Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Alternate titles Warriors of the Wind (1985) See alternate titles Directed by Hayao Miyazaki Producer Yasuyoshi Tokuma, Michitaka Kondo, Toru Hara, Isao Takahata Written by Hayao Miyazaki Music by Joe Hisaishi Funded by Tokuma Shoten, Hakuhodo Production company Topcraft Distributor ToeiJP 1984, DaieiJP 1984, 1990, TohoJP 2020, New World PicturesUS Rating PGUS Budget $1 million Box office ¥1.48 billionJP $2,344,882 (foreign) $8,853,968 (total) Distributor rentals ¥742 million Running time 117 minutesJP (1 hour, 57 minutes) 95 minutesUS (1 hour, 35 minutes) Aspect ratio 1.85:1 Rate this film! 5.00 (12 votes)

“	A bird person who beckons the wind, talks to insects, and loves trees . . . The 7 Days of Fire have changed the Earth . . . A girl's love caused a miracle. Fly, Nausicaä! With love and courage in your heart . . . (木々を愛で 虫と語り 風をまねく鳥の人･･･ 火の7日間が地球を変えた･･･ 少女の愛が奇跡を呼んだ。 飛べ、ナウシカ！ 愛と勇気を胸に･･･)	„
	— Japanese taglines

“	She is a friend of the Earth. 1000 years from now...a time when evil overruns the world and our only hope for the future is in the hands of a Princess and those who follow her.	„
	— International tagline

“	The most fantastic family adventure in a world 1000 years from now! Heroes, demons, conquerors, creatures... and a band of young warriors on the wings of their greatest challenge! ...the future has never been so exciting!	„
	— American tagline

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (風の谷のナウシカ,   Kaze no Tani no Naushika) is a 1984 Japanese anime fantasy film directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki based on his 1982 manga of the same name. It is funded by Tokuma Shoten and Hakuhodo, with animation produced by Topcraft. It stars the voices of Sumi Shimamoto, Goro Naya, Yoji Matsuda, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Iemasa Kayumi, and Mahito Tsujimura. The film was released to Japanese theaters by Toei on March 11, 1984, while New World Pictures released a heavily re-edited version produced by Manson International titled Warriors of the Wind to American theaters on June 14, 1985.

An alternate retelling of events from the first two volumes of the manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind tells the story of a world a millennium after the catastrophic destruction of an advanced technological society. A toxic jungle dubbed the Sea of Decay is enveloping the ruined land, endangering human survival. When a Giant Warrior, a monstrous bioweapon from the ancient world is rediscovered, a war breaks out between the city-state of Pejite and the Empire of Tolmekia to claim its destructive power, jeopardizing the residents of the neutral Valley of the Wind after a Tolmekian airship transporting the creature crashes there. Nausicaä, princess of the Valley of the Wind, wishes to understand the enigmas of the Sea of Decay and its colossal insect guardians, the Ohmu. Kushana, princess of Tolmekia, desires to annihilate the threat of the Sea of Decay and restore mankind as ruler of the Earth. Will Nausicaä be able to end the conflict between the warring nations and nature's fury before humanity destroys itself by repeating the mistakes of the past?

Plot

A thousand years have passed after industrial civilization's collapse in the Seven Days of Fire, a biotechnological war involving the Giant Warriors, which wiped out and reshaped the Earth's ecosystem. The Sea of Decay, a fungal toxic wasteland, has been expanding rapidly, consuming two more kingdoms to the south of the Valley of the Wind. One day, the Valley's Princess Nausicaä arrives in the wasteland jungle to collect specimens and takes the eye of a giant Ohmu insect shell, a prized material resource. When she hears gunfire, she investigates, finding a man with two horseclaws on the run from a raging giant Ohmu. She uses her glider-like craft known as a Mehve to intervene and soothe the Ohmu with flashbangs and an insect whistle. The man is none other than her own mentor, the revered swordsman Lord Yupa, who gives her a fox-squirrel he rescued from an insect, later named Teto, and they return to the Valley of the Wind. In the Valley, there is an ancient prophecy among the people of a blue-clad messianic figure who will stand in a golden field and restore humanity's connection with nature.

Early one morning, a Tolmekian airship is spotted flying erratically over the valley. Nausicaä notices that the front of the ship is covered in insects, and the ship crash-lands in the valley. In the wreckage, Nausicaä finds the dying Princess Lastelle of Pejite, its sole survivor who was a prisoner on board the ship. Lastelle, unaware the ship was already in flames, asks for the cargo to be burned as her last request before she dies by Nausicaä's side. A flying Ushiabu insect has survived, panicking the others at the crash site. Nausicaä quiets the crowd, soothes and escorts the Ushiabu back to the Sea of Decay, and in the distance notices a lone Ohmu watching her. Amongst the scorched jetsam from the crash is an enormous pulsating mass of living tissue, which survived the crash unscathed. After recalling a rumor that one was exhumed in Pejite, Lord Yupa realizes it is the embryo of a Giant Warrior, and fears Tolmekian hostility.

