Type: Movie
Rating: Any Age
Runtime: 116 min
Directed By Miyazaki Hayao
Produced By Studion Ghibli
Year Produced: 1984
Welcome to the To Aru Kagaku no Home Theater Miyazaki Marathon... and then some...!
As I pretty much stated in the freaking title, this is the week and a little over where I watch and then review all of the Miyazaki movies that I can lay my hands on, starting with his oldest one... well... this one.
I'll be doing the following in the following order (one a day)...
Tuesday - Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
Wednesday - My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Thursday - Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
Friday - Porco Rosso (1992)
Saturday - Whisper of the Heart (1995)
Sunday - Princess Mononoke (1997)
Monday of Next Week - Spirited Away (2001)
Tuesday of Next Week - Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
And now you know why the "... and then some..." is there. Anyway, let's get this party started!
For the record, I actually haven't seen a majority of these films at all. The first anime that I ever watched was... okay, Pokemon, but that's beside the point here. The first anime that I watched and got hooked on was Princess Mononoke, when I was like... 12. It was awesome.
Apart from that, I've only the work that he's done after that (up until now, of course, I just watched this movie). I did take a peek at Whisper of the Heart, but that's okay since he technically didn't direct... all of it.
Okay, granted, I also have a bias here if you want to get technical. I'll tell you the whole story.
After I had finished watching Princess Mononoke for about the sixteenth time, and had watched the others a couple times as well, I went "God dammit, this guy is the best!!".
Then, it somehow came to my attention that Mr. Miyazaki had published a manga. A few, actually!
... I nearly had a heart attack. Can you imagine a 14 year-old having a cardiac arrest? It wasn't pretty.
So of course I bought one of them, and downloaded the others (yes, I'll give you the links at the end).
One that I downloaded was a little known work called Shuna no Tabi and it was... well, I don't know if I should call it a manga, since it was written in a really strange format... you'll just have to check it out.
You'll see some definite parallels between this manga and Kaze no Tani Nausicaa, as well as Tales from Earthsea.
There is also another one that looks like something that he drew during high school or something. I can't tell if it's supposed to be historical or not, but it is set in China before the Mongols came. But the it has the city of Pejite, and I'm pretty sure that that's not real, though I don't have a firm grasp on Chinese history.
The second was... yes, you guessed it! Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, the English name for Kaze no Tani Nausicaa...
HOT DAMN!
It was probably the best manga that I read that year, and one of the top three that I've read so far (and since I have a strange paranoia about stating favorites, I can't tell you the others).
Miyazaki engaged to create this manga in 1982, and worked on it sporadically until 1994. It was published in Tokuma Shoten Animage over the 12 years, and then published again in 7 bound volumes (or 4 if you bought those squat, fat ones).
The manga and the movie... weren't the same... at all. The character's were pretty much all different, and my favorite characters Kushana and Kurotowa looked like the assholes that they were in the beginning of the series. Damn. Well, you've got to draw the line somewhere.
Kurotowa will never stop being awesome, though.
The story is set in the post-apocalyptic world of... wherever the hell they are (they don't actually mention in the anime or the manga... well), and is about the beloved Princess Nausicaa, princess of a small valley that is struggling to survive with a decaying planet.
That's Nausicaa...
... that's the aforementioned valley.
... and this is what's happening to the Earth.
The Sea of Decay is a forest of toxin-spewing plants that has overtaken a good surface of the Earth. No human would be able to survive for more than 5 minutes in such a toxic environment, but that doesn't mean that it's uninhabitable. It's filled with...
The Valley of the Wind is full of peaceful people who only care only about cultivating their crops and generally having a good time... that is until a random barge sails into their valley and smashes into a cliff.
... Giant bugs.
Really giant bugs. This one is called an Ohm in the movie and Ohmu in the manga.
The Valley of the Wind is full of peaceful people who only care only about cultivating their crops and generally having a good time... that is until a random barge sails into their valley and smashes into a cliff.
... Shit.
Unbeknown to them, the ship was carrying vital cargo of the Torumekia, and imperial, militaristic nation, and they want whatever was in the hull of that ship back, so they come and bring an army to the Valley of the Wind.
They're actually a lot more gray than I wanted them to be. I always pictured them with gold armor and blue or red capes.
Pretty cool, yeah? And it's Miyazaki, so it's got to be good. Even his earliest stuff was righteous (especially since I'm into strong female leads).
The characters were limited. I have to admit that I didn't like how Kushana and Kurotowa ended up like I already said, but they were still cool characters.
