is a 1984 Japanese animated post-apocalyptic fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on his 1982 manga Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. 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.
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.
Plot
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One thousand years have passed since the Seven Days of Fire, an apocalyptic war that destroyed civilization and caused an ecocide, creating the vast Toxic Jungle, a poisonous forest swarming with giant mutant insects. In the kingdom of the Valley of the Wind, a prophecy predicts a savior "clothed in a blue robe, descending onto a golden field".<!--その者青き衣をまといて金色の野に降り立つべし失われし大地との絆を糸びついに人々を青き清浄の地に導かん (Quote legend, English and Japanese subtitles from 19 November 2003 DVD release.) --> The Valley's 16-year-old princess Nausicaä explores the jungle and communicates with its creatures, including the gigantic, trilobite-like armored Ohm. She hopes to understand the jungle and find a way for it and humans to coexist.
One morning, a massive cargo aircraft from the militaristic Empire of Tolmekia crashes in the Valley despite Nausicaä's efforts to save it. Its sole survivor, Princess Lastelle of Pejite, asks Nausicaä to destroy the cargo before she dies. The cargo is an embryo of a Giant Warrior, one of the lethal, gargantuan humanoid bioweapons that caused the Seven Days of Fire. Tolmekia seized the embryo and Lastelle from Pejite, but their plane was unable to support the embryo's weight and landed in the forest, causing the insects to attack. One of the insects emerges wounded from the wreckage and poises to attack, but Nausicaä uses a bullroarer to calm it and guides it away from the village.
Soon after, Tolmekian soldiers under the command of Princess Kushana invade the Valley and kill Nausicaä's father, Jihl. Nausicaä briefly fights the Tolmekians, but the Valley's elderly swordsmaster, Yupa, intervenes and ushers both Nausicaä and the Tolmekians to stand down. Kushana, having retrieved the Giant Warrior's embryo, plans to mature and use the bioweapon to burn the Toxic Jungle. The valley's wise woman, Obaba, warns that such a feat cannot be done as many have tried to destroy the forest before, but the Ohm have attacked and destroyed many cities and killed thousands of people. Yupa discovers a secret garden of jungle plants that had been cared for by Nausicaä; according to her findings, plants that grow in clean soil and water are not toxic, but the jungle's soil has been tainted by pollution.
Kushana leaves for Tolmekian-occupied Pejite with Nausicaä and five hostages from the Valley, but a Pejite interceptor shoots down the Tolmekian airships carrying them. Nausicaä, Kushana and the hostages crash-land in the jungle, disturbing several Ohm, which Nausicaä soothes. She leaves to rescue the interceptor's pilot, who turns out to be Princess Lastelle's twin brother, Asbel, but both crash through a stratum of quicksand into a non-toxic area below the Toxic Jungle. Nausicaä realizes that the jungle plants purify the polluted topsoil, producing clean water and soil underground.
Nausicaä and Asbel reach Pejite but find it ravaged by insects. They learn that the local survivors lured the insects to eradicate the Tolmekians, and are doing the same to the Valley. Nausicaä is taken prisoner, but escapes with the help of a group of Pejite sympathizers, including Asbel and his mother. She soon discovers two Pejite soldiers using a wounded baby Ohm to lure thousands of Ohm into the Valley. As the Tolmekians fight against the Ohm, the Giant Warrior, having hatched prematurely, disintegrates after killing a fraction of the Ohm.
Meanwhile, Nausicaä fights the Pejite soldiers and liberates the baby Ohm, but the pink dress she received from Asbel's mother is drenched in the Ohm's blue blood. Nausicaä and the Ohm return to the Valley and stand before the herd but are run over. The Ohm calm down and resuscitate her with their golden antennae resembling vines. Nausicaä walks atop the vines as though golden fields, fulfilling the savior prophecy. With the Valley saved, the Ohm and Tolmekians leave as the Pejites remain with the Valley people, helping them rebuild. Deep underneath the Toxic Jungle, a non-toxic tree sprouts.