Sypnosis :
À force de puiser les ressources souterraines et de polluer la vie, la civilisation industrielle, vieille de mille ansNote 1, vit sa chute lors des « sept jours de feu ». Cette guerre fut d'une rare violence et les dégâts infligés terribles. Le savoir et la vie furent presque anéantis. Mille ans de cette ère crépusculaire ont passé et l’humanité survit tant bien que mal, atteignant l'âge de la céramique. Entre un vaste désert et la « Mer de la Décomposition » (腐海, fukai?, gigantesque forêt produisant des spores toxiques qui propagent et répandent ainsi cet écosystème), quelques îlots de vie accueillent différentes communautés humaines. La fukai est protégée par des insectes géants, qui se sont adaptés à cet environnement pollué. Les « Ômus » (王蟲, Oomu?, litt. « insecte-roi ») en sont les principaux représentants, par leur taille et leur sensibilité.
La Vallée du vent est une zone protégée des spores par les vents marins, habitée par quelques centaines de personnesNote 2. De par une ancienne allianceNote 3, elle se retrouve impliquée dans une guerre entre l'empire Dork et l'empire Tolmèque, ainsi que tous les clans et tribus associés à un des deux camps. La fille du roi Jill de la vallée du vent se retrouve au cœur de ces affrontements.
Guidée par son amour de tous les êtres vivants, Nausicaä va progressivement devenir une figure majeure de ce conflit et tentera par tous les moyens de faire taire la guerre, sauver l'humanité et rétablir un équilibre entre l'homme et la nature.
PLOT :
One thousand years has passed since the Seven Days of Fire, an apocalyptic war that destroyed human civilization and gave birth to the vast Toxic Jungle,[Note 1] a forest swarming with giant mutant insects in which everything is lethal to humans. Scattered settlements exist wherever the Toxic Jungle relents. The Valley of the Wind is one such settlement. The Valley's settlers have a prophecy stating that a man "clad in blue and surrounded by fields of gold" will one day reunite man and nature.
Nausicaä, the agile, cheerful and peace-loving princess of the Valley of the Wind, has managed to befriend the Toxic Jungle. She explores the Jungle and communicates with its creatures, including the gigantic, armored caterpillars/trilobites called Ohmu.[Note 2] She often travels on a compact jet-powered glider in order to find out about the origins of the Toxic Jungle, understand its nature, and even find a cure for both humans and the world.
One night, a large fixed-wing cargo aircraft from the kingdom of Tolmekia crashes in the Valley. Nausicaä tries to rescue an onboard passenger, the wounded Princess Lastelle of Pejite, who pleads with Nausicaä to destroy the cargo before dying. The cargo is an embryo of a Giant Warrior, lethal genetically engineered bioweapons that caused the Seven Days of Fire. Initially discovered by Pejite, the invading Tolmekians seized the embryo and Lastelle. The Tolmekian plane, however, was attacked by mutant insects before it crashed.
The next morning, Tolmekian troops, led by Princess Kushana and Officer Kurotowa, subjugate the Valley and secure the Giant Warrior embryo, killing Nausicaä's sick father in the process. Kushana plans to mature the Giant Warrior and then use it to burn the Toxic Jungle, even though history warns of fatal consequences. Kushana announces her decision to leave for Pejite along with five hostages from the Valley and Nausicaä. Before leaving, Nausicaä's master discovers her secret garden of jungle plants. According to Nausicaä, plants that grow in clean soil and water are not toxic. The jungle's soil, however, has long been tainted by man.
Kushana and her detachment never reach their destination, as an agile Pejite interceptor decimates the entire Tolmekian wing before being shot down. Nausicaä, her fellow hostages and Kushana crash-land in the jungle, disturbing several Ohmus, which Nausicaä soothes. She then leaves to rescue Asbel, the Pejite pilot and the twin brother of Lastelle, but both are swallowed by quicksand and end up in a non-toxic world below the jungle. Nausicaä realizes that the jungle plants purify the polluted topsoil, producing clean water that remains hidden underground.
Nausicaä and Asbel return to Pejite, only to find it ravaged by the insects. Pejite survivors, boarding a single plane, reveal that they lured the creatures to eradicate the Tolmekians and would do the same in the Valley to recapture the Giant Warrior. To prevent any intervention, they take Nausicaä captive, knocking Asbel out in process. Later, with the help of Asbel and his mother, Nausicaä flees on a glider. While flying home, Nausicaä finds a team of Pejites using a wounded baby Ohmu to lead scores of enraged Ohmus into the Valley. Tolmekians deploy tanks and later the Giant Warrior against the herd to no avail: tanks prove too weak and the Giant Warrior, hatched ahead of time, soon disintegrates.
Nausicaä liberates the baby Ohmu and gains its trust; in the process, her pink dress becomes stained by the Ohmu's blue blood, turning completely blue. Both land in front of the herd, but are run over. The herd, however, calms down, and the Ohmus use their golden tentacles to heal Nausicaä's wounded body. Nausicaä awakens and starts to dance on top of the hundreds of glowing golden tentacles. Thus Nausicaä, "clad in blue and surrounded by fields of gold" fulfills the prophecy. The Ohmus and Tolmekians leave the Valley afterward, while the surviving Pejites remain with the Valley people, helping them rebuild. Meanwhile underground, a tree is beginning to grow meaning the planet is beginning to heal.