For your information, Kushana is a lot more of a badass in the original manga. She led a cavalry charge, fought with some really freaky creatures, and then slaughtered a ship-full of Doroks (that's something that was only in the manga, as were all of the things that I sited here (and no, the freaky creature was not the one out of the movie)).
You've still got Yupa, though (another bitchin' character).
You've still got Yupa, though (another bitchin' character).
Yupa annndddd....
TETO!!
Since this is an adaptation of only about the first 2 volumes (in terms of the 7 volume set), it's limited in it's capacity to develop the characters like the manga (this movies was created part-way through his production of the manga, you know?). Miyazaki actually introduced at least five more pretty major characters later on who you don't see at all in the movie, unless I'm really missing something.
The animation style was classic, in a good way. It was a lot more colorful than I would have originally imagined, but that was a good thing. I would never have used so much pink and purple, but somehow it was all good.
I actually only watched this in Japanese, and I have to admit that I was scared to watch this in English, despite the cast list (Patrick Stewart (various roles, but I remember him from Excalibur and... Star Trek), Uma Therman (you'd probably know her from Kill Bill), and even Mark Hamill (not technically a star, but... Luke Skywalker, damn.)).
The music is something that I'd classify as strange. It blended into the background it you weren't careful, but since I had to listen for it, I heard... a lot of weird stuff in there. I don't even know what the influences for the music were, but they were definitely from the East. It was still good though, didn't distract you from the story or anything, so that's good.
Manga:
Shuna no Tabi Scum Scans
Sabaku no Tami Mediafire
The animation style was classic, in a good way. It was a lot more colorful than I would have originally imagined, but that was a good thing. I would never have used so much pink and purple, but somehow it was all good.
I actually only watched this in Japanese, and I have to admit that I was scared to watch this in English, despite the cast list (Patrick Stewart (various roles, but I remember him from Excalibur and... Star Trek), Uma Therman (you'd probably know her from Kill Bill), and even Mark Hamill (not technically a star, but... Luke Skywalker, damn.)).
The music is something that I'd classify as strange. It blended into the background it you weren't careful, but since I had to listen for it, I heard... a lot of weird stuff in there. I don't even know what the influences for the music were, but they were definitely from the East. It was still good though, didn't distract you from the story or anything, so that's good.
Manga:
Shuna no Tabi Scum Scans
Sabaku no Tami Mediafire
Anime:
(You need an account to access the links here too)
Coming up next!
Day 2: Laputa: Castle in the Sky!
Alert!
If you don't like spoilers, or still want to watch the show now, you'd better stop reading!
9. Apparently, Miyazaki has had a long-time admiration of aviation crafts. I think the story is that he live next to an airport when he was young or something, but that would explain why there was a lot of ships in his earlier works. Actually, planes were what he originally drew, and he's probably studied them, so even though some of his crafts don't look sky-worthy, I'm gonna have to trust him on this one.
Okay, so you've got us. The Earth really is fucked up, but it's not all bad news, because the forest's got it covered!
Through careful research, Nausicaa has discovered that the toxic forest plants are only producing such vapors and shit because they are filtering out the pollutants in the soil and water, in other words, their filtering out all that shit that humans put into the Earth.
If you didn't know, Miyazaki's like... and environmentalist (but he's not the kind that puts together rallies... I think...).
The movies even recommended by the WWF... which I get until I read the subtitle
What was aboard that barge that crashed in the valley was something that has attracted the attention of Torumekia, as I said. Torumekia's princess; Kushana wants what was on board which was...
... the zit of the Earth. It's actually what is called a God Warrior (in the manga, Great Warrior in the movie, but I go with names that I like better)
So Kushana raids the Valley, killing Jhil (Nausicaa's ailing father) either on accident or to keep the people leaderless so it'd be easier to instigate rule, I don't really know.
So like I was saying, Kushana put the valley under martial law, more or less and got them working.
Either way, she tells her trust Kurotowa to guard and incubate the thing while she goes back to the source of all the chaos... Pejite (where the barge came from). Kushana more or less orders Nausicaa to come with her, but allows her to bring with her a small barge full of others for help and whatever.
On the way there, they are ambushed and... pretty much raped by a gunship from the ruined Pejite, piloted by Asbel, the twin (and by terminology, older) of Lastelle, who was one of the many dead aboard the barge that went down.
Nausicaa manages to get him to stop attacking, and then he gets shot down into the Sea of Decay. Tough luck... for all of them, seeing as the ship that they were aboard also got owned, and was now sinking.
Nausicaa and Mito (her uncle in the manga, though I'm not sure if it's true or just a honorific/pet name) get to their gunship (which was also brought along for reasons unknown), and just as they are about to get away, Kushana staggers through the wreckage.
