Hayao Miyazaki's - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds - Kaze no tani no Naushika - DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the

(aka "Kaze no tani no Naushika" or "Warriors of the Wind")

directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Japan 1984

Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind is one of the true landmarks of animated cinema. Twenty years after its release, in a time when animation evolves by leaps and bounds, it continues to offer challenging ideas and genuinely move audiences. In Japan, Nausicaa routinely places at the top, or near the top, of every poll of the best anime films (it spent ten years at the top of Animage magazine's readers' polls, for instance). Here is a science-fiction adventure with ideas, with vision and heart.

Hiyao Miyazaki made a name for himself animating and directing various movies and TV shows during the late 1960s and ‘70s, including popular shows such as Future Boy Conan and Lupin the Third. After directing his first feature film, 1979’s Castle of Cagliostro, and without any studio projects, he directed his energies on an original manga (graphic novel) saga. In 1982, Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind appeared as a monthly serial in Animage, and quickly proved so popular that demand arose for a movie. After early resistance, Miyazaki relented, on the condition that he direct the picture, and his longtime colleague Isao Takahata produce. They enlisted Topcraft Studios (best known for the Rankin-Bass version of The Hobbit), hired a skilled musician named Joe Hisaishi to compose the score, and released the film to theaters in 1984.

Excerpt from Daniel Thomas's review at DanielThomas.org located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: March 11, 1984

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DVD Comparison:

Buena Vista US - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Buena Vista Japan - Region 2 - NTSC vs. Optimum (The Studio Ghibli Collection) - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Kevin Yip and Henrik Sylow for the Screen Caps!

(Buena Vista US - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Buena Vista Japan - Region 2 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Optimum (The Studio Ghibli Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Buena Vista US Region 1 - NTSC	Buena Vista Japan Region 2 - NTSC	Optimum Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:58:20	1:56:55	1:57:02
Video	1.82:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.45 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.82:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.14 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.84:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.64 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Buena Vista US
Bitrate: Buena Vista Japan
Bitrate: Optimum (The Studio Ghibli Collection)
Audio	2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese, 2.0 Dolby Digital English (dub)	2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese	2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese, 2.0 Dolby Digital English (dub)
Subtitles	English (translated), English (HoH), None	Japanese, English, None	English (translated), English (HoH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Buena Vista US Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.82:1 Edition Details: • Disc 1: • 'Behind the Microphone' featurette (7:46) • 'The Birth Story of Studio Ghibli' featurette (in Japanese with English voice-over) (27:44) • Japanese trailers and TV spots for 'Nausicaa' (English subtitled) (8:29) • Disc 2: • Complete storyboards only DVD Release Date: February 22, 2005 Keep Case Chapters 23	Release Information: Studio: Buena Vista Japan Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.82:1 Edition Details: • Disc 1: • Full-length audio commentary (in Japanese w/o subtitles) • Disc 2: • Complete storyboards & film comparison in alternate angles • 'The Birth Story of Studio Ghibli' featurette (in Japanese only) (27:45) • Japanese trailers and TV spots for 'Nausicaa' (no subtitles) (8:27) • Sneak peeks of 'Innocence' and 'Howl's Moving Castle' (in Japanese, no subtitles) (7:11) • Brief montage of Studio Ghibli films, from 'Nausicaa' to 'The Ghiblies Episode 2' (1:53) • Trailers of other Studio Ghibli DVDs (in Japanese, no subtitles) (14:45) • The Story of Yanagawa's Canals', 'Shiki-Jitsu', 'The Cat Returns', 'The Ghiblis Episode 2' • 'Ocean Waves', 'Lasseter-san, Arigato', 'Finding Nemo' DVD Release Date: November 19, 2003 Keep Case Chapters 25	Release Information: Studio: Optimum Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.84:1 Edition Details: • Alternative Angle Storyboard for entire film • TV Spot (0:20 / 4x3) • Theatrical Trailer (1:20 / 4x3) • Theatrical Trailer Type A (2:14 / 4x3) • Theatrical Trailer Type B (3:02 / 4x3) • Promotional film (3:20 / 4x3) • The Birth of Studio Ghibli (27:45 / 4x3) • The Studio Ghibli Collection Trailers DVD Release Date: September 26, 2005 Keep Case Chapters 25

Comments

Kevin Yip's comments
The video quality on the two discs is virtually identical. A slight windowboxing is used on the R2 disc. The R1 disc is missing a tiny sliver of picture on the left and right sides compared to the R2. Edge enhancements are slightly noticeable on both discs.

The R1 disc has a lower bit rate, probably because all the featurettes are on the same disc as the film. Still, the video quality doesn't suffer at all from what I observed.