Soon after, Princess Kushana's forces arrive and overrun the valley. The bedridden King Jihl is assassinated by the Tolmekians, infuriating Nausicaä, who slaughters the soldiers responsible for her father's death, but Lord Yupa intervenes before Nausicaä can kill Kushana's guardsmen. Kushana tells the people of the Valley she is there to unite the kingdoms on the fringes of the wasteland, however, her true intent is to revive the Giant Warrior and use it to obliterate the Sea of Decay, in confidence out of personal vengeance against the insects for grave injuries she has sustained. Obaba, the matriarch of the Valley, objects, as every previous attempt to destroy the Sea of Decay has resulted in catastrophe from the ensuing Ohmu stampedes, whose corpses eventually serve as hosts for the spores of the wasteland, expanding it further. Upon finding Teto scratching at a wall in Nausicaä's room, Lord Yupa pushes it open to a secret passage leading to a room where he finds Nausicaä, distraught from Jihl's death and mortified by her own killings. In order to find a cure for the petrifying disease that plagues the villagers and afflicted her father, she has created a garden of plants from the Sea of Decay that aren't toxic, since they were grown in clean soil from deep underground, but with the invasion and Jihl's death, she has cut off the water supply, leaving them to die.

Kushana departs for Tolmekian-occupied Pejite with six hostages including Nausicaä, but the airship convoy is shot down over the Sea of Decay by a Pejitean gunship. The surviving corvette retaliates and downs the gunship. At the same time, Nausicaä escapes with her retainer Mito and Kushana in the Valley's gunship, to save the other hostages who fell below the clouds in an unpowered barge. As the survivors splashdown on a lake in the jungle, Kushana attempts to re-assume command and fires her gun, drawing the attention of a nest of Ohmu below the surface. Allowing herself to be enveloped in their golden feelers, Nausicaä has a psychic conveyance with the Ohmu, triggering distant memories, and realizes the pilot of the Pejitean gunship is still alive, as Royal Yanma sentries and other insects swarm to his location. Nausicaä flies on her Mehve into the jungle to rescue Lastelle's twin brother, Asbel from Landgrubs and a giant Hebikera adult. However, the pair crash and become trapped in quicksand, descending into a cavern of fossilized trees below the Sea of Decay. Instructed to leave if Nausicaä does not return, Mito and the others depart to the Valley with Kushana taken prisoner. In a dream, Nausicaä remembers when as a child, she tried to conceal and save a baby Ohmu from being harmed by the people of the Valley. Upon awakening, Nausicaä realizes the jungle plants ultimately neutralize the pollution in the earth and produce the clean water and soil she used for her garden, leaving hope for the future.

Asbel and Nausicaä travel to Pejite to discover it has been devastated by Ohmu. Nausicaä learns that the residents of Pejite provoked the Ohmu to kill the Tolmekians and in turn plan to lure them to the Valley of the Wind in order to recapture the Giant Warrior. Nausicaä is then seized by Pejitean soldiers and taken to their brig. During the flight to the Valley, with the help of Asbel's mother, Nausicaä and a Pejitean girl exchange clothing to deceive the soldier guarding her. As Nausicaä attempts to escape the brig on her Mehve, the Tolmekian corvette arrives and boards the ship and later pursues her, but Mito and Lord Yupa arrive in the Valley's gunship and shoot it down. Yupa stays to save the Pejiteans on the brig, while Mito and Nausicaä return swiftly to the Valley of the Wind. During this time, the Valley has revolted against the Tolmekians, but Kushana escapes her imprisonment and rallies her forces, cornering the people in an ancient shipwreck outside the valley. On the flight back, Nausicaä spots two men baiting the Ohmu into the Valley on a cauldronlike Pejitean flying jar vehicle with a wounded baby Ohmu. They notice Nausicaä and start shooting at her, but she forces them to crash-land on an islet in an acidic lake that separates them from the horde of Ohmu.

Kushana awakens the Giant Warrior prematurely to defeat the Ohmu, now heading towards them. The Giant Warrior melts and dies after firing its proton beam twice, killing hundreds of Ohmu in an atomic explosion, but failing to even dent their numbers. Using the flying jar, Nausicaä lands in front of the remaining raging Ohmu with the baby Ohmu, but is sent hurtling into the air by the stampede. After falling from the sky, Nausicaä lays before the horde of Ohmu that has now calmed, causing the residents of the Valley to believe she has died. However, the Ohmu release their tentacles, lifting and reviving her. As she stands atop their golden feelers in a dress stained blue with the blood of the baby Ohmu, Obaba realizes Nausicaä has fulfilled the prophecy. Below the Sea of Decay, a seed has sprouted aside Nausicaä's flight goggles.

Staff

Main article: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind/Credits.

