One of the most striking and terrifying creations of Hayao Miyazaki are his God Warriors from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. In the animated film, they are present mostly as a looming threat, an occasional piece of terrain…and most prominently in the back history of the world. They are the holocaust that destroyed human civilization, and now Studio Ghibli has produced a short film for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, directed by Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Shinji Higuch, about the day they attacked.
How about that? That really is the stuff, right there. As I mentioned last year, I only recently read the manga, where the God Warriors are a little more fleshed out—pun completely, unabashedly intended—and they remained the most haunting and inspiring part of the story. Well, besides the Toxic Jungle, and Nausicaä herself, perhaps; you can’t blame me just because there are so many brilliant and evocative things in the story! What do you think? Did the first of the Seven Days of Fire live up to your expectations? How do you think the Tokusatsu effects held up compared to the animated ones? Which do you like best: cartoon, live-action or manga?
Mordicai Knode is a giant Nausicaä fan; the Toxic Jungle is a set piece in his current role-playing campaign, as testament to that fact. You can follow him on Twitter and Tumblr.
For subtitles, follow these directions, HT to
Jeremy Null:
Nice. The Eva connection goes back futher than this in fact; the original God Warriors sequence was directed and key-animated by a young Hideaki Anno, who of course went on to create Eva – and you can really see how it foreshadowed the angel attacks…
2. TimMaughan
Hideaki Anno commissioned this piece, as I understand it!
Haha. Loved the visuals, but the translation must be a different english than the one I speak. “Athlete member companies popular temporarily 1211” was my favorite part.
(Yes, I realize not all languages translate cleanly.)
Wow! What a cool thing to see. The God Warrior flying over Tokyo was chilling, as was the scene with the people photographing the thing. That said, I still put Godzilla at the peak of the Kaiji mountain, and while I like this, without the brilliant manga it really loses its lustre. Props to it, but the original material, movie and print, are better.
BTW, I have some pretty kick-ass kaiju in my debut e-book, Kojiki. Check it out @@@@@ amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, etc.
4. matt s
Sadly, I don’t hanashimasu Nihongo very well anymore, so I’m no help; I can hear like, the connections & adjectives, but no sense, even less than the auto-translate.
5. keithyatsuhashi
I mean, it is GODZILLA, so, fair enough. That said, I didn’t really view it out of the context of the existing media; I viewed it as just another telling, like an appendix or re-telling, sort of. I mean, the manga & the movie both are their own thing, too, for that matter.
Man, I missed it. Video has been taken down.
7. NormanM
Oh crud, giant bummer! I looked around for a clone to show you, or the trailer, but came up empty. It was…a treat! Not to gloat, but it was pretty effin’ awesome.
Here’s a link to another blog with the video imbedded: http://www.itsartmag.com/features/giant-god-warrior-appears-in-tokyo/
I found it! Click away!
I first saw Nausicaa when I was six or seven, creeped out but fascinated by these giants and those many-eyed bug-like things whose name escape me now. Years later I picked up the manga. Still amazes me, still somewhat scares me.
11. Kats
Yeah, I didn’t really appreciate it all at once, but every time I watch it or see it from a new angle, my fascination deepens. I find myself thinking about it, I find it worming into my stories, my games, my characters.