Review of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

This is the first movie I watched during my Ghibli binge, and it did not disappoint! However, it seems that people either think this is one of Ghibli’s best works and that it changed the animation industry forever, or that the movie is a poorly written, preachy dumpster fire of a film with unlikable characters and a confusing plot. I don’t fully agree with either side though, and while I think this is a great film, there’s several flaws that I believe it possesses. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film that takes place 1,000 years after a great war thatwiped out a majority of the population. The film follows a young girl named Nausicaä as she tries to bring peace to the valley and protect the environment as well as the creatures that live there.

Story:
6/10
The first 30 minutes of the movie really managed to invest me in the world that these characters are living in. I wanted to learn about why their world functions the way it does, what certain things mean, and background on how everything leads to the events of the film. But, the movie never expands on a lot of the very major things in the plot. I understand that sometimes it’s better to leave some parts of the story unexplained, as it creates more mystery, but here it just felt like they didn’t have enough time to explain certain things. Which is wild since I felt the movie was too long, but that’s probably because so many parts felt like boring filler. However, the parts of the story that the movie does expand on are beautifully told. This movie carries the same values that most Ghibli works do; strong messages of environmentalism and anti-war sentiments, and I believe the movie gets its themes across very well.

Art:
8/10
Despite this not technically being a Ghibli film, Nausicaä still has that signature Ghibli style. The animation techniques are outdated but still very interesting to watch, especially the way they made the Ohmu move. I also found the environments did a great job at capturing this feeling of isolation and barrenness. Nausicaä and Teto’s designs were the only ones that really stood out to me, Nausicaä’s outfits looked great and Teto looked adorable (I really want a plushy of him).

Sound:
9/10
The soundtrack for this movie was fantastic. It has that retro 80s’ synth, and it really makes this movie stand out as THE Ghibli sci-fi film. The voice acting was pretty good, I liked Nausicaä’s voice a lot (I’m talking about the English dub, I haven’t seen the original).

Character:
7/10
The issue with the characters in this movie is that none of them stood out to me besides Nausicaä (and I guess Teto). I loved Nausicaä’s character so much. I’ve seen other people say that her character feels like a mouth-piece for Miyazaki, though I don’t agree. I feel like in order for a character to be a mouth-piece, their ideals have to feel forced, as if they’re out of character every time they preach something. But Nausicaä’s beliefs feel very natural, since she’s a very strong-willed character. But while she’s strong-willed, she’s also a very docile pacifist. I think one of the best moments in the entire film is when Teto bites her, but she doesn’t do anything to stop him, and after a moment he realizes he has no reason to be afraid and licks her. This scene manages to perfectly show Nausicaä’s entire character. Now I wish I could adore the other characters as much as I adore Nausicaä. All of the other characters either don’t get enough screen time, or feel very one dimensional. The characters are yet another aspect of this film that go unexplored. The villain, Kushana, works as an intimidating big bad, but nothing more. Asbel is a character that we learn practically nothing about. And Lord Yupa was just the standard mentor character who, say it with me, we learn NOTHING about. It kind of baffles me that Kushana, Asbel, and Lord Yupa are all listed as main characters when I can’t tell you a single character trait for any of them. But Nausicaä carries the film, so I guess I shouldn’t expect the other characters to have the same amount of development.

Enjoyment:
7/10
Despite my grievances, I still really enjoyed this film, especially the first 30 minutes. I think this is a great Ghibli film, and I can understand why so many people love it, however I can also understand why people may hate it.

Rating:
7/10