Lessons from Nausicaä in bug season

After the catastrophic “Seven Days of Fire” collapses human civilization, the Earth becomes engulfed by a toxic forest called the Sea of Decay, where fungal spores fill the air and giant insects called Ohmu roam. Without a mask, humans cannot survive even five minutes in this environment. The animated film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, recently re-released in theaters, depicts the clash of fire, wind, and water in this struggle for survival. The militaristic kingdom of Tolmekia seeks to resurrect the giant warriors that once destroyed the world, planning to burn down the forest and its creatures in a desperate bid to secure humanity’s future.

In contrast, the protagonist Nausicaä, a young girl with an extraordinary empathy for nature, chooses another path. Through understanding the Sea of Decay and communicating with the Ohmu, she envisions a future where humans and nature coexist.

Nausicaä recalls losing an Ohmu larva she tried to protect as a child. The adults had told her, “Give it here, Nausicaä. Insects and humans can’t live in the same world.” But she comes to realize that it is not the insects that prevent coexistence, but the humans who refuse it.

The toxic forest, in fact, is part of the Earth's attempt to purify itself from pollution, and the Ohmu serve as its protectors. While humans have relied on fire to dominate nature, abandoning the possibility of harmony, nature continues striving to restore a broken world through water and wind.

One line spoken by a captured resident of the Valley of the Wind to the Tolmekians carries special weight: “You use fire. We do too, a little. But if you use it too much, there’s nothing left. Fire can turn a forest to ash in a day. But water and wind took a hundred years to grow it. We prefer water and wind.”

Another season of lovebugs has arrived. Those insects may find it unbearable even to look at. But it may be time to ask ourselves why they return and how we might rethink coexistence, not with revulsion but with a sense of “love.”

“Insects and humans can’t live in the same world.”

— Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki