Character of the Month of May: Nausicaä

Greetings, earthilings!  This year’s Miyazaki May has come to a close, and what better way to end it with the unveiling of Character of the Month?  This month’s pick was a little tough.  I came up with two characters who were huge contributions to the films they stared in and had some pretty awesome traits that made them stand out.  But in the end, I went with the one that most people would be the most familiar with, and rightfully so.  So enough talking and let’s get to talking about this year’s Character of Miyazaki May, Nausicaä from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind!

Nausicaä is the princess of a small seaside village in dystopian Earth called the Valley of the Wind.  She is a bold and headstrong young woman known for frequently venturing into the Toxic Jungle, a vast and growing forest of poisonous plants and giant insects.  Life in her village is peaceful until the Toulmekians invade their land, throwing Nausicaä and the people of the Valley into war that threatens to destroy them.  But using Nausicaä’s own skills and cunning-and maybe a little know-how on communicating with giant bugs-she is able to help save the Valley and become the Valley’s prophesized hero of legend and even provides the answer to saving the human race.

I will admit, Nausicaä was Miyazaki’s first characters to come alive on film.  Given that fact, I had to give the girl some credit.  Even so, there were other reasons why she nabbed the title.  Probably one of the bigger ones is that she kicks some pretty serious butt.  Of all the Studio Ghibli films done by Miyazaki, none of them were as great a character as Nausicaä in a sense that she not only kicks butt, but she’s also very likeable.  Female protagonists in Miyazaki films are not an unfamiliar thing, but many of them are not really fighters but still pretty likeable.  On the other hand, there is probably one female character who’s actually not the protagonist but still kicks some major butt, but she’s annoying as hell.  So yeah, looking at it that way, Nausicaä is one of the rare finds in Studio Ghibli movies that portrays a strong female character that everyone likes or doesn’t find God-awful annoying.  Another great thing about Nausicaä is that she’s smart.  While this is more for plot effect than anything else, Nausicaä is the only one in the film that has any sense of the situation humanity is in in the film.  She is bold enough to grow a secret garden under the Valley to learn that it’s the polluted soil and water that’s the problem and not the plants themselves.  And she even uses that knowledge to help the people of the Valley of the Wind use the Toxic Jungle to their advantage by the end of the film.  So yeah, add it all up, Nausicaä is a strong and intelligent female character that helped create the animation empire we know today as Studio Ghibli as the first notable character in Miyazaki’s first original film.  So go save the Earth, Nausicaä, cause you’re Hanime on Anime’s Character of Miyazaki May!

Now, before I go, I do have some important news to share.  Within the next few days, I will be posting an announcement post about some major changes that will be happening on Hanime on Anime.  Don’t worry!  It’s nothing incredibly serious!  Just a few things to make Hanime on Anime better!  Anyways, that wraps up this week’s post and Miyazaki May!  Be sure to stay tuned for that announcement and next week’s post!

-Hanime on Anime