Once upon a time, there was a man who read a book. He rather enjoyed the story in the book. Between the pages, the man discovered a girl, who wove her magic around his eyes and she become beautiful, imaginative, and quick on her feet. Earth-bound was the girl and attuned to the world around and although suitors wooed her, she had no interest in them or their riches. The girl was wrapped in the cocoon of her own world. One day, the girl, walking on sand beside water, discovered a man almost drowned. She took him home, bound his wounds, and sang him songs. She might have fallen in love with him, if it wasn't for her parents, persistent that this sea-found man be on his way. He left and with him, perhaps her heart. The girl got up and left home, singing in courts about the sea-found man and the adventurous stories he left with her.

In another time and another place, the man read a book. He also enjoyed the story in this book. In the text was a story of a young girl and in her, the man found a connection to the first story, the first girl. But the young woman of this story loved bugs. She adored insects. And the people thought, how peculiar . She didn't act like other girls. She would play outside. And the people thought, how strange. She didn't shave her eyebrows or darken her teeth, and the people thought, how odd. And the man, the reader of the story, also liked this girl. She did her own thing, thoughts her own thoughts, and was uniquely herself.

So the man, Hayao Miyazaki took the story of the two young women, Nausicaa and the Princess Who Loved Insects, and wrote his own story, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Miyazaki wrote installments of the manga from 1982 to 1994 and the movie is taken from the first two volumes in the series. The movie was released in 1984. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was Miyazaki's first film, and the first to establish the Ghilbi Studio (Burr 2005). The parallels and contrasts of the movie and the manga will be based on volumes one and two.

The Characters

Before exploring the story line within Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, an introduction of the characters is in order. Any differences in characters between the movie and the manga will be noted.

• Nausicaa: the protagonist of the story. Nausicaa becomes the leader in the stead of her sick father, and goes off to war in his place. She is the only surviving child of eleven children produced by the chieftain family of the Valley. In the manga she is appointed chieftain in place of her sick father, but in the movie she gains her position when her father is murdered by Kushana's men. 
• King Jihl: father of the protagonist. In both movie and manga, King Jihl is bedridden. In the movie he is killed by Kushana's invading forces whereas in the manga he passes away while surrounded by his daughter and loyal subjects. 
• Lord Yupa: Considered to be the best swordsman in all of Periphery. He is a mentor figure for Nausicaa and is in search of the legendary figure that will bring peace to the land. When Kushana's forces invade the Valley, in both manga and movie, Lord Yupa stands between the rage-filled Nausicaa and Kushana's men. Lord Yupa is a significant character in both manga and movie.  In the movie, Lord Yupa spies on the invading Tolmekian forces as they root about the Valley's castle. In the manga, Lord Yupa spies on the Mani tribe to discover their use to the Dorok Empire. 
• Mito: Is a plucky sergeant-at-arms for King Jihl and pilots the support gunship for Nausicaa's Mehve (glider).
  
• Obaba (Gram/Matriarch): Obaba plays similar roles. In the manga she is a side character that dresses Nausicaa for battle and tells stories that play with the destiny of Nausicaa. In the movie, Gram introduces Nausicaa to the legend of the person-in-blue-who-walks-on-fields-of-gold at the beginning of the movie, thus setting a different take on the plot compared to the manga. 
• Asbel: A Pejite prince. He seeks revenge for the annihilation of his tribe and the death of his sister.  He is introduction into the manga/movie story when he attacks the Emperor Via's convoy which Nausicaa is travelling with  (in the movie she is hostage, in the manga she is part of the convoy). 
• Lastelle: A Pejite princess. Lastelle plays a very minor role in the manga/movie. In the movie, she is a hostage of the Tolmekia, whereas in the manga she is fleeing with a group of Pejite refuges. In both instances, she dies.
  
• Kushana: The antagonist of the story. Kushana is the daughter of Emperor Via of the Empire of Torumekia. In the manga she is a unreliable allie, however in the movie she is indecisive enemy. With the manga, readers will know about Kushana's setting her wits against her father and her brothers to survive. In the movie, her survival is dependent on Nausicaa calming the Ohmu.
  
• Kurotowa: Aide and spy. In the manga, Kurotowa is Kushana's aide but keeps dabs on Kushana for Emperor Via. In the movie, the audience is only aware that Kurotowa is Kushana's aide. He has a cycnical point of view and always throwing out slightly sarcastic observations.
  
• Ohmu: Gigantic crustaceans that look like pillbugs. They are generally feared in Nausicaa's world and operate through hive mentality. When they become angered their multiple eyes turn red and they leave a path of destruction in the wake of their anger. Because of them, they spread the spores from the Forest of Decay.
  
