A Review
The Japanese are no less guilty than Americans of harboring post-apocalyptic fantasies, so it should come as no surprise that some of their comics deal with the subject. Three such are AKIRA, HOKUTO NO KEN (FIST OF THE NORTH STAR), and NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF WIND. While HOKUTO NO KEN is primarily a kung fu version of CONAN THE BARBARIAN by way of THE ROAD WARRIOR, the other two demonstrate great understanding on the part of their creators as to what survival after conflagration is
all about.
AKIRA deals with disaster on a smaller scale, detailing the second destruction of Tokyo (the first is recapped in flashback) by an immense psychokinetic force-wave, while NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF WIND delineates with allegory and precision the ecological adjustments produced by mutation on a global scale. . .
NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF WIND relates the efforts of a messianic Princess of a small kingdom named the Valley of Wind to set aright what her careless ancestors wrought centuries before. Civilization as we know it vanishes in the Daikaisho, or Seven Days of Fire, brought
on by the deployment of God Soldiers, skyscraper-high bio-mechanical robots
possessed of hideous destructive power. In its wake came the Sea of Corruption, the group term for vast toxic forests of mutated vegetation and gigantic insects. These forests belch forth deadly spores which cause unprotected breathers to vomit blood, so everyone in their proximity must wear air filters. Neither are the actual seas exempt from the effects of the Daikaisho; they are highly acidic and burn all who touch them, including that which makes up the Sea of Corruption.
Therefore, most people travel between kingdoms in ancient ceramic flying machines. In this post-apocalyptic world, civilization has reverted to feudalism and man has somehow forgotten the art of smelting. In place of metals, a type of tempered ceramic is developed. The scavenged discarded shells of growing Ohmus(huge telepathic insects which lord over the Sea of Corruption) are stronger, but dangerous to obtain. The use of ceramics for the construction of weaponry and machines is ecology safe, but no one dares attack an Ohmu for fear of a stampede of thousands of its incensed brethren. Least of all, Princess Nausicaa (pronounced Nah-OH-shi-ka), who, for reasons beyond her understanding, has a rapport with them and the rest of the unnaturally large denizens of the toxic jungles. Her ability to communicate with the Ohmu infuriates and frightens the leaders of the two major kingdoms, so they conspire to kill her, while, secretly, they scheme to resurrect a God Soldier to burn the jungles with nuclear fire, not realizing that this will only fertilize the forest further Eventually, Nausicaa comes to realize that the Sea of Corruption is, in fact, a self-healing manifestation which will soon purify the land . . . if the God Soldier doesn't upset the ecological balance with new radioactivity, that is.
While ecological responsibility is the bedrock upon which the story is built (as in the brilliant science fiction film, SILENT RUNNING), internecine encounters between ruling factions (as in DUNE and STAR WARS) make up the ostensible narrative, with sporadic bursts (pun intended) of epic heroism and divine prophecy (as in ELFQUEST, LORD OF THE RINGS, and DUNE, again) woven in for good measure. NAUSICAA draws upon THE ODYSSEY for inspiration. and the sprawling feel of myth-making happenstance is much in evidence, with Nausicaa acting as the proverbial eye of the hurricane (A book about the epic poem's Nausicaa, named HOMER'S DAUGHTER, was written by one Robert Graves.) Two aspects of Miyazaki's drawing style stand out. First, his style of linework is more in keeping with French comics' style than that prevalent in manga (Miyazaki and Moebius are mutual admirers). Second, his people's faces look "cute." Don't let this scare you away. Wendy Pini's very excellent ELFQUEST had "cute" faces, too. NAUSICAA is decidedly more serious than ELFQUEST in tone and execution, so chalk it up to Miyazaki's extensive background in animation that his characters should possess the big, expressive eyes de rigeur in manga (the God of Japanese comics, Osamu Tezuka, started the Big Eye look -- with ASTROBOY -- as an homage to Disney).
Feldman also comments on Miyazaki's heroines:
The critic Paul Wells points outs:
'Miyazaki establishes authorial tendencies by refuting the tenets of films constructed on masculine terms... (His) complex heroines are
consistently engaged in the pursuit of self-knowledge and a distinctive identity. His use of the feminine discourse subverts patriarchal agendas
both in film making and story-telling.
'As Miyazaki suggests, 'We've reached a time when the male-oriented way of thinking is reaching a limit. The girl or woman has more flexibility.
This is why a female point of view fits the current times (8).'
As characters, Miyazaki's heroines are typically innocent, creative and attuned to nature in a way which leaves their male counterparts gaping in disbelief. The heroines are defined by curiosity, their inner and outer journeys mirrored in the image of flight - most of Miyazaki's protagonists fly, or learn to fly. Their discoveries range from film to film but generally connect to Miyazaki's vision of a pantheistic, self- creating life force which the heroines eulogise, mourn or redeem. Wells rightly points out that the revelations are delivered in 'resonant symbolic moments... the nexus of spiritual and philosophic ideas.' This aspect of Miyazaki's work is fundamental to Nausicaa.
Further comments:
In Dune, Paul realised the sandworms' centrality to Dune's water-cycle and the political power it brings. Equally, it is with the Ohmu that Nausicaa finds her higher purpose. In Miyazaki's condensed script, the main motive of both Torumekia and Pejitei is to destroy the poisonous rotwood (hence the import of the fire-demon), and so the second half of the film, for all the battles and adventure, effectively turns into an eco-debate with all sides given plausible motives. It is here that Kushana, female leader of the Torumekians, comes to the fore. A powerful presence (in one memorable scene she casually reveals she's one-armed, having lost the other to an insect), she follows many Miyazaki adversaries in being less evil than hubristic. One scene, omitted from the manga and the Warriors cut, has an 'ordinary' Valley dweller explain her mistake just before the last battle.
'You (the Torumekians) use fire. We use a little of that too, but too much fire gives birth to nothing. Fire turns a forest to ash in one day. Water and wind take a
hundred years to nurture a forest. We prefer water and wind.'
Sadly, Kushana doesn't listen until almost too late.
Nausicaa's discovery that the rotwood is central to the Earth's healing shortcuts the debate and foreshadows the climax, in which the Pejiteians mutilate a baby ohmu in graphic detail (another ravaged innocent, born to suffer) to provoke the insects into destroying the Valley. For Miyazaki, the final conflict is almost redundant except symbolically. The Torumekians and Pejitei are virtually forgotten as the new-born God Warrior, a standard fire-spitting anime monster, sets off impressive nuclear-style detonations before disintegrating before the oncoming defenders of the forest. As the film pulls away from its expected climax, the last minutes centre on Nausicaa's martyrdom - shockingly violent for a family-oriented film - as she struggles to save the baby ohmu and her people. In the process, she is shot twice, burned by acid and dies facing the Ohmu stampede. Anticipating the darker turns in the Nausicaa manga, it is an astounding sequence and one undiluted by the glib (if evocative) deus ex machina which ends the picture (18).