Miyazaki Countdown Part 2 - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Hello everyone and welcome to Some Like It Scott's second Countdown miniseries on 2023, a podcast first focusing entirely on the works of Japanese animator, Hayao Miyazaki: the Miyazaki Countdown. To honor one of the living legends of animation, the countdown crew of Scott, Scott, and Jay will watch all 11 of Miyazaki's films to-date, rewinding all the way back to his directorial origins with 1979's action-adventure heist thriller LUPIN III: THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO, all the way to his then-final film, 2013's biographical epic romance drama, THE WIND RISES. Join us each week over the next 11 weeks, as we build up to what is Miyazaki's self-proclaimed now-final film (we'll see...), the fantasy epic, THE BOY AND THE HERON.

 

In Part 2 of the Miyazaki Countdown, Scott, Scott, and Jay are joined by fellow Hayao Miyazaki (and Nausicaä) fan Paul Oyama to discuss Miyazaki's sophomore directorial outing and first crack at a world and characters of his own invention, the 1984 post-apocalyptic fantasy anime film, NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND. Set in a distant future, 1000 years after an apocalyptic nuclear war that destroyed the majority of civilization and caused an ecological genocide, NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND tells the story of a 16-year-old princess, Nausicaä, from a local village-nation called the Valley of the Wind. The titular heroine excavates waste in and around the nearby Toxic Jungle that slowly grows and devours the remnants of human civilization. After rescuing her friend, Lord Yupa, from an attacking monstrous trilobite Ohm, they return to the Valley of the Wind. One night, however, the Valley's peace is disturbed when an airship from the neighboring nation-state of Tolmekia crash lands in the valley, carrying the embryo of one of the "Great Warrior" bio-weapons that were used in the apocalyptic Seven Days of Fire, 1000 years prior. Also aboard the ship was the hostage Princess of Pejite (another neighboring nation) that begs Nausicaä to destroy the embryo. Before Nausicaä can make heads or tails of the situation, Tolmekia invades the Valley setting Nausicaä on a course to try and prevent a second apocalyptic conflict. The countdown crew - and Paul - reflect on the quick evolution of Miyazaki's themes and filmmaking, whether Nausicaä and her fellow characters hold together under scrutiny, and whether the epic fantasy scope of the film delivers.