• Teto: a fox squirrel. At the beginning of the story, Lord Yupa gives Teto to Nausicaa and he is constantly with her throughout the story.
  
• God Warriors: Biomechanical beings responsible for the Seven Days of Fire. In the first two volumes, there is mention of the warriors, but it is not until later in the series, there is an actual appearance. In the movie, Kushana has gotten a hold of a God Warrior which she uses in trying to survive the onslaught of enraged Ohmus.

The Empires and Kingdoms

There are five cultures mentioned in the story of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. They are:

• The Empire of Tolmekia: This empire is headed by the Emperor Via, his three sons and daughter, Kushana. There are several kingdoms that have signed ancient treaties with the empire but in the first two volumes only The Valley of the Wind kingdom and Pejite Kingdom are mentioned. In the movie, Tolmekia has no alliance with the Valley of the Wind nor the Kingdom of Pejite.

• The Kingdom of the Valley of the Wind: Located near the Sea of Decay, the Valley is a rather small kingdom of 500 or so people. In the movie the Kingdom Valley is invaded by Tolmekia, but in the manga no invasion has occurred, or at least in the first two volumes.

• The Kingdom of Pejite: Pejite is mentioned to be an artistic city but it is also known for its cache of ancient technology found within the tunnels beneath the ground. In both manga/movie, the Pejite have a sleeping god warrior in their hold and as a consequence are annihilated secretly. The sole survivor of the Pejite legacy is Princes Asbel. 

• The Empire of Dorok: The imposing force against Tolmekia and its allies. In the first two volumes, the Empire of Dorok is heading north to Tolmekia to invade and conquer the Northern lands in order to colonize. The reason for such a move is not disclosed until later on. 

• The Mani Tribe: The people of the Mani Tribe represent the invading body of the Dorok empire. They are the ones who incur the wrath of the herds of Ohmus and direct it towards their enemies, the Tolmekians. The main character that comes from the Mani Tribe is a holy man, who at first is Nausicaa's enemy, but in the end gives his life for her when he realizes she is the one-in-blue-who-walks-in-fields-of-gold and as prophesied will bring peace to insects and humans. In the movie, Obaba takes the place of the holy man in introducing the prophecy. 

The Manga

The story begins with Lord Yupa and Nausicaa meeting after the passing of one year. Lord Yupa discovers that the Empire of Tolmekia is going to war and Valley of the Wind as subjects will be joining an air convey in a little while. Before Nausicaa is able to leave, a Pejite airship full of refugee men, women and children are forced to land near the Valley, and Nausicaa discovers the dying Pejite Princess, Lastelle. The Pejite entrusts to Nausicaa the heart stone of a God Warrior and swears her to secrecy. Close on the tails of the Pejite airship is Kushana, in pursuit of the stone. Nausicaa and Kushana have a brief scuffle and Lord Yupa intervenes. Kushana leaves the valley knowing that Nausicaa has the stone but lets the matter rest for the time being. Nausicaa, Mito and several other older soldiers leave and meet up with the air convey. They are ambushed by Asbel, the Pejite Prince, looking for revenge and Nausicaa takes matters into hand. They both end up in the forest running/fighting for their lives from the insects that Asbel has angered in his crash landing. Slipping and sliding, they fall into the cracks of the forest floors to discover that beneath the forest are vast caverns of petrified wood, clean air, clean water and plenty of sand. Asbel and Nausicaa join forces and leave the underbelly of the forest floor. Read Book One

Asbel and Nausicaa make it to the surface but are overtaken by the Mani tribe who are in league with the Empire of Dorok. They are captured and Asbel tries to reason with them through their Priest, a respected shaman. Asbel and Nausicaa discover that the Mani tribe will invade the land of the Tolmekia. The airships of the Mani tribe meet up with the envoy and fighting ensues. Nausicaa escapes to warn the Valley as well as everybody else. In the meantime, Mito and crew have returned to the valley and have garnered the help of Kushana to search for Nausicaa. Kushana with the stone in mind, goes out to find Nausicaa. Nausicaa meets up with Mito, and as they fly the clouds, discover an enraged herd of racing Ohmus. Nausicaa, wondering the reason for their rage, discovers an impaled baby Ohmu dangled along beneath a Mani tribe airship. Since they are in the area of the enraged Ohmu, Kushana's troops are overrun and Kushana barely makes out it alive. Nausicaa while rescuing the baby Ohmu and calming the berserking Ohmu is injured. The priest coming upon the scene, sees the now calmed Ohmu heal Nausicaa through their field of golden tentacles, and the shaman makes the connection with Nausicaa to the ancient prophecy of the one-in-blue-who-walks-on-fields-of-gold. The Ohmu tell her they are going South because there is unrest down there. They tell her to return home. Instead, the volume ends with Nausicaa going south. Read Book Two

The Movie

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind tells a shorter completed tale compared to the manga. Nausicaa enters into the story by meeting Lord Yupa after a year's absence from the Valley's courts. They travel back to the town and Lord Yupa is enthusiastically greeted by everyone. In the evening, Lord Yupa tells of his travels. Obaba tells Nausicaa that Lord Yupa is looking for the One-in-blue-who-walks-in-fields-of-gold, and tells of an ancient prophecy that this indiviual will bring peace between the insects and humans.  Late in the night, the watchmen feeling that the atmosphere isn't right,  call Nausicaa from her sleep and wait on the battlements. Sure enough, a Tolmekians airship flies overhead, damaged by the swarm of insects, it crashes into a cliff. Nausicaa and the watchmen run down, and Nausicaa pulls from the debrie, a dying Lastelle, the Pejite princess. The villagers soon start cleaning up only to discover in the rubble of the ship, a sleeping god warrior. Shortly, more Tolmekian ships fly overhead and swarm over the entire village, take it captive, and kill the ill king. Nausicaa enters the room of her father to find him dead and surrounded. She flies into a rage and just about kills everyone until Lord Yupa intervenes. Outside the castle, everyone is gathered and enters Kushana, high commander of the Tolmekian army. She announces that she is gathering the kingdoms together to make a stand against the toxic jungle. She takes Nausicaa hostage and heads back to the Tolmekian capital and assigns Kurotowa the duty of growing the sleeping god warrior.

Their convoy is attacked and entirely destroyed by a lone Pejite fighter plane. Nausicaa, Mito, and Kushana get out and make it safely to the forest below. Nausicaa sets out to rescue the Pejite from the insects' homes he has disturbed. Unable to pacify the insect, they find themselves underneath the forest floor in these massive caverns and come to the realization that the forest below is cleansing the polluted forest above. They get it, get to Pejite, find the city utterly destroyed and soon find out that the Pejites  lured insects into their city to purge it of the Tolmekian forces stationed there. The surviving Pejites are on their way to take hold of the sleeping god warrior in the Valley. Nausicaa pleads with them to stop fighting, but they too are also focused on ridding themselves the forest around them and along with the Tolemkian presence. Nausicaa on the way to warn her people discovers a raging herd of Ohmu and discovers the cause to be an impaled and dangling baby Ohmu that the Pejites are flying towards the valley.  Rescuing the baby, Nausicaa tries to pacify the stampeding herd, but she and the baby are overrun. The villagers fleeing to a place of safety near by, witness the entire event of the trampled princess, the settling dust as the herd slows and than stops. The Ohmu gather around Nausicaa, healing her with their golden tentacles. As she is walking around way above the ground, the villagers can see that she is dressed in blue and walking in what appears to be a field of gold. Thus ends the movie.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (116:05 minutes)

Adaptation & Themes

In Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, the story has been snipped, rearranged or discarded to fit into the neat package of hundred and sixteen minutes. Like other movies, varying aspects of the story in print did not make it into the movie. But the most noticeable cut to the story line was the complete removal of the Dorok. The Dorok aspect can only be found in the manga storyline. The Dorok are the opposing empire to the Tolmekians. There are four cultural groups that make up Nausicaa's world: the Empire of the Tolmekians and the subculture of the Valley of the Wind; the Empire of the Dorok and the subculture of the Mani tribe. All ideas and conflict is based on the Dorok. A few of the major conflicts within the movie (the destruction of the forest and the dangling Ohmu baby) are Dorok-orientated. So Miyazaki vanquished the Dorok Empire and disappeared the Mani Tribe from the movie storyline. In place, he set up the Tolmekian Empire as the greater evil and the Pejites as the lesser evil. The difference between the manga and the movie when it comes to the overall theme is that Nausicaa fulfills prophecy, whereas in the manga, Nausicaa is becoming more aware of the harm everyone is inflicting on each other.

In Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (manga/movie) there were several themes that Miyazaki presented , becoming something of a trademark for his stories. In the movie, he developed the conflict between technology and nature.  Flight, another love of Miyazaki's, a representation of human yearning, is well represented in both manga and movie (Osmond 2009). Also, the female protagonist, Nausicaa, is quite in character with Miyazaki's mold of active, determined and independent teen girls (Napier 2002 p.473). With the story now on screen, the change has not dispelled its charm and uniqueness. Dispite being cut to pieces and jigsawed back together again, the themes that Miyazaki illustrated in the manga are still emphasized in the movie's story-line.

I had a lot of fun creating video clips that emphasized Nausicaa's character, to view them, click