Nausica: Of The Valley Of The Wind

Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind (Kaze no tani no Naushika) is a science fiction epic that was originally released in 1984. Nausicaä was written as a manga and then later produced as a feature length anime by film maker Hayao Miyazaki, who has come to some fame since writing and releasing the movie. It is a story that carries strong environmental-friendly story lines, with out being too pushy.

Synopsis

Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind starts 1000 years after an event known as the “Seven Days of Fire”. The ecological event devastated the known world, destroying the world’s environment, which is meant to sustain life, but now, does not. Humans live in settlements, separated by a giant fungus that seems to consume most of the world. Giant insects also abound, making daily life dangerous.

Nausicaä is a princess from an area known as The Valley Of The Wind. Nausicaä has the unique ability to be able to communicate with some of the giant bugs. She is very empathetic and kind and is able to fly in the air on a type of glider.

Nausicaä’s world is threatened, however, when another settlement finds an ancient weapon that was used to help during the devastation of Earth. It is called a God Warrior, and two settlements, Pejite and Tolmekia, are in a fight to possess the weapon to use it against each other, and to destroy the giant fungus that crawls over the planet. The God Warrior ends up crashing into Nausicaä’s peaceful Valley Of The Wind, and when the Tolmekia attempt to retrieve it violently, the peaceful citizens of The Valley Of The Wind are forced into violence. Eventually even the fungus fights back, and it seems that chaos reigns.

Princess Nausicaä ends up fighting against everyone, while trying to protect her village and save her people. Her strength comes across to all and it is she, eventually, that causes things to end.

Cast

When Nausicaä was released in 2005, it commanded a magnificent Hollywood cast to do the voice-overs, including Hollywood heavyweights such as Patrick Stewart, Uma Thurman and rising star Shia LaBeouf.

• Tony Jay: Narrator
• Alison Lohman: Nausicaä
• "Goro Naya" Patrick Stewart: Lord Yupa
• Uma Thurman: Kushana
• Chris Sarandon: Kurotowa
• Edward James Olmos: Mito
• Emily Bauer: Lastelle
• Shia LaBeouf: Asbel
• Mark Hamill: Mayor of Pejite
• Tress MacNeille: Obaba
• Mark Silverman: King Jihl
• James Arnold Taylor: Muzu
• Jeff Bennett: Gikuri
• Jodi Benson: Lastelle's Mother
• Cam Clarke: Prince Milo
• Frank Welker: Gol

Misc. Info

The manga version of Nausicaä: Valley Of The Wind took over 13 years to complete. It was started shortly before the feature film was created, and was ended in 1994. The manga is much more detailed, and the movie version is said to only cover about a quarter of the entire story that the manga portrays. It has also been noted that there are significant differences between characters, and plot, from the manga to the film adaptation.