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

• Directed by   Hayao Miyazaki
• Animation director   Kazuo Komatsubara
• Written by   Hayao Miyazaki
• Based on a story by   Hayao Miyazaki
• Executive producers   Yasuyoshi Tokuma, Michitaka Kondo
• Planned by   Tatsumi Yamashita, Hideo Ogata, Atsushi Okumoto, Hiroshi Morie
• Co-executive producer   Toru Hara
• Produced by   Isao Takahata
• Music by   Joe Hisaishi
• Sound director   Shigeharu Shiba
• Cinematography by   Koji Shiragami, Yasuhiro Shimizu, Mamoru Sugiura, Yukitomo Shudo
• Edited by   Tomoko Kida, Naoko Kaneko, Masatsugu Sakai
• Production design by   Mitsuki Nakamura
• Assistant directors   Takashi Tanazawa, Kazuyoshi Katayama

Warriors of the Wind

• Creative consultation by   David Schmoeller
• Produced by   Riley Jackson

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right. Sumi Shimamoto   as   Princess Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Goro Naya   as   Lord Yupa Miralda Yoji Matsuda   as   Prince Asbel of Pejite Yoshiko Sakakibara   as   Princess Kushana of Tolmekia Iemasa Kayumi   as   Kurotowa, general of the Tolmekian frontier forces Ichiro Nagai   as   Mito, castle steward of the Valley of the Wind Hisako Kyoda   as   Obaba, matriarch of the Valley of the Wind Mahito Tsujimura   as   King Jihl of the Valley of the Wind / Muzu, castle steward of the Valley of the Wind Miina Tominaga   as   Princess Lastelle of Pejite Kohei Miyauchi   as   Gol, castle steward of the Valley of the Wind Joji Yanami   as   Gikkuri, castle steward of the Valley of the Wind Minoru Yada   as   Niga, castle steward of the Valley of the Wind Rihoko Yoshida   as   Teto, fox-squirrel Warriors of the Wind Susan Davis   as   Zandra / boy in yellow hood / Placedan girl Hal Smith   as   Lord Yupa / Axel / narrator Cam Clarke   as   Milo / blond Temeculan captain / young Placedan gunner Linda Gary   as   Queen Selena / old woman Jack Ryland   as   Niga / Mayor of Placeda / Corbet commander Riley Jackson   as   Corbet commander (one loop) / Temeculan armored soldier / Temeculan naval officer / Placedan pilot Buena Vista Sound Services English dub Alison Lohman   as   Nausicaä Patrick Stewart   as   Lord Yupa Shia LaBeouf   as   Asbel Uma Thurman   as   Kushana Chris Sarandon   as   Kurotowa Mark Silverman   as   King Jihl / Niga Edward James Olmos   as   Mito Tress MacNeille   as   Obaba Emily Bauer   as   Lastelle Mark Hamill   as   mayor of Pejite Frank Welker   as   Gol

Warriors of the Wind ESM International Dubbing Inc. Latin American Spanish dub Rocío Robledo   as   Zandra Isidro Olace   as   Lord Yupa Guillermo Romano   as   Axel Gladys Parra   as   Milo Rocío Gallegos   as   Queen Selena Juan Alfonso Carralero   as   General Rogan María Santander   as   old woman 1987 Italian dub Paola Del Bosco   as   Nausicaä Gioacchino Maniscalco   as   Lord Yupa Vittorio Guerrieri   as   Asbel Romano Malaspina   as   King Jihl Piero Leri   as   Mito 2015 Italian dub Letizia Ciampa   as   Nausicaä Angelo Nicotra   as   Lord Yupa Alessio De Filippis   as   Asbel Laura Romano   as   Kushana Pino Insegno   as   Kurotowa Luciano De Ambrosis   as   King Jihl Gerolamo Alchieri   as   Mito 1988 Cantonese dub Priscilla Chan   as   Windy Mulan James Wong Jim   as   Uncle Loner Teddy Robin   as   "Mud" Mark Penny Yuen   as   Kushana David Wu   as   Invincible John Shum   as   One-Eye Lydia Shum   as   Grandma Fatty Paul Lo   as   Gol / additional voices

Appearances

Monsters Ohmu Baby Ohmu Giant Warrior Fox-squirrel Teto Horseclaw Kai Kui Ushiabu Hebikera Landgrubs Royal Yanma Various unidentified fauna Mushigo Palms

Weapons, vehicles and races Mehve Valley gunship Tolmekian giant ship Tolmekian bumblecrows Tolmekian corvette Tolmekian tanks Pejitean gunship Pejitean brig Pejitean flying jar

Production

At the suggestion of Toshio Suzuki, Hayao Miyazaki began serializing a manga for a new film after scrapping an animated adaptation of Richard Corben's Rowlf at Animage's editorial department. In addition to adding a science fiction-like Sea of Decay idea to the Rowlf concept, Miyazaki came up with a brand new one which he titled Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Animage published the first issue of his serialization in February 1982. In November 1982, Miyazaki left Telecom Animation Film, which had previously produced his directorial debut The Castle of Cagliostro in 1979, to become a freelance director.

