Little personal story: As a kid, I repeatedly rented an animated movie called Warriors of the Wind from my local videostore. It was fairly short and the story was confusing as if there was something missing, but I loved it regardless. One day, the videostore didn’t have it anymore since they got rid of older VHS in favour of newer ones. I was heartbroken and didn’t managed to track it down (this was way before the internet).

Fast forward about 15 years, when I had already watched Princess Mononoke and wanted to watch other movies by that studio. So I watched Nausicaa, and the longer it ran, the more I realized it was that movie from my childhood.

Turns out that a US studio had gotten the rights in the 80s and cut 23 minutes of the run time to make the story simpler, even changing names completely (Nausicaa became princess Sandra for example). This was the version I saw as a kid.

Nausicaa is my favorite, too. The hand-drawn animation is incredible, the conflict is nuanced, the setting is beautiful, and the characters have interesting motivations. Its a masterpiece.

a fellow Nausicaa appreciator! It’s hard to find people that have even seen it tbh.

Have you read the Nausicaa manga? It’s really good.

Agreed, and I never see anyone claim Nausicaa as their favourite. If the studio ever revisits earlier material, I hope they do a fuller adaptation of the source. It’s such a rich world, it deserves more time spent within it.

Yeah, Castle in the Sky is considered the first “official” Ghibli movie.