Showing her humanitarian and ultimately kind of stupid side, Nausicaa allows Kushana to ride along, and they make it out alive, diving into the Sea of Decay to rescue the barge that went down with one of the ships.
They find the barge and are forced to make an emergency landing in a lake, but they're not complaining... until Kushana pulls out a pistol for reasons that are beyond sane reasons. I mean, you're a cavalry officer, not a pilot! How are you planning on getting out if you actually decide to kill people? And even if you don't kill anyone, then you're still out of luck, nobody wants to carry a threatening... bitch.
And then, as if things couldn't get any worse...
Ohmu.
Kind of like Jaws, only not.
... they got worse. This is actually kind of one of my nightmares. I've got no problems with deep water... just the shit that might be swimming around down there. If I can't see the bottom... yikes.
Now the one thing that you learn early on, but I forgot to mention (and can't find a good place to fit it in) is that Ohmu are generally peaceful creatures... unless you kill even one bug. Stepping on a cockroach has brought a herd of unhappy Ohmu to your doorstep.
Anyway, they've got those big eyes... and they've got two colors that alert others to their mood;
Chillaxed and...
... incredibly pissed. There is no middle stage.
Now, the Ohmus are apparently okay with Nausicaa guys being there, but that Asbel idiot has gone and started killing stuff, and their not too happy about that, so they go off to find him.
Nausicaa chases after them, leaving her people... and Kushana to fly back to the valley on their own.
Nausicaa saves Asbel, and then the both of them end up at the very bottom of the Sea of Decay where everythings been purified.
While all this other shit is going on, the villagers get back to the valley, which is currently in unrest because there are spores from the Sea of Decay settling in the crops.
Yupa and Kushana meet again, have a chat, and even a little show.
Now are you watching carefully?
... Magic, my friend.
Actually, she's missing a hand... or maybe the entire arm, I'm not too sure on this point. It's insinuated that she lost it to the forest insects (aka the Ohmu), and that's why she's so pissed. Hell, I would be too.
(This is a totally new element. Kushana wasn't missing any limbs in the manga, and I liked it better that way, but who am I to complain?)
Kushana's goal is to use that God Warrior to burn the Ohmu and then the forest, retaking the planet for the humans. Little does she know that this will actually doom the planet, but that's okay, she's still cool.
The entire valley suddenly goes up in revolt, and the villagers take back their guns and heroically (the 3 most awesome old-timers of all history, probably)...
... TANK-JACK!!
Yupa and Mito get back in the gunship and fly to find Nausicaa, who's on her own way to Pejite to meet up with some of Asbel's friends.
When they get there (Nausicaa and Asbel, that is), they find that Pejite's been destroyed by an insect attack, instigated by Asbel's friends. Now they aren't some group of radical terrorists or anything, actually, I'm pretty sure that they were trying to kill the Torumekians and it got out of hand. They also have the goal of taking the God Warrior for the same purpose as Kushana, but they aren't missing any limbs, so they don't get the coolness factor.
And their next target is the God Warrior's current hiding place... Afghanistan. Okay, the Valley of the Wind. And they plan to use the same tactic; Ohmu overrun.
When Nausicaa protests, they capture both her and Asbel who tries to help, and take off anyway.
Midway through the flight, Asbel, his mother, and all the other women aboard bust Nausicaa out of her potato prison (in a more subdued way, they actually pulled a body switch).
As Nausicaa and Asbel are preparing for takeoff on Nausicaa's glider, they Pejite barge is spotted and attacked by a Torumekian Corvette (no, not the car, and be grateful that I didn't make a joke out of that).
After being forced up against a storm cloud, the barge is... and this is still a fucking weird idea... boarded by the Torumekians (in high, near-stormy winds, mind you).
All Aboard!!
And who's dumb-ass idea was it to put a door there?
The Torumekians board the ship and take it over and Asbel shoves Nausicaa out into the sky before she can stop him.
On her way out, the corvette detaches from the barge and gives chase... only to eat a face-full of gunship! Woot! It's Yupa and Mito (2 more awesome old... der gentlemen).
Then they fly over the barge and...
It's YUPA TIME!!
As far as I'm concerned, Family Guy's got nothing on this. Actually, this is a hack of my friend's "CRITICAL TIME!!" as he Triangle Attacks in Fire Emblem 7, an awesome game. Play it.
Anyway, they take the barge and Nausicaa takes the gunship with Mito, but it's already technically too late. The Ohmu are out in force.
This is... bad.
