Nausicaä (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind)

Development

Nausicaä originated from Miyazaki's abandoned anime adaptation of Richard Corben's Rowlf, which featured princess Maryara of the Land of Canis. Miyazaki found the princess bland and wanted a young girl with character and sensitivity, contrasting with an incapable father. He named her Yara, short for Maryara, and depicted her bearing the weight of her destiny after her sick father abdicated. Yara was initially accompanied by a pet dog, later replaced by a fox squirrel.

Miyazaki intended Yara to wear short pants and moccasins to show vigorous movements, but abandoned the idea due to the harsh environment. After the Corben project fell through, Miyazaki developed his own character, keeping the name Yara temporarily before renaming her Nausicaä. The name comes from the Phaeacian princess Nausicaa of the Odyssey, known for her love of nature and music. Miyazaki identified with Bernard Evslin's description of the character in Gods, Demigods and Demons, translated by Minoru Kobayashi, and was disappointed not finding the same splendor in Homer's original poem.

Plot overview

Nausicaä is the 16-year-old princess of the Valley of the Wind, a small nation with fewer than 500 inhabitants. She is the eleventh child of King Jihl and the only one to live to maturity. She is rarely seen without her Mehve or her companion Teto the fox-squirrel.

At the beginning of the manga, she is set to succeed her ill father and must go to war under the command of Princess Kushana of Tolmekia against the Dorok Empire. Delayed in the forest by an attack from Asbel, she saves insects and encounters a Dorok tribe, learning their plans to destroy the Tolmekian army. She helps a baby Ohmu tortured by the Dorok, and her dress is stained blue with its blood, marking her as 'The Blue Clad One' in Dorok mythos.

She becomes a mortal enemy of Miralupa, who tries to infiltrate her mind. Miralupa is betrayed by his brother Namulith and finds redemption in Nausicaä's spirit. She discovers the Dorok are using a new fungus as a biological weapon and comes to understand the Sea of Corruption's role in purifying the Earth.

Actors

Nausicaä is voiced in Japanese by Sumi Shimamoto, who won the role after impressing Hayao Miyazaki with her performance of Clarisse in Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. Patrick Drazen praised her acting in a scene where she stops an insect from diving into an acidic pool, describing her scream as one that 'tears at the listener and raises the bar for cartoon voices'. Onoe Kikunosuke V portrayed Nausicaä in the 2019 kabuki play adaptation.

Reception

Nausicaä has been described as a 'strong young female lead drawn strongly from the shoujo tradition', with a 'brave and wholesome' mind and as 'one of the best examples of a truly empowered female'. Stig Høgset found her too-perfect portrayal unrealistic, while Susan J. Napier argued that as an epic heroine, her competence and messianic presentation are appropriate. In the film's beginning, Nausicaä is presented as a mix of precocity and fairy-tale innocence, her innocence stemming from scientific wonder. She kills the warriors who killed her father, a scene described as 'genuinely shocking' and evidence of representing traditional masculinity.

She later regrets her vengeance and becomes a diplomat. Although a warrior, she acts 'reassuringly cute', contrasting with San of Princess Mononoke. Inaga Shimegi views Teto's taming as the first glimpse of her supernatural communication ability. Thomas Zoth regards her as Miyazaki's archetypal heroine, noting shades of her in Ashitaka, San, and Lady Eboshi.

Did You Know?

• Nausicaä was renamed Zandra in the Manson International Warriors of the Wind English dub.
• She won the seventh Animage Grand Prix and the June 1987 Grand Prix.
• In 2014, IGN ranked her as the ninth greatest anime character of all time.