Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
Based on the manga series Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki.
Intro (“Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - Opening / Kaze no Tani no Naushika”). One thousand years have passed since the Seven Days of Fire, an apocalyptic war that destroyed civilization and created the vast Sea of Decay, a poisonous forest swarming with giant mutant insects.
Nausicaä, the 16-year-old princess of the Valley of the Wind and a skilled wind-rider, explores the Toxic Jungle. She suddenly hears commotion and discovers Lord Yupa, a traveling swords master, fleeing from an enraged Ohmu, a gigantic trilobite-like insect. Nausicaä saves Lord Yupa by calming the Ohmu with flares and an insect charm. In the aftermath Nausicaä befriends a fox-squirrel that Lord Yupa saved earlier as well as reconnects with Kai and Kui, Lord Yupa’s horseclaws.
Lord Yupa travels to the Valley of the Wind to meet with King Jihl, Nausicaä’s father. Together with Nausicaä, they discuss the spread of the Sea of Decay and the prophecy regarding a saviour "clothed in blue robes, descending onto a golden field, to join bonds with the great earth and guide the people to the pure land, at last".
Later that night, a massive cargo aircraft from the kingdom of Tolmekia arrives in the valley being attacked by the insects. It crashes in the Valley despite Nausicaä's attempt to save it. Its sole survivor, Princess Lastelle of Pejite, pleads with Nausicaä to destroy the cargo and 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, a military state, seized the embryo and Lastelle from Pejite, but their plane was attacked by insects and crashed. One of the insects emerges wounded from the wreckage and poises to attack, but Nausicaä uses an insect charm to calm it and guides it away from the village.
Soon after, Tolmekian troops, led by Princess Kushana, invade the Valley, execute Nausicaä's father and capture the embryo. Enraged, Nausicaä assaults and kills several Tolmekian soldiers and is about to be overwhelmed when Lord Yupa, soothes the belligerents. Kushana plans to mature the Giant Warrior and use it to burn the Sea of Decay. Kushana will take Nausicaä and five hostages to Pejite while Kurotawa, Kushana’s advisor, will stay in the Valley of the Wind and attempt to mature the Giant Warrior. The night before departure, 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 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 Ohms, which Nausicaä soothes. She leaves to rescue the Pejite pilot Asbel, twin brother of Princess Lastelle, but both crash through a stratum of quicksand into a non-toxic area below the Sea of Decay. Nausicaä realizes that the jungle plants purify the polluted topsoil, producing clean water and soil underground.
Nausicaä and Asbel return to Pejite but find it ravaged by insects. A band of survivors explains that they lured the insects to eradicate the Tolmekians, and are doing the same to the Valley. They capture Nausicaä to prevent her from warning the Valley, but with the help of Asbel, his mother, and a number of sympathizers, Nausicaä escapes on her glider. However, a plane of Tolmekian soldiers take the ship with orders to kill the survivors, but Lord Yupa intervenes and prevents the Tolmekians from slaughtering them. Flying home, she finds two Pejite soldiers baiting thousands of Ohms into the Valley using a wounded baby Ohm. The people of the Valley take shelter while the Tolmekians deploy tanks and the Giant Warrior, but tank-fire does not deter the Ohms, and the Giant Warrior, hatched prematurely, disintegrates.
Nausicaä liberates the baby Ohm and gains its trust. She and the Ohm stand before the herd but are run over. The Ohms calm down and use their golden tentacles to resuscitate her. Nausicaä, her dress drenched blue with Ohm blood, walks atop golden Ohm tentacles as through golden fields, fulfilling the savior prophecy. The Ohms and Tolmekians leave the Valley, and the Pejites remain with the Valley people, helping them rebuild. Deep underneath the Sea of Decay, a non-toxic tree sprouts.
TRIVIA
Nauisaä of the Valley of the Wind was originally a manga series written by Hayao Miyazaki that spanned 7 volumes; the film retells the events of the first 2 volumes of the manga with slight alterations to make the story feel complete.
The Giant Warrior scene was animated by Hideaki Anno (creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion).