Nausicaa: Difference between revisions

'''Nausicaä''' (full title: "Nausicaa no Tani no Kaze", or "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind") was first a graphic novel written and drawn by Hayao Miyazaki, and was later turned into a feature film, directed by Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The movie features a dramatically shortened plot. It was developed in between writing the episodes of the manga. It was mostly clear where the manga's story would head to, but the final chapters had yet to be written. Notably, the movie leaves out the Doroks and the Emperor, and focuses on Kushana's misunderstanding of the Forest. The story also reflects Miyazaki's self-proclaimed interest in writing strong female characters.

;'''SPOILERS AHEAD'''

The Nausicaä graphic novel originated from a few diverse concepts Miyazaki had been experimenting with. They all had in common a somewhat improbable blend of technology (airplanes, guns, bombs) with a fantasy design (knight armors, beasts, medieval state regimes). This was reconciled within a postapocalyptic theme: Nausicaä's world was nearly destroyed a thousands years ago by the Seven Days of Fire, and is plagued by polluted areas known as the Sea of Corruption. The human population in the scope of the story is fragmented into kingdoms that often engage in war. The sources of the conflict are the people's misunderstanding of the dynamics of the Sea of Corruption (it expands in reaction to attacks, but its role is to purify the world) and abuse of biotechnology granted to one leader or the other by the Guardian of the Crypt of Shuwa (in exchange for protection). The Guardian of the Crypt watches over Mankind through the dark centuries of pollution, but it periodically breaks the military balance by overpowering the leader it seeks protection from, and thus sends the world into cycles of war.

Arguably, Oni's Konoko lacks that sort of wisdom, but it's a trait that could be developed in a post-Oni version of Mai.

In the last volume of the graphic novel, it turns out that all of the population in Nausicaä's world were genetically engineered to adapt to the polluted world - humans, birds and mammals to a somewhat lesser extent than insects. The humans did this to themselves in order to live through the impending centuries of "dead air and foul water" after the Seven Days of Fire. The Sea of Corruption is in fact a man-made entity that purifies the water and the air, slowly but surely. As it is, there are areas deep inside the Sea of Corruption where the regeneration is complete, however the air there is so pure that it is deadly to the human population.

Nausicaä's dilemma as she destroys the crypt of Shuwa is whether programmed reparation of environmental damage is indeed something to desire. The Guardian of the Crypt tells her that the regeneration is all planned out, complete with the technology that will make humans able to walk the regenerated Earth once again, undoing the original changes do both the world and its inhabitants. Nausicaä denies the "light" and destroys the Guardian, stating that programmed evolution and is against the very nature of man, just as the perfectly harmonious and peaceful life that's supposed to begin after the regeneration is complete.