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Stage play goes beyond the Studio Ghibli founder’s anime movie to tell the complete story.

More than 35 years after its release, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind remains one of the most loved and respected anime movies of all time.

Director Hayao Miyazaki has been approached multiple times with offers from Hollywood for a live-action remake, but he’s turned them all down, choosing to let the film that solidified Studio Ghibli’s signature style stand on its own.

However, it was it was a different story when someone proposed turning Nausicaa into a live-action kabuki play. This time, Miyazaki gave his blessing, and producers secured kabuki actor Kikunosuke Onoe to star as the titular warrior princess in a production that ran at Tokyo’s Shinbashi Enbujo playhouse for two and a half weeks last December.

Of course, that wasn’t nearly enough time for every Nausicaa fan to make their way to Tokyo and secure a ticket, so thankfully there’s now a new way to see the show from the comfort of your own home. Between now and September 25, the Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind kabuki play will be available for online streaming through Japanese video streaming service Mirail.
 

▼ Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind kabuki play

https://youtu.be/g5lLbDpns-8
 

Now, with over three decades in which to have watched and rewatched the original anime movie, you may think you’ve already seen all there is to see in the Nausicaa narrative. However, Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaa manga continues on long after the events of the anime movie, and the kabuki play is the first time for the complete story to be adapted.

Kabuki plays are long, lavish affairs, and sometimes audiences will watch only a portion of the production.

 

That’s an option here as well, as you can choose to stream Nausicaa in its entirety or watch just the first or second half. Committing to the whole thing offers the best value, though, as the complete stream is priced at 4,500 yen (US$42), while the half streams are 2,500 yen. And while 4,500 yen isn’t chump change, it wouldn’t be at all an unreasonable price for a full-length ticket to a kabuki play.