Watch "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" With Us
A thousand years have passed since the collapse of industrialized civilization. A toxic jungle now spreads, threatening the survival of the last of the human race.
This is how Jasper’s favorite Hayao Miyazake movie begins. We watched almost all of Miyazake’s movies together, and if you’ve seen these films you know how deep and magical Miyazake’s world building goes. They seeded Jasper’s imagination. They were the gateway to his later interest in anime and manga. And now, they all remind me of him — “Nausicaä” most of all.
I think it was all the aircraft in the movie that captivated him the most. The title character zips around in her own personal glider while the Empire of Tolmekia flies massive warships. Jasper collected toy airplanes, built countless spaceships out of Legos, drew them all over his bedroom walls. Flight attracted his imagination like nothing else, and I think that’s largely why he loved “Nausicaä” so much.
There’s a lot of action in the movie, and he enjoyed that, too. But there are also cute little creatures, a secret underworld, sweeping vistas, windmills, tragic loss, apocalypse, death, and miraculous rebirth. There are the Ohm, giant insects with segmented bodies and lots of large, round glassy eyes that turn red when enraged. And there’s a prophesy.
After 1000 years of darkness he will come, clad in blue and surrounded by fields of gold to restore mankind’s connection with the Earth that was destroyed. And he will guide the people of this planet at last to a land of purity.
If you’ve seen the movie you know the prophesy is off by one minor detail. If you haven’t see it, or if it’s just been a very long time, I invite you to watch again. I’ve found myself thinking about “Nausicaä” a lot lately, and so on this windy spring day I want to try something. I’m re-watching it and planning to write more about this movie. And that will give you some time to find it and watch it as well — watch in Jasper’s memory.
If you’re in the US, Max streams both the original in Japanese and an English dubbed version. It looks like it also may be available on a few other streaming services. See you in a few weeks for more!