Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Japanese: 風の谷のナウシカ Hepburn: Kaze no Tani no Naushika?) is a 1984 Japanese animated post-apocalyptic fantasy adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on his own 1982 manga of the same name.

The film tells the story of Nausicaa (Shimamoto), a young princess of the Valley of the Wind who gets involved in a struggle with Tolmekia, a kingdom that tries to use an ancient weapon to eradicate a jungle of mutant giant insects. Nausicaa must stop the Tolmekians from enraging these creatures.

The film was released in Japan on March 11, 1984. While created before Studio Ghibli was founded, the film is considered to be the beginning of the studio and is often included as part of the Studio's works, including the Studio Ghibli Collection.

Plot
A thousand years have passed since the Seven Days of Fire, an apocalyptic war that destroyed human civilization and gave birth to the vast Toxic Jungle, a forest swarming with giant mutant insects in which everything is lethal to humans. Scattered settlements exist wherever the Toxic Jungle relents. The Valley of the Wind is one such settlement. The Valley's settlers have a prophecy about a person, "clothed in blue robes, descending onto a golden field, to join bonds with the great earth and guide the people to the pure lands at last".

Nausicaa, the agile, cheerful and peace-loving princess of the Valley of the Wind, has managed to befriend the Toxic Jungle. She explores the Jungle and communicates with its creatures, including the gigantic, armored trilobite-like creatures called Ohm. She often travels on a compact jet-powered glider in order to find out about the origins of the Toxic Jungle, understand its nature, and even find a cure for both humans and the world.

One night, during a visit by the Valley's swordsmaster, Lord Yupa, a large fixed-wing cargo aircraft from the kingdom of Tolmekia crashes in the Valley. Nausicaa tries to rescue an on board passenger, the wounded Princess Lastelle of Pejite, who pleads with Nausicaa to destroy the cargo before dying. The cargo is an embryo of a Giant Warrior, lethal genetically engineered bio-weapons that caused the Seven Days of Fire. The invading Tolmekians seized the embryo and Lastelle. The Tolmekian plane, however, was attacked by mutant insects before it crashed. One of the insects then emerges wounded from the wreckage and seems poised to attack the frightened villagers, but Nausicaa uses a small bullroarer to create a high-pitched tune that helps calm it and after mounting her jet-glider, guides the insect out of the village to safety.

The next morning, Tolmekian troops, led by Princess Kushana and Officer Kurotowa, enter the Valley and secure the Giant Warrior embryo, killing Nausicaa's sick father in the process. Kushana plans to mature the Giant Warrior and then use it to burn the Toxic Jungle, even though history warns of fatal consequences. After witnessing her father's death, Nausicaa goes berserk and kills several Tolmekian soldiers before Yupa intervenes. Kushana announces her decision to leave for Pejite with Nausicaa along with five hostages from the Valley. Before they leave, Yupa discovers her secret garden of jungle plants. According to Nausicaa, plants that grow in clean soil and water are not toxic. The jungle's soil, however, has long been tainted by humankind.

Kushana and her detachment are unable to reach their destination, as an agile Pejite interceptor shoots down the Tolmekian ship. Nausicaa, her fellow hostages and Kushana crash-land in the jungle, disturbing several Ohm, which Nausicaa soothes. She then leaves to rescue Asbel, the Pejite pilot and the twin brother of Lastelle, but both are swallowed by quicksand and end up in a non-toxic world below the jungle. Nausicaa realizes that the jungle plants purify the polluted topsoil, producing clean water that remains hidden underground.

Nausicaa and Asbel return to Pejite, only to find it ravaged by the insects. While boarding a single plane, the surviving villagers reveal that they lured the creatures to eradicate the Tolmekians and are doing the same in the Valley to recapture the Giant Warrior. To prevent any intervention, they capture Nausicaa. Later, with the help of Asbel and his mother, Nausicaa escapes on a glider. While flying home, Nausicaa finds a team of Pejite soldiers using a wounded baby Ohm to lead a furious Ohm herd numbering in the thousands into the Valley. The Tolmekians deploy tanks and later the Giant Warrior against the herd, but to no avail: the tanks' firepower is nowhere near enough to harm an Ohm, and the Giant Warrior, having been hatched prematurely, soon disintegrates, despite successfully destroying a few waves of Ohm.

Nausicaa liberates the baby Ohm and gains its trust; in the process, her pink dress becomes stained by its blue blood, turning completely blue. The two attempt to stop the raging herd, but are run over, with Nausicaa seemingly killed. The herd, however, calms down, and the Ohmu use their golden tentacles to heal Nausicaa. She awakens and starts to dance on top of the hundreds of glowing golden tentacles. Clad in blue and walking as through golden fields, Nausicaa has fulfilled the prophecy. The Ohmu and Tolmekians leave the Valley afterwards, while the surviving Pejites remain with the Valley people, helping them rebuild. Meanwhile, a new tree is beginning to grow underground.