Technically, this is the film that led to the founding of Studio Ghibli, and so some may argue it doesn’t “count.”
Technically, this is the film that led to the founding of Studio Ghibli, and so some may argue it doesn’t “count.” However, so much of the team behind it would be folded into Ghibli that it has been rebranded on rerelease with its logo, and, most of all, it is so clearly of a piece with the rest of Ghibli’s output. In fact, watching Nausicaa will give young viewers or those new to this world such a perfect introduction to what’s to come. Here, we have the theme of destruction of the natural world, how we relate to those different than ourselves, and even some of the visual motifs that would recur for the next three decades. Some of Nausicaa looks a little clunky now — one can only imagine how the Ghibli of the ’10s would remake it — but that’s part of its charm. It is an old-fashioned adventure tale, and it set the foundation for masterpieces to come.