Daiei Film, a subsidiary of Nausicaä production company Tokuma Shoten, was originally intended to produce the film's animation, but it lacked the expertise. Bandai offered to create a joint investment company in order to facilitate the project, but the investment never came to fruition. Ultimately, Miyazaki and producer Isao Takahata decided to entrust Topcraft with the film's animation.

Gallery

Main article: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind/Soundtrack.

Alternate titles

• Nausicaä (English Japanese title; early international title)
• Warriors of the Wind (United States; United Kingdom; Australia; Guerreros del viento: Spain, Mexico, Argentina; Vindens krigare: Sweden; A szél harcosai: Hungary; Οι Μαχητές του Ανέμου: Greece)
• Star Warriors: Warriors of the Wind (Sternenkrieger - Warriors of the Wind: West German video title)
• The Princess of the Stars (La Princesse des étoiles: French video title)
• The Phantom Ship (Le vaisseau fantôme: French video title)
• The Battle of the Space Princes (Le combat des princes de l'espace: French video title)
• Nausicaä: Warriors of the Wind (Nausicaä: Guerreros del viento: Spanish DVD title; Nauszika - A szél harcosai: Hungarian DVD title)
• Valley of the Wind (风之谷, Fēng zhī gǔ: China; 風之谷, Fēng zhī gǔ: Taiwan; 風之谷, Fung1 zi1 guk1: Hong Kong)

Theatrical releases

• Japan - March 11, 1984;  [view poster] November 2003 (Tokyo International Film Festival); June 26, 2020
• United States - June 14, 1985;  [view poster] September 24, 2017; June 20, 2019; July 9, 2023 (Fathom Events)
• Canada - October 11, 1985
• Hungary - November 19, 1987  [view poster]
• Hong Kong - February 12, 1988
• Spain - October 6, 2015 (limited)
• France - August 23, 2006
• Turkey - July 6, 2007
• Russia - July 26, 2007 (limited); February 28, 2019 (re-release)

Foreign releases

U.S. release

U.S. Warriors of the Wind poster

World Film/Television Corporation bought the foreign sales rights for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind from Tokuma Shoten, with the intention of using the film as a means for further expansion of Japanese animation into the U.S. marketplace. Manson International purchased the international distribution rights from World Film for the entire world excluding Japan and South Korea. An edited English-language version, re-titled Warriors of the Wind, was prepared, with Riley Jackson producing and creative consultation by David Schmoeller. Jackson had previously worked on the American English-language versions of several Toho tokusatsu films, including Invasion of Astro-Monster, The War of the Gargantuas, King Kong Escapes, and All Monsters Attack. Schmoeller, whose involvement did not extend to the editorial decisions, was brought on to help revise the dialogue of an existing English dub provided. Warriors of the Wind premiered at the MIFED international film and multimedia market in Milan, Italy on October 29, 1984. New World Pictures licensed the North American distribution rights, and gave the film a limited theatrical release beginning on June 14, 1985 in Florida. The film, representing Japan, also played at the first annual Los Angeles International Animation Celebration at the Wadsworth Theatre in West Hollywood, from September 25-29, where it won first prize for feature of over 30 minutes. Among the alterations made for the North American theatrical release are:

• Dialogue was dubbed at Showmen, Inc. While the film's overall plot was left intact, many deletions and alterations were made, such as the renaming of the majority of characters and locations; Princess Nausicaä, the title character of the original version, was renamed Zandra. Her father, King Jihl, was alternatively anglicized as Zeal. Asbel was renamed Milo. Asbel's sister, Princess Lastelle, was renamed Listelle. Mito, Nausicaä's retainer, was renamed Axel. Princess Kushana was renamed Queen Selena. Teto was renamed Foxy. Nausicaä's Mehve was renamed the Cloud Climber. The Sea of Decay was localized as the Toxic Jungle, a name already used in English material for the Japanese release. The Ohmu were renamed the Gorgons. The nameless grub-like insects that assail the Tolmekian airship are referred to as Loki Bloodsuckers. The Ushiabu were localized as the Gadflies, an equivalent translation of their Japanese name also used in English Japanese materials. The Giant Warriors were renamed the Fire Demons. The territories of Tolmekia and Pejite were renamed Temecula, and Placeda, respectively. Although Lord Yupa's name was unchanged, it is stressed with the short U sound instead of the long U. Kurotowa's name is not uttered in the dialogue and he is generically referred to by characters as the General, but in ad copy for screenings of the film at U.S. military bases, he is referred to as Rogan, possibly reflecting his name in the script, as the ESM International Dubbing Inc. Latin American Spanish dub also uses this name.
• Altered: The expository text explaining the time and setting in the original version was replaced with a simple title reading "Somewhere in the world one thousand years from now..."
• Deleted: The opening credits over a tapestry of the history of the world prior to and after the Seven Days of Fire, showing how the Giant Warriors were manufactured, in flashbacks their destruction of industrialized civilization, and the emergence of the new ecosystem. Finally, people are shown gazing up to a winged amalgamation of Nausicaä and her Mehve, as the tapestry fades to the skies over the Sea of Decay.
• Altered: The remainder of the original opening credits sequence has been left textless with two shots rearranged, while narration establishes the setting and the character of Princess Zandra (Nausicaä). New music and sound effects have been added to the soundtrack for the sequence.
• Added: A credit for Manson International between the fade out of the original credits sequence and the fade into the sequence of Zandra exploring the Toxic Jungle (Sea of Decay).
• Altered: The title card of the film and a swell of the main theme from the ending credits of the original version have been overlaid on the initial establishing shot of the interior of the jungle.
• Shortened: Zandra investigating the giant Gorgon (Ohmu) shell has been drastically shortened to remove several lingering establishing shots, Zandra testing the hardness of the shell with her ceramic knife, and using the gunpowder of one of her siren shells to create a ring around the eye to loosen it. In the edited sequence, she simply climbs the shell and removes the eye with little resistance.
• Deleted: Nausicaä observing the Mushigo Palm fungi releasing their spores, finding ironic beauty in the deadly rain of particles that could kill her in minutes if she was unmasked.
• Added: Zandra's Cloud Climber (Mehve) throughout the film is accompanied by added engine sound effects.
• Altered: Yupa's relationship with Zandra is changed from teacher to uncle, but whether he is truly a relative or that "uncle" merely refers to a fictive kinship between the two is left unspecified.
• Altered: Zandra is merely enthusiastic about hearing of Yupa's travels, whereas in the original she tells Yupa about the secret room she's created.
• Deleted: Nausicaä asks Lord Yupa to be the godfather of a newborn baby as the villagers discuss the discovery of the Ohmu shell. Mito jokes about wanting the peace of mind of Nausicaä not risking her life in the Sea of Decay.
• Deleted: Villagers in the fields exterminating the spores that entered the Valley via the crash of the Tolmekian airship.
• Altered: Selena (Kushana) explains to the General (Kurotowa) that she is returning home instead of Placeda (Pejite).
• Deleted: Yupa explains to Mito his plan to leave the Valley and ensure dormancy of the Giant Warrior when the time is right.
• Deleted: Yupa discovering Nausicaä's secret garden of plants from the Sea of Decay. Nausicaä explains that the plants themselves are harmless when grown with pure water and soil, and the toxins they expel are concentrated in the earth itself. Nausicaä breaks down in tears in Yupa's arms, appalled at the heretofore unknown rage inside her that drove her to kill.
• Deleted: Three children bringing Nausicaä a small bag of Chiko nuts they gathered for her journey. As they cry in her arms, Nausicaä assures them she will return.
• Added: Some thunderclap sound effects were added to Zandra's observation of the miasma layer below the cloud cover.
• Deleted: Nausicaä's mask and flight suit are pulled away as she sees visions of a golden field and a great tree in her encounter with the Ohmu.
• Deleted: Nausicaä's dream of remembering her childhood attempt at saving a baby Ohmu from the Valley villagers and her father, who impresses upon her that humans and insects cannot coexist in the world together. Nausicaä awakens with Teto by her side.
• Deleted: A medium close-up of Nausicaä rising from her rest with Teto on her shoulder.
• Deleted: Several establishing shots of the fossilized forest.
• Added: A voice-over from Zandra as she thinks about the ironies of life while exploring the fossilized forest.
• Deleted: Nausicaä realizes that the trees of the Sea of Decay fossilize to produce clean sand. Asbel finds Nausicaä collapsed on the ground, tearfully overcome with joy and relief that the world is healing itself. Nausicaä and Asbel discuss Lastelle's death and the whereabouts of the Giant Warrior. Asbel regrets that he shot down the airship Nausicaä was on since she was there to comfort his twin sister in death (part of this exchange is used as the basis in the above voice-over). Asbel tries some of Nausicaä's Chiko nuts and grimaces at the taste in spite of their supposed health benefits. Later, the two discuss the evolutionary origins of the jungle and the insect ecosystem that guards it. Asbel is doubtful humanity will be able to survive the insects and the jungle in the many thousands of years the remainder of the purification will take, and is concerned with stopping the spread of the jungle. Nausicaä replies he sounds no different from Kushana as she falls asleep.
• Deleted: An establishing shot of the Valley's castle, as steam from the revival process of the Giant Warrior emanates from it.
• Added: Four opening notes from the cue "The Annihilation of Pejite" were added to the beginning of the scene where Yupa, Axel (Mito) and the others attempt to negotiate with the imprisoned Selena.
• Deleted: The villagers discover the entire forest that surrounds the Valley reservoir has become infected with spores. Obaba urges the villagers to burn down the entire forest to prevent the Sea of Decay from engulfing the Valley, and they reluctantly agree. Gol and the other former hostages observe the burning and agree to return to the Valley.
• Deleted: Nausicaä trying to reason with the mayor of Pejite about the true nature of the Sea of Decay. He urges that the Tolmekians must be stopped, but Nausicaä scorns the Pejiteans for excavating the Giant Warrior in the first place.
• Deleted: Nausicaä thanking the women of Pejite for freeing her as she and Asbel take a secret passage to the hold where the Mehve is kept.
• Deleted: Kurotowa discusses the ancient shipwreck with Kushana, speculating it may have even been an interstellar vessel. Kushana urges Gol and the other hijackers of the tank to tell the people to surrender, but they refuse and discuss Kushana and Nausicaä's opposing ideologies. Kushana then orders her forces to attack the entrenched villagers in an hour. Gol notices the wind has stopped blowing, and Obaba and the three children hear an earsplitting ringing in the air. Obaba has a premonition of a great amount of rage from the Earth itself.
• Deleted: The ending credits sequence where the Ohmu and the Tolmekians withdraw, the Pejiteans settle in the Valley, and Yupa and Asbel depart to explore the Sea of Decay.
• Added: Ending credits over a black screen scored with the background music from the deleted dream sequence.

