Sypnosis :
À force de puiser les ressources souterraines et de polluer la vie, la civilisation industrielle, vieille de mille ans
Note 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 personnes
Note 2. De par une ancienne alliance
Note 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.
