer game released for the PC-6001 computer system in 1984...
(video game)
Further reading
External links