Review of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

How is it that I feel so much nostalgia for this movie even though I saw it for the first time 5 days ago? Substance (8/10) The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic future with poisonous mushroom forests and gigantic insects that protect them. While this sounds very bizarre at first, the world-building is actually top notch as in most Studio Ghibli films. Our main character is the very lively princess Nausicaä. Her hometown has learned to live and go along with the dangers of the poisonous mushrooms, however foreign countries try to destroy the mushroom forests and insects altogether. This leads to our main conflictin which Nausicaä tries to protect the mushrooms and insects for humanity's own sake.
The Characters are generally well written and Nausicaä herself is just an amazing, powerful and inspiring character. But some of the side characters could have been a bit more fleshed out.
The story in general is good, it is always nice to have a break from the classic good and evil theme. The ending is also fitting.

Atmosphere (9/10)
This movie is from 1984, but is still so beautiful. If you are not sure wether you want to watch this movie, please just watch the first few minutes. The beginning with the stunning music and the mosaic telling of the backstory is one of the best introductions to a movie I have ever seen. This scene lets you know that it will be an exciting and epic adventure. In the following scene we are introduced to our main character as she is exploring the mushroom forest. This scene is so calm and beautiful. We get to see all the creativity and love that has gone into designing this alien-like world.
While the animation has aged quite a bit, it still looks great. The soundtrack however is amazing and ageless. Seriously, go listen to the soundtrack!
The pacing is in general on point, I was hooked all the way till the end.

Personal Enjoyment (9/10)
I liked it a lot and it's already one of my all time favorites.

Overall (9/10)
While this movie is not perfect -story and characters were good, but not realy exceptional- it is still one of the best movies out there. It is also of major historical importance as it was this movie that lead to the founding of studio ghibli. Why this is somehow not considered to be one of the absolute classics is an absolute mystery to me...
Anyway, you should definitely watch Nasicaä of the Valley of the Wind!