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.
