Okay, so, don’t freak out, but it seems that Hayao Miyazaki just gave Hideaki Anno permission to go ahead and make that Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind sequel he’s been bugging him about for years.
Superficially, one might not see a lot of elements in common between Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Anno’s magnum opus Neon Genesis Evangelion, but they both pretty heavily feature horrifying, giant humanoid automatons created by but barely under control of mere humans, and an apocalypse that isn’t really the end of the universe… just an ongoing change that the human race can’t reverse and may not be able to adapt to. According to Anime News Network, Anno himself was partially inspired by the God Warriors of Nausicaä to create his uncanny Evas. And according to a recent interview, he’s been bugging Hayao Miyazaki about making a sequel for years.
The segment can be watched here (in Japanese), but ANN says it translates like this:
When asked if he was interested in making a continuation or part 2 of Nausicaä, [Myazaki] replied, “No, I don’t. I don’t really feel like doing it, but Anno keeps on saying, ‘I want to do it! I want to do it!,’ so I tell him now that I’ve come to think lately that if he wanted to do it, it would be fine for him to do it.”
Anno worked on Nausicaä, and recently collaborated with Studio Ghibli to create the short Kyoshinhei Tokyo ni Arawaru (Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo), the production company’s first live action film (incorporating stop motion and some CGI). The creator is something of a divisive figure among fans, even among those who love Neon Genesis Evangelion. I can’t say how a Nausicaä sequel created by Hideaki Anno would turn out… but I’d be very interested to watch it at least once.
(via Anime News Network.)
