Now available on Blu-ray, Hayao Mizazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) is a sickly eco-fable about the princess of a peace-loving valley and her efforts to save a post-apocalyptic world where humans are at war and a toxic jungle harbours giant woodlice; as luck would have it, however, Princess Nausicaä can talk to animals, and her pure and noble heart disarms all guns/mandibles/poisoned spores. Or perhaps it’s just that all the evil meanies are distracted by the way she flies around with no trousers on. 

Nausicaä was the catalyst for the formation of Studio Ghibli, and in themes and tone it does prefigure what would become a recognisable Ghibli style. However, anyone expecting the visual sophisticat­ion or imaginative richness of films like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle will be disappointed.

The transfer to Blu-ray draws attention to how flat and dated Nausicaä’s animation is, and five minutes of its naïve tree-hugging peace-mongering will be enough to goad even the gooeyist of viewers into setting fire to every fluffy pet in the neighbourhood.