Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is still my favortie Miyazaki film.

I have only seen four.  But those four are the primary ones that interest me Genre wise.  And further I consider Nausicaa my favorite Anime film, period.  In fact it remains the best even if you include only one of the qualifiers calling it Anime implies, it's my favorite feature length theatrically released Animated movie, and my favorite Japanese movie.

Basically, it's The Dark Knight alone that prevents it from being my favorite movie period.

Now Miyazaki is not someone about whom it's common to say he peaked early.  (Nausicaa was his second feature film, first that is fully his original creation).  In fact some films common for people to cite as their favorite were after he was supposed to retire.

Every Miyazaki film I've seen I've given at least a 9 on MAL, that means I think it's Great.  So there is no insult in my placing a Miyazaki film below Nausicaa.  But Nausicaa speaks to me personally in a way few things are able to, and is the only Miyazaki film to make me tear up.

The primary film some are compelled to compare Nausicaa to negatively is Princess Mononoke.  I gave Mononoke a 10 on MAL, I posted about it twice on this blog already.  The breath of subjects it touches on may make it the movie I'll talk about more often on this blog.  But I still don't get why to others this film seems to spoil Nausicaa for them.

Unshavedmouse said because he saw Nausicaa after Mononoke, Nausicaa felt like a dress rehearsal for Mononoke.  Miragephan said on the Neotaku podcast that she hasn't seen Nausicaa yet because JesuOtaku called it an inferior version of Mononoke.

My confusion at this perspective has less to do with my finding Nausicaa better but more to do with my not seeing these films are even that similar or comparable.

My love for Nausicaa starts with the fact that it's a story that played out the Messianic Archetype with a female character.  The title character is not a Messianic Archetype in Princess Mononoke, nor is she the main character.  If any human in Princess Mononoke is a Messiah of some sort it's the male MC, who I just recently called the Superman of Anime. Among other things, that difference should make Nausicaa the preferable film for Magical Girl fans, Princess Mononoke isn't magical, she's Tarzan.

I think a lot of people are just seeing another Miyazki film named after a "Princess" and with an Environmental message, and deciding there is only room for one. (Cue someone to make fanart of them in a Steel Cage Match.)

Mononoke easily comes off the most Disney like of all Miyazaki films, which might explain why it's Unshavedmouse's favorite.  But I think some Weebs prefer it for being about old timey Japan.

While Nausicaa is more like a Star Wars film that never goes into Space.  So it's perhaps telling that I've been into Star Wars longer then I have Anime.  Remember, Nausicaa is the Hidden Fortress to TFA's ANH.

The Force Awakens was inspired by Nausicaa of the Valley of The Wind

I just found this video on YouTube

And I can't believed I missed these parallels when I watched Nausicaa twice last month.

Some other vids on the subject.

The thing I need to say, even though I don't like sounding like a TFA hater.  Is that when I compare these movies, Nausicaa is way better to me, when I compare Lucas SW films to Flash Gordon or the Hidden Fortress, as good as they are I like Star Wars better.

Turns out there was a Homage back in Episode I also.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

I've seen my second Miyazaki film now, and first Gibli film.

I watched the Dub, because I am an unapologetic Dub Scrub.  This Dub was dubbed by Disney so it doesn't have your typical Anime Dub cast.  Instead it has Patrick Stewart, always a treat, coincidentally I watched Logan on Thursday.

I just gave the movie a 10 out of 10 on MAL.

So during the scene where they explained the Prophecy of their expected Messiah the first thought I had about him being associated with the Color Blue was "kind of like Vishnu and his Avatars in Hinduism".  A few minutes latter I noticed "hmmm, our title character seems to be wearing Blue a lot".  Then I thought "why didn't that occur to me immediately, I'm a failure as a Feminist".

I was watching this movie because I was hoping for a Messianic Archetype with a female character type of story.  But I'm so used to being disappointed by stuff I hope will do well by it's female characters, that as soon as the people in the story assumed the Gender of their Messiah my brain got distracted for a little bit.

Now even if I watched a Sub I would probably have still needed to ask this.  But I'm wondering about the wording of the Prophecy, does the Japanese use more gender neutral pronouns here?

This movie has clearly been very influential.  It's influence on future Anime I'm sure has been talked about endlessly.  So I want to comment on other things.

First is Video Games.  I believe I'd seen this mentioned as an influence on the Final Fantasy franchise before.  The air ships, Talmecia rhymes with Palmecia, the environmental theme in general. There were even proto Chocobos. Since Breath of the Wild is still a current hot topic in Gaming, the Valley of The Wind itself looks kinda like a city visited in BotW.  And I'm pretty sure that little Fox like animal was a direct inspiration for Evee, a first generation Pokemon.

But what really took me by surprise, was when we finally saw the fully formed Giant Warrior.  First good look at it's face I went "The Anitmonitor, that's the Frakking Anti-Monitor, Marv Wolfman and Geroge Perez were while writing the single most historic Storyline in all of Western Comics, influenced by a Japanese Cartoon."  That is Awesome.

So, It's a movie I recommend.

It's been a Feminist Friday for me

I saw Wonder Woman which was awesome, I highly recommend it.  Best DC film since 2015.  It's almost as good as Anime.

And speaking of Anime I watched the new episode of Twin Angel, the current Magical Girl show.  I still it's the best Anime this season.

I may also latter today finally watch Nauska and the Valley of the Wind.

I may have more in depth thoughts on Wonder Woman in time.  But for now I'm speechless.