Both discs contain DD 2.0 mono tracks only. I applaud the makers of the R1 disc for retaining the original mono soundtrack and not trying to remix it into a phony stereo or surround track.

The R1 disc has English 'dubtitles' for the English dub track (referred to on the menu as 'English subtitles for the hearing impaired'). Both the R1 and R2 discs have literal English subtitles for the Japanese track.

The dubtitles on the R1 disc often include sound effects and the speaker's name (eg. '[wind blowing]', '[Obaba] The forest is doomed.'). English closed captioning is also included.

From my observation, the literal subtitles on the two discs are nearly identical except that the Japanese word 'ohmu' (king of insects) is referred to as 'ohmu' in the R1 subtitles and dubtitles, but 'ohm' in the R2 subtitles. See subtitle sample captures below.

Even though the dubtitles use the word 'ohmu', the English dub track pronounces the word as 'ohm'. The English dub also pronounces 'Pejite' as 'PEH-jite', but according to the Japanese track, it should be pronounced 'PEH-jee-teh'.

Also, the correct English pronunciation of 'Nausicaa' is 'naw-SIC-ee-uh' according to this dictionary entry located HERE. But the English dub pronounces it as 'NAW-sic-uh'.

The difference in running times on the two discs is due to the fact that the R1 disc adds an English end credit sequence after the film.

The R2 disc has 25 chapters, even though the menu only has access to 24.

Both discs contain the half-hour featurette 'The Birth Story of Studio Ghibli."

The 'Sneak Peeks' on the R2 disc contains a few seconds of animated footage from 'Howl's Moving Castle'.

My preference is always to watch the film in its original audio track. But the R1 disc does have a pretty good English dub track. One should resign to the fact that any dub track (or any subtitles, for that matter) is never going to be a 100% accurate translation of the original text. So what I look for in a dub track is effective voice-acting and translations that don't stray too far. Alison Lohman, the 25-year-old actress who was effective in portraying 14-year-olds in the movies MATCHSTICK MEN and WHITE OLEANDER, does a good job here in dubbing for the title role, giving the character a childlike quality as well as a wise-beyond-her-years moxie. Patrick Stewart, Edward James Olmos, Uma Thurman, and dubbing veteran Mark Hamill are also effective as the supporting characters.

The dub script was written by Donald H. Hewitt and Cindy Davis Hewitt, the same team who adapted SPIRITED AWAY into English. I feel the NAUSICAA dub script is a competent piece of adaptation. The only major deviation from the Japanese text seems to be that the term "Sea of Decay" is never used in the English dub, and is always referred to as the "toxic jungle" by the voice actors.

Henrik Sylow's comments
The US Region 1 is surprisingly the one with the most compression. Comparing Image #6, Optimum and Buena Vista R2J are basically identical, but Buena Vista R1 clearly displays pixelation around eyes and edges. As Buena Vista R2J is slightly less compressed than Optimum, and Optimum has minute combing issues, best image goes to Buena Vista R2J.

Buena Vista R1 is also slightly cropped by over scan compared to Optimum and Buena Vista R2J, aprox 2%.

Additional material is basically identical. All three DVDs have the "Birth of the Ghibli Studios" featurette and the collection of TV spots and trailers for the film. Optimum and Buena Vista R2J also have the Studio Ghibli trailer collection. The audio commentary on Japanese is worthless unless you speak the language.

All three DVDs also have the storyboard version of the film. Where its alone of Disc 2 on the Buena Vistas, it is an alternate viewing on Optimum, where one by using the angle option can switch back and forth between Film and Story board. As comparison between conceptual design and actual film thereby is easier, as everything else is the same, my pick goes to Optimum.

The subtitles on Optimum and Buena Vista R1 appear to be identical. I have added a frame from the story board to show subtitles, to demonstrate the look of this feature.

DVD Menus
(Buena Vista US - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Buena Vista Japan - Region 2 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Optimum (The Studio Ghibli Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

Screen Captures

(Buena Vista US - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Buena Vista Japan - Region 2 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Optimum (The Studio Ghibli Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
Subtitle sample (English only)
Captures resized to 800px from 1016px

(Buena Vista US - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Buena Vista Japan - Region 2 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Optimum (The Studio Ghibli Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)

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Report Card:

Image:	Buena Vista R2J
Sound:	Buena Vista R1 and Optimum tie
Extras:	Optimum
Menu:	--

DVD Box Covers

Distribution
Buena Vista US

Region 1 - NTSC
Buena Vista Japan
Region 2 - NTSC Optimum
Region 2 - PAL

Runtime 1:58:20 1:56:55 1:57:02

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Hayao Miyazaki's - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds - Kaze no tani no Naushika - DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki's - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds - Kaze no tani no Naushika - DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds Kaze no tani no Naushika DVD Review Hayao Miyazaki's - 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