Warriors of the Wind was released on VHS and Betamax by New World Video in the United States later in November 1985. From August 6, 1986 to June 1, 1988, it aired frequently on the HBO network. It was re-released on VHS in 1990 by StarMaker Entertainment. Anchor Bay Entertainment, StarMaker's successor and a holder of much of New World's catalog by the early 2000s, had planned to release Warriors of the Wind and possibly the original version on DVD in the U.S., in December 2000, but these plans were never realized.

An uncut English dub of the film written by Cindy and Don Hewitt was recorded in 2003 under the direction of Rick Dempsey for Walt Disney Home Entertainment at Buena Vista Sound Services, featuring many noteworthy voice talents such as Patrick Stewart as Lord Yupa, Uma Thurman as Kushana, and Mark Hamil as the Mayor of Peijite. It was released on DVD by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on February 22, 2005, and has been used on English-language releases of the film since. It is much more faithful to the original Japanese script than Warriors of the Wind and retains the original character names, though the Sea of Decay remained localized as the Toxic Jungle in the script, Nausicaä's Mehve is only referred to generically as a glider, and the Ohmu were romanized as Ohm instead. Pejite was also simplified to be pronounced as two syllables ("Peh-jyte").

Fathom Events and GKIDS have included Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in their theatrical Studio Ghibli Fest series in 2017 and 2019, and did so again in 2023.

United Kingdom release

Warriors of the Wind UK VHS cover.

Manson International's Warriors of the Wind version was released in the UK on VHS by Vestron Video International in 1986, and reissued by First Independent Video in 1993. Unlike the U.S. New World Video tapes, which presented a 1.66:1 image squeezed to 4:3, Vestron's video transfer utilized a standard pan and scan 4:3 version, and sourced the audio from the print's optical track, rather than synchronizing the audio from the magnetic master. The film debuted on the cable TV service Premiere on January 3, 1988, continuing to air on the service until its last showing on October 25, 1988. Sky Movies then began airing the film on December 1, 1989, its last showing occurring on January 19, 1990. Optimum Home Entertainment released the uncut version of the film with Japanese and English audio options on DVD on September 26, 2005.

West German release

West German VHS cover

Warriors of the Wind was released on VHS in West Germany by UFA in December, 1986. The video transfer was a slightly cropped 1.66:1 letterboxed presentation. In the German dubbing, many character and location names were again changed; Zandra was transliterated as Sandra. Lord Yupa was renamed Rocca. Axel was renamed Axa. Queen Selena was renamed Princess Felina. King Zeal was renamed Radam. Asbel was renamed Nadier. Lastelle was renamed Sada. Foxy was renamed Lepri. Obaba, Kurotowa and Gol, characters who were unnamed in the English version, were named Atta, Garos and Valor, respectively. The mayor of Pejite, who is not named in either the Japanese or English versions, was named Jazib. The kingdom of Temecula was renamed Dragulia. Additionally, the sampling of Georg Friedrich Handel's "Keyboard suite in D minor (HWV 437)" during the track "Nausicaä Requiem" at the film's finale was replaced with a repetition of several stanzas of "The Princess Who Loves Insects" from earlier in the score.

In unified Germany, the original Japanese version was released on DVD on September 5, 2005, along with a new German dub written and directed by Cornelius Frommann, recorded at FFS Film- & Fernseh-Synchron GmbH in Munich.

