MeinMMO editor Leya Jankowski watched the anime “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” on Netflix over the weekend. In doing so, she discovered surprisingly many parallels to Dune.
As I browse through all the Studio Ghibli anime on Netflix, I don’t yet suspect that I will encounter a science fiction dystopia very similar to one of my favorite universes. The premise sounds so exciting that I switch on “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” without hesitation:
The majority of the Earth is consumed by the “Sea of Decay”, a toxic fungal forest that continues to spread. There are only a few places left where life is possible for humans, but even these are threatened to be overgrown. This is caused by an old war in which humans used artificial machines that caused the toxic forest to emerge.
The battle for resources has begun.
Nausicaä is the princess of the “Valley of the Wind” and tirelessly fights for a better world. The winds from the sea protect the valley from the spores of toxic mushrooms.
At first glance, it all doesn’t look much like Dune. Therefore, I am surprised myself when I discover more and more parallels to Dune while watching the film.
Aesthetics and story reminiscent of the desert planet
The Earth is now very emaciated and consists almost entirely of a vast desert landscape over which Nausicaä glides with her glider. Even though we are in the future, the world has something ancient and impoverished about it, since a large part of humanity’s technology has been destroyed.
People dress in long, loose garments that protect them from the weather in the desert.
I particularly like this contrast in Dune. Because here, too, nothing really looks modern, and yet it’s a science fiction epic. This is also evident in the aircraft, which look more like old freight containers. Especially the ships in the old Dune by David Lynch resemble those of Nausicaä very closely.
In the toxic fungal forest, gigantic insects live that are unaffected by the spores, while humans must wear gas masks there. The house-sized, pill bug-like Ohmu are the sworn enemies of humans. When they leave the fungal forest and roam the desert, they remind me of the sandworms from Dune.
The theme of the savior from Dune, which drives the protagonist Paul Atreides there, is also found in Nausicaä. However, this is portrayed more critically in Dune than in the anime. However, one can overlook this because other moral themes, such as the destruction of habitats and nature, are strongly addressed.
I stumbled upon “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” by chance and surprisingly emerged with much anticipation for Dune 2. If you can generally appreciate anime and are hungry for the continuation of Dune, Nausicaä is definitely a great snack in between.
Nausicaä has an IMDb rating of 8 and was a major commercial success for its creator Miyazaki in 1984. The old Dune by David Lynch also came out in 1984, so in the same year. The similarity between the films is coincidental.
The success of Nausicaä allowed Hayao Miyazaki to found Studio Ghibli and produce films like “Princess Mononoke” or “Spirited Away”.
If you want even more Dune now, you can watch the video “After this, you will see Dune with different eyes” by the YouTuber Nerdkultur.
