There’s an earlier, crappier version of this, and a later, better edit, and I don’t know which one this is. But man, this movie’s good, and the comic is even more wonderful in the ways you’d guess.
I think it’s probably still too scary for my niece, who’s excited about Totoro and the nonscary parts of Spirited Away, but I look forward to being able to watch this with her soon.
A copy of this movie in the raw, untranslated Japanese was one of the first three pieces of anime I ever saw, back around 1992. If this is the version released by Disney, then it is the full, not-butchered version. The old, re-edited English version is (I believe) called Warriors of the Wind or something like that.
If you enjoy the movie, take the time to track down the even-better four volume manga published in the U.S. by Viz; it’s one of Miyazaki’s few comic books, and (I think) the only one published in English. It is fabulous.
Also, just to be that guy, it’s Nausicaä OF the Valley of Wind.
FYI, this video may be illegal. Certainly, there’s no evidence to suggest it *is* legal. You may want to take this down.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-08-23/nausicaa-of-the-valley-of-the-wind-streamed-for-free
Nausicaa is part of my “holy trinity” of anime (along with Robotech and Akira) that I saw while growing up. I saw the terrible, butchered version (Warriors of the Wind) in theatres in the mid 80s, and I love it regardless. That lead me to the manga, which is marvelous, and finally back to the film, when Disney released the full version in English. I like to tell people that the dub features Patrick Stewart as a ninja – tell me I’m wrong!
Ah! I haven’t watched this.
I thought you were talking about Castle in the Sky, which is weird and sometimes awesome and not appropriate for toddlers (I quickly realized).
Nausicaa – both manga and anime – is fantastic. Such clarity of vision and fantastic creativity. I love the world and the political struggles of the different nations. And the Godwalkers are truly awesome…
Matt, Disney will go after Google before they go after me. I’m not worried.
Lukas, the manga series is a treasured possession of our household.
The thing that gets me the most about Warriors of the Wind is that the cover features a warrior boy who does not exist in the movie as the apparent lead, dominating over Nausicaä, who, if I recall, is riding a flying unicorn.
Lessee now…
Yep, there it is. Holy crap, it’s awful. The God Warrior is in a more important position than Nausicaä, along with two completely made-up characters, dominating an Ohmu. “A BAND OF YOUNG WARRIORS!” Wow. It’s… it’s like they didn’t watch the movie at all. Or they did, and figured all this “girls can be protagonists” stuff was weird nonsense from the people who wrote your VCR instructions.
Oh, I don’t think I’ve seen Castle in the Sky. I was thinking of Howl’s moving Castle when I started to write this post, but now I realize that they’re not the same.
Sorry, didn’t mean to imply “OMG Disney might get you!” Meant to imply “this is probably a bootleg video and perhaps folks should track down and watch legitimate (and better) copies rather than this.”
Yeah, this is pretty low-res, and it’s a beautiful movie.
Joshua: Castle In The Sky is fantastic. Definitely worth your time.
I don’t remember which version I saw back in the days, but I remember that it’s impact felt very small compared to the manga, which I had previously read.
As a completed work it has to be my favourite piece of manga. (I really, really like the promise and the beginning of Appleseed, but as with all of Shirow’s works it eventually gets stuck in too many complicated ideas.)