Hong Kong release

Hong Kong Valley of the Wind advert

Alongside English-subtitled showings of the original Japanese version, advertised under the film's original international title Nausicaä, an edited Cantonese-language version of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was released in Hong Kong by Edko Films Ltd. on February 12, 1988, under the title Valley of the Wind (風之谷, Fung1 zi1 guk1). Funded by Tsui Hark as a lighthearted Chinese New Years' Eve film in response to the success of Edko's previous 1987 release of Hayao Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky, the Cantonese dubbing, featuring prolific Hong Kong singers and comedians such as Priscilla Chan and Lydia Shum, was overseen by Gordon Chan, whose tensions with Hark during production served as a catalyst for his departure from Hark's Film Workshop. The Cantonese dubbing, while praised for its cast and performances, remains infamous among Hong Kong viewers for its largely unfaithful and at times anachronistic dialogue, which contains a large amount of vulgar Cantonese slang and contemporary pop cultural references. Introductory supers for the characters and their respective cast members were added throughout the film, a practice prevalent in Chinese cinema. The ending titles are accompanied by "Green Water, Pure Breeze" (綠水清風, Luk6 seoi2 cing1 fung1), a Cantopop arrangement of Joe Hisaishi's main theme by Chris Babida with lyrics by James Wong Jim and vocals by Sandy Lam. The theatrical Cantonese-dubbed version was issued on VHS in pan and scan by Edko Video, Ltd., a letterboxed LaserDisc by Winson Entertainment Co. Ltd., and on a letterboxed VCD by Asia Video Publishing Co., Ltd. Both disc-based releases shorten the run time further by removing Nausicaä's childhood flashback. The inaccurate Cantonese dialogue's script was again used as a basis for a later home video dub released on VCD and DVD. A third Cantonese dub faithful to the Japanese script was included on the film's Hong Kong Blu-ray release by Intercontinental Video on December 10, 2010.

Reception

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind received positive reviews from Japanese critics upon its release and has since been regarded as one of the greatest anime films of all time. In a positive review for the U.S. version, Warriors of the Wind, Terry Lawson of the Dayton Daily News applauded the film in contrast to its American-produced contemporaries, citing its thematic and allegorical aspects, visual style, screenplay, direction, pacing, and music score. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an average rating of 8.10/0 based on 19 reviews, with 89% of reviewers giving it a Fresh rating.

In retrospective appraisals by scholars and critics, Warriors of the Wind has been criticized for downplaying the film's pacifistic and environmentalist themes, though these elements remain in part nonetheless.

Awards

Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
39th Mainichi Film Awards	Ofuji Noburo Award	Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind	Won
58th Kinema Junpo Awards	Reader Selection Japan Film Director Award	Hayao Miyazaki	Won
7th Monthly Animage Anime Grand Prix for Best Picture	Anime Grand Prix	Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind	Won

Technical specifications

Japanese version (1984)

• Shooting format: 35mm color negative (spherical)
• Lab work: Toei Chemical Industry
• Distribution format: 35mm color print (spherical)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (hard matte)
• Audio format: Optical mono
• Spoken language: Japanese
• On-screen language: Japanese (expository text, credits)
• Lab reel count: 12 reels
• Projection reel count: 6 reels
• Footage count: Approx. 10,530 feet (3210 meters)

Warriors of the Wind (1985)

• Cut on: 35mm color intermediate film^{[citation needed]} (spherical)
• Distribution format: 35mm color print (spherical)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (hard matte)
• Audio format: Optical mono
• Spoken language: English
• On-screen language: English (expository text, credits)
• Lab reel count: 12 reels
• Projection reel count: 6 reels
• Footage count: Approx. 8,550 feet (2606 meters)

Video releases

Animage VHS (1984)

• Region: NTSC
• Tapes: 1
• Audio: Japanese (Mono, linear audio)
• Notes: Also issued in as a clamshell rental tape with hi-fi audio and improved picture. Out of print. Contains a transfer of the film with the entire image area shown, revealing light leaks in certain effects shots.

Animage LaserDisc (1984)

• Region: NTSC
• Discs: 1 (CLV, 2 sides)
• Audio: Japanese (Mono)

New World Video VHS (1985)

• Region: NTSC
• Tapes: 1
• Audio: English (Mono, hi-fi audio)
• Notes: Audio is sourced from the English dub's magnetic master.

Vestron Video International VHS (1986)

• Region: PAL
• Tapes: 1
• Audio: English (Mono, hi-fi audio)
• Notes: Audio is sourced from the optical track.

StarMaker Entertainment VHS (1990)

• Region: NTSC
• Tapes: 1
• Audio: English (Mono, hi-fi audio)
• Notes: Audio is sourced from the English dub's magnetic master.

First Independent Video VHS (1993)

• Region: PAL
• Tapes: 1
• Audio: English (Mono, hi-fi audio)
• Notes: Audio is sourced from the optical track.

