I read Wendi Li's review of the English