Nausicaa knows that the Pejitians have been doing something to piss them off so bad, but she can't figure out what it is... until she sees something off in the distance.
Nausicaa manages to cut the Ohmu baby down, but the adult Ohmu are already so pissed off that they have lost sight of the baby. Maybe it's because the borderline retarded Torumekians are shooting at them.
Nausicaa picks up the Ohmu child (nicely this time) and starts to ferry it over to the Ohmu charge.
Meanwhile, Kushana comes over the crest of the hill with...
... this thing.
That's the God Warrior... but it's still not fully functional yet, and as such, essentially rips apart as it tries to drag itself along. But it still gets off a shot and...
... Boom.
Unfortunately for the "fight fire with fire" plan, the God Warrior disintegrates after a couple of shots, since the strain was too much for it's immature body.
Nausicaa then shows up, landing right in front of the Ohmu herd with the child, standing before them peacefully to calm them down again. The Ohmu keep coming, and Nausicaa keeps standing there, confident that they'll stop.
... They don't stop. They actually run over the main character of this entire movie. What the FUCK?!
Amazingly enough (and it wouldn't be a movie without this)... Nausicaa's dead. Killed pretty much when she was flung into the air by the first Ohmu. Kind of ruins it, yeah?
But this is the part that makes it a movie... the Ohmu stop their blind charge, and surround Nausicaa's dead body. Then, along with the child Ohmu that she saved, they lift her up and... I'm pretty sure that they revive her somehow, but according to the villagers, it's a miracle.
Some of the Ohmu chose to stop here... awkward.
And with that, Nausicaa fulfills some kind of ancient prophecy that I'll get to later on. Everybody lives happily ever after. The End.
A few of things that I want to tell you before I leave...
1. Read the manga. The movie was good and all, but the manga is (seriously) the best that I've read in a long time.
2. There are no Doroks in the movie. The Doroks are the other country on the continent, and in the manga, they are having (in their opinion) a holy war against the Torumekians. The Torumekians are just looking for more land to move into after the Sea of Decay swallows up their land.
The Doroks are a more "primitive" nation that is comprised of dozens of tribes who owe their allegiance to a Holy Emperor instead of just a boring old regular Emperor.
Around the end of the manga, the story gets deeper and the history of the Holy Emperor is revealed, and something else.
3. The Prophecy that that old woman keeps citing is actually something out of Dorok heathen/pagan religion which was abolished when the first Holy Emperor came into power. I guess that the Valley of the Wind is was originally a Dorok principality or settlement or something but I get the impression through looks and such that they are more closely related to the Torumekians genetically.
5. In the manga, the Torumekians never storm the valley. Kushana does make an appearance, but Jhil doesn't die until much later in the story. Actually, the two states are bound together in some kind of armistice from after an old war (possibly even the Seven Days of Fire), in which it is stated that the Valley of the Wind gets autonomy, and the Torumekian Empire gets the valley's gunship and aid during times of war (which the story is set in. Nausicaa leaves the valley as part of a flotilla under the command of Kushana, bound across the Sea of Decay).
6. Like I said before, Kushana's a cavalry officer, and originally the commander of the 3rd Cavalry Army, but that command was taken away from her by her father (the Emperor and actually her step-father (you have no idea how twisted this family is... it's like something out of Shakespeare, it's awesome)) because he was afraid that she'd use her men's fierce loyalty and actually incredible strength (combined with Kushana's military prowess) to overthrow him (which is Kushana's plan in the manga).
7. There are no tanks in the manga. Which I think is better.
8. In the manga, Nausicaa's the one that takes the God Warrior. She takes "him" (not technically a boy or girl, rather an "it", but she went and gave it a name; "Ohma" meaning something or other in old Eftal (the Valley of the Wind was originally part of the Kingdom of Eftal)) not to torch the forest (that wasn't even an idea in the manga), but to the Crypt of Shuwa to reveal the true past of the human race (in other words; to figure out why the planet was so screwed up). She got quite an interesting answer. It was actually a mind-bender of an answer, I needed a couple of days to think about it.
9. Apparently, Miyazaki has had a long-time admiration of aviation crafts. I think the story is that he live next to an airport when he was young or something, but that would explain why there was a lot of ships in his earlier works. Actually, planes were what he originally drew, and he's probably studied them, so even though some of his crafts don't look sky-worthy, I'm gonna have to trust him on this one.
As you can tell, I'm really into this manga, and I'm still in love with Kushana (okay... among others, I seem to have a problem being faithful), and there's a lot more that was different, but I'm getting tired, and if you've made it this far, you need to stop right now and go have a sandwich. Go on...
No Castle of Cagliostro??
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