Underplayed Gems

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind poster
Original title
風の谷のナウシカ
Directed by
Hayao Miyazaki
Genre
fantasy film, adventure film, post-apocalyptic film, anti-war film, fantasy anime and manga, adventure anime and manga
Country
Japan
Runtime
1h 57m
Rated
PG
Rating
7.9 of 10 from 4,117 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A teenage princess in a post-nuclear world tries to stop a war between kingdoms. She protects her valley and the giant insects that live in a toxic jungle.

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What happens

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a 1984 Japanese animated post-apocalyptic fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on his 1982 manga of the same name. It was produced by Topcraft and distributed by Toei Company. Joe Hisaishi, in his first collaboration with Miyazaki, composed the score. The film stars the voices of Sumi Shimamoto, Gorō Naya, Yōji Matsuda, Yoshiko Sakakibara, and Iemasa Kayumi. Set in a post-nuclear futuristic world, it tells the story of Nausicaä (Shimamoto), the pacifist teenage princess of the Valley of the Wind who becomes embroiled in a struggle with Tolmekia, an empire that attempts to use an ancient weapon to eradicate a jungle populated by oversized, mutant insects. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was released in Japan on 11 March 1984. The film received critical acclaim, with praise being directed at the story, themes, characters and animation. It is commonly regarded as one of the greatest animated films, and was the second-highest-ranked animation in a poll conducted by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2006. Though it was released before Studio Ghibli was founded, it is often considered a Ghibli work due to its themes, and is usually released as part of DVD and Blu-ray collections of Ghibli work. A heavily edited version of the film created by Manson International, titled Warriors of the Wind, was released in the United States and other markets throughout the mid-to-late 1980s. The Manson cut was derided by Miyazaki, and prompted Ghibli to establish a policy preventing future international licensors from editing its films for foreign release. It was eventually replaced in circulation by an uncut, redubbed version produced by Walt Disney Studios in 2005. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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