i find it fascinating how the human mind works. as a kid, when you watch a movie or experience something and it sticks to your brain, you can’t let go of it. and you’ll never know what simple stimuli can transport you back. and just a simple “oh i remember this.” the feelings associated with it, the smell, the fear… i’ve been taking trips down memory lane by watching old animes i watched as a kid. first it was totoro, now it’s nausicaa of the valley of the wind.

has anyone else seen this movie before?

now…. i do remember watching this movie when i was 8 or 9… but i don’t remember all of it. there are several scenes that… strike me and that i can’t escape. so when i watched this last night, i was overcome with nostalgia and scenes that i barely remembered were right in front of me for me to experience all over again.

i always vaguely knew there were these giant bugs and there was this girl on a glider. i also remembered that it wasn’t exactly the happiest of movies. after watching it again after 14, 15 years… it’s not a happy movie. the movie beautifully portrays a bleak world many years from now affected by immense pollution, where characters have to wear masks to breath the air in certain places. and there’s also oversized bugs and insects everywhere. it’s like wall-e except… darker.

i’m a little puzzled at the pg rating, for there is a fair amount of violence in it. i also figured out why i’m so sensitive to blade/knives/cutting/katana/samurai sword violence in film/animation. i honestly believe it stems to this one scene. a scene i have forgotten about but just completely caught me off guard when i was watching the movie. in the movie, the princess is attacking several enemies with a sword and as she’s going in for a kill, the top swordsman in her village steps in front of her and uses his left arm to shield her sword from the soldier. the sword cuts into the man’s glove right below his hand… and you see blood flowing and dripping to the ground.

yeah. i think that traumatized me well when i was 8 or 9. great. but watching it again also reiterated why it made such an impact on me as a kid.

anyways… hayao miyazaki is one of the great directors that many american audiences haven’t had a chance to experience, minus spirited away and possibly princess mononoke. his movies show his love for nature and the struggle between that and mankind’s destruction of it.

nausicaa was made in 1984, but only a few scenes look dated. it’s a beautiful, mesmerizing fantasy/sci fi film with an incredibly haunting score. here’s a scene in the movie where the princess is able to read and feel the ohmu’s (giant bug’s) emotions. the kid’s voice singing la la la… gets me everytime.