And thus Studio Ghibli was found

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, while technically not a Ghibli film, is often regarded as one and helped with the studio's founding after its success. And for Hayao Miyazaki's second film, it's a masterpiece. Truly a spectacular film that everyone should see before dying.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, human civilization was nearly wiped out by a war known as the Seven Days of Fire which gave birth to the Toxic Jungle. The Toxic Jungle is constantly growing with a massive forest of giant mutant insects where everything is lethal to humans with its poisonous plants. There are scattered kingdoms throughout the world which face danger every day by the growing Toxic Jungle.

Our story begins in a settlement known as The Valley of the Wind. The people have been able to survive for centuries without too many conflicts with the Toxic Jungle. But now their troubles have just begun when aircraft from Tolmekia crashed into the Valley. Aboard the Tolmekian aircraft is the embryo of a bioweapon of the Seven Days of Fire, Giant Warrior. They discover the next morning via invasion by Tolmekian troops led by Princess Kushana and Officer Kurotowa that they plan to use the Giant Warrior to destroy the Toxic Jungle and become a massive power in the world. Now it's up to the Valley's princess, Nausicaa, to keep the Tolmekians from going crazy and saving not only her people, but the Toxic Jungle as well, a place where Nausicaa searches for solutions for her people to survive and ways to understand the creatures that live in the forest.

I'll get one of the first things that's great about this film out of the way: the animation. Yeah I say that a lot for Ghibli's movies but it's still part of what makes it a good movie. And the images created are just massive. Giant insects, giant aircraft, and it's all so greatly detailed and beautiful and very uniquely designed like nothing I've ever seen before.

Princess Nausicaa is my definition of the best female lead in any Ghibli movie. She's kind, adventurous, eager to learn about new things and explore places no one's ever discovered, and always tries to find a way for everyone to live peacefully and happy, but will occasionally resort to violence when necessary and is willing to throw herself in the face of danger to fight for what she believes in. She's just a interesting free-spirited character to follow and see what she'll do next to stop inevitable war.

Another great thing I really respect this movie for is the message. When I first saw it for the first time in years, I thought it would be as simple as "Don't destroy the environment or each other" or "Keep the peace and avoid war" or some stuff like that. But it's really more than some simple environmental peace-loving message. It's about the connection between humans and nature. Without giving too many spoilers away, there is a reason why the Toxic Jungle exists and why Nausicaa is going to such extremes to save a very hazardous place. Humans can't live without nature. We need it to survive, but also not wipe it out of existence. Even when we create such poisonous environments that will kill us, we need to maintain a connection and understand those environments to learn how to survive.

Great message, great characters, great story, great animation. What more could you want? Go see it.

Wait.. What?

If you want to sum up how confused you'll be when you watch the movie Porco Rosso. Not that there is anything bad with this movie, it's still a damn good Ghibli film. It's just some story elements don't make any sense and are never clarified. Well let's talk about the movie.

Set after the First World War in the Adriatic Sea, we follow an Italian ex-fighter ace who became a bounty hunter, catching seaplane pirates. Originally went by Marco Paggot, a mysterious curse has transformed him into anthropomorphic pig which of course, no one seems to question. He's better known throughout the Adriatic Sea as Porco Rosso (Italian for Crimson Pig). He spends his life living in hiding and frequenting Hotel Adriano when the seaplane pirates gang together to try to kill him. One thing leads to another and Porco finds himself having to return to Italy, where he's a wanted man (or in this case pig) for deserting the air force, to get his plane fixed and get the pirates off his tail once and for all.

It's an interesting and rather different story. It's one of the very rare Ghibli films based on history and the animation looks like it could be set in the real world. You can see that research went into it to create its set up and there's a lot of detail with aviation when the engineers are fixing Porco's plane. They display every detail that goes into these planes and it's just fascinating. The characters are also fun and unique and get out quite a bit of comedy. Porco's just a guy who does his own thing not really caring what others think, even if he's risking his life with the fascist police. And Hayao Miyazaki once again portrays a memorable female character, the Italian engineer, Fio. She's a very talented engineer at only 17 years old and has a lot of spunk and will take a stand against people who threaten Porco. I just love how female characters are portrayed in these movies and are so unique and independent. I don't think there's any point in bringing up the animation: it's brilliant. The colors pop. And there are some really beautiful flying scenes.

But as I said before, I do have a couple of downsides with this movie. Particularly Porco's "curse". In the beginning, it's stated that he was cursed but he never really explains how it happened until the last third and even then, it still doesn't really make any sense and it feels really rushed. It's like how Howl is "cursed" in Howl's Moving Castle, the curse itself is never really explained in its entirety, and in this film, it's never broken or is even that big of a focus.

And without giving too much away, the ending is one of those endings where it's like, "Wow, that's it?" It's an hour and a half but it does feel really short. I mean there's enough story as is, but with how it ends, you're just left wanting more. It was a bit of a disappointment.

But as is, it's still a good movie. I enjoyed the comedy, drama, action, and animation that went into this movie and I'm sure I'll be seeing it again someday.