There’s something in both the animation style and in the worldbuilding of “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” that’s wonderfully, unmistakably man-made, which is probably what makes the 1984 film fascinating, even almost 40 years later.
Tell me about a complicated girl, Muse. It’s only us Classics sickos who will (or even should) view Miyazaki’s “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,” as any kind of analog to Homer’s “Odyssey.” Miyazaki’s story, adapted from his own manga, is inventive enough as is. His heroine shares a curiosity and mischievousness with the mythic King of Ithaca, but the challenges she must overcome are as far from the whims of gods and goddesses as possible. There’s something in both the animation style and in the worldbuilding of “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” that’s wonderfully, unmistakably man-made, which is probably what makes the 1984 film fascinating, even almost 40 years later.