Nausica of the Valley of the Wind

**Nausica of the Valley of the Wind** is a 1984 drama, war, fantasy, science fiction, science fantasy, comedy,

    Japanese anime film.  It was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, musically composed by Joe Hisaishi, cinematography by Koji Shiragami, Yukitomo Shudo, Yasuhiro Shimizu, and Mamoru Sugiura, edited by Tomoko Kida, Naoko Kaneko, and Masatsugu Sakai, distributed by Toei Company, produced by Isao Takahata and Topcraft, and it starred Sumi Shimamoto, Goro Naya, Yoji Matsuda, Yoshiko Sakakibara, and lemasa Kayumi.  It was based off of a manga of the same name which was also written by Hayao Miyazaki.

## Why It Rocks

1. The structure of the film is something to be admired.  It doesn't play by the three act structure like most movies do, instead defying it and doing its own thing, which allows the plot and characters more room to breath and develop.
2. Excellent animation.
3. The main female character, Nausica, is incredibly interesting, likable, capable, and strong willed, while still having several flaws and struggling with her beliefs.
4. Great voice acting.
5. Incredible fight scenes which are very action packed, intense, and fluid.
6. Amazing soundtrack.
7. It has a really interesting message about nature and what humans do to nature and nature rising up against the humans.
8. Appealing character designs.
9. None of the side characters are as good as Nasuica, but all of them are necessary and add extra emotions and intriuge to this already morally gray story.
10. There's a great amount of character development.
11. One of the best parts of the movie is how it depicts this conflict as being morally gray.  While Nasuica definitely believes that war is never the answer and needs to stop, the movie doesn't show many of the opposing characters as being irredeemably evil, all of them are people fighting for what they believe in, just like her.
12. Great pacing, not to slow and not too fast.
13. The designs of the aliens were amazing, they looked otherworldly and extremely creative, and even scarry and intimidating at times.
14. Another standout, interesting character is Lord Yupa, whose almost as good as Nasuica herself.
15. This movie established a lot of the tropes that we see prevelent in Hayao Miyazaki movies, such as environmental themes, anti-war themes, having a great female lead, and blending together fantasy with technology in unique and interesting ways.
16. The movie also had some good comedy relief here and there.

## Bad Qualities

1. While this movie is great, it's known for not being nearly as good as the manga that it was adapted from, due to them having to fit seven volumes of content into an hour and a half movie.

## Trivia

1. While this movie was released before the ofifical formation of Studio Ghibli, it's often considered the first movie from the company.  It was also the second movie ever made by Hayao Miyazaki.

## Reception

**Nausica of the Valley of the Wind** has a 87% critic rating and a 91% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a 4.0/5 on Letterboxd, a 8.1/10 on the International Movie Database (IMDB), an 8.47/10 on MyAnimeList, an 83.65% community approval rating on Kitsu, and a 4.1/5 on AnimePlanet.