Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is Hayao Miyazaki's first true masterwork — the 1984 film based on his own manga that established the thematic and visual language that would define Studio Ghibli for the next four decades. Set in a far-future world where humanity survives on the fringes of a toxic jungle, princess Nausicaä of a small valley kingdom becomes the fulcrum of a conflict between two empires that threatens to destroy what little ecosystem remains. The film's ecology is its most remarkable feature: the Ohm, the insects, and the Sea of Corruption are not evil forces to be destroyed but expressions of a world trying to heal itself, and Nausicaä's understanding of this sets her apart from every other character. Animated before Ghibli's formal founding by the studio that would become it, Nausicaä remains one of the most visually ambitious and thematically rich animated films ever produced.