Tokuma Shoten LaserDisc (1996) [Ghibli Complete Collection: Studio Ghibli Complete LD Collection]

• Region: NTSC
• Discs: 13 (CLV, 26 sides)
• Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono)
• Special features: Liner notes
• Notes: Mastered in HD. Packaged with the Studio Ghibli films Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies, Kiki's Delivery Service, Only Yesterday, Ocean Waves, Porco Rosso, Pom Poko, Whisper of the Heart, and the shorts On Your Mark, The Sky-Colored Seed and What is It?. Out of print.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment Japan DVD (2003)

• Region: 2
• Discs: 2
• Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: Japanese, English
• Special features: Audio commentary by Hideaki Anno and Kazuyoshi Katayama, storyboards, original theatrical trailers

Walt Disney Home Entertainment DVD (2005)

• Region: 1
• Discs: 2
• Audio: Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Special features: "Behind the Microphone" featurette about the film's second English dub, "The Birth of Studio Ghibli" (28 minutes), Japanese trailers and TV spots, feature-length storyboards

Madman Entertainment DVD (2005)

• Region: 4
• Discs: 1
• Audio: Japanese, English
• Subtitles: English
• Special features: "Complete Storyboards: Get An Insider's Look At The Film's Artistry" featurette, "The Birth Story Of Studio Ghibli" featurette, original Japanese trailer

Madman Entertainment Blu-ray (2010)

• Region: B
• Discs: 1
• Audio: Japanese, English
• Subtitles: English
• Special features: Audio commentary by Hideaki Anno and Kazuyoshi Katayama, "Nausicaä and Evangelion! The Whereabouts of the Giant Warrior?" featurette, "Behind the mike" featurette, "Get An Insider’s Look At The Film’s Artistry" featurette, "The Birth Story Of Studio Ghibli" featurette, original 5 Japanese theatrical trailers

Shout! Factory DVD/Blu-ray (2017)

• Region: 1
• Discs: 1
• Audio: Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, French
• Special features: Audio commentary by Anno and Katayama, interview with Anno and Toshio Suzuki (42:32), "Behind the Microphone" featurette (7:46), "Behind the Studio Creating Nausicaä" featurette (11:32), 12-page booklet, original theatrical trailers and TV spots (8:16), feature-length storyboards
• Notes: Reissued as a SteelBook in 2020.

Legacy

Proposed sequels and remakes

After watching a preview of Hayao Miyazaki's next film Castle in the Sky in 1986, executive producer Yasuyoshi Tokuma approached Miyazaki about making a sequel to Nausicaä. Miyazaki was uninterested, however, and told Tokuma the project wouldn't meet his expectations. Nevertheless, Tokuma was eager to convince Miyazaki to create a sequel and would write him several letters regarding the proposal thereafter. Following the completion of the Nausicaä manga series in 1994, Studio Ghibli attempted to produce a sequel to the film, but it was scrapped when Miyazaki once again refused to take on the project.

In 2008, filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki, best known for directing the Always: Sunset on Third Street trilogy, told Kadokawa Shoten that he intended to direct a remake of the film. According to Toshio Suzuki, the co-founder and former president of Studio Ghibli, Yamazaki has requested to direct a live-action remake several times, but Suzuki has always rejected. Suzuki also stated that the film's key animator Hideaki Anno, responsible for the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise and the Shin series, has also expressed interest in directing a live-action remake.

Prequel

Main article: A Giant Warrior Descends on Tokyo.

In 2012, Studio Ghibli produced a short live-action prequel to Nausicaä entitled A Giant Warrior Descends on Tokyo, about the Giant Warriors' destruction of industrial civilization in the modern day. Directed by Shinji Higuchi and written, planned, and co-produced by Anno, the short was created for the "Director Hideaki Anno Special Effects Museum" exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, where it was screened from July 10 to October 8, 2012. It later received a theatrical release in Japan on November 17, 2012, playing before Anno's Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo.

Videos

Trailers

Japanese theatrical trailer Japanese teaser #1 Japanese teaser #2 Japanese TV spot Warriors of the Wind international trailer Warriors of the Wind U.S. trailer Warriors of the Wind U.S. TV spot #1 Warriors of the Wind U.S. TV spot #2 Warriors of the Wind West German trailer French theatrical trailer U.S. Fathom Events 2017 trailer U.S. Fathom Events 2019 trailer U.S. Fathom Events 2023 trailer

Trivia

• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was released theatrically in Japan on a double bill with Sherlock Hound: Blue Ruby Chapter and Treasure at the Bottom of the Ocean Chapter, a compilation film of Hayao Miyazaki's television anime series Sherlock Hound. Toei released this double bill during the school spring break in place of the Toei Manga Festival - the first and only time a Toei Manga Festival wasn't released in the spring.
• The fox-squirrels from this movie later made a brief cameo in Hayao Miyazaki's 1986 film Castle in the Sky.
• The Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga was also adapted into a kabuki play in 2019.
• The Mothra larvae's eyes turning from blue to red in Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, reflecting their disposition, may be a reference to the behavior of the Ohmu in this film, as their eyes also change from blue when passive to red when enraged.

References

This is a list of references for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

Bibliography

• Ogata, Hideo (1 November 2004). Shoot that Flag! Animage Blood Wind Record. Oakla Publishing. ISBN 978-4775504802.CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Kano, Seiji (2006). Hayao Miyazaki Complete Book. Film Art Inc. ISBN 978-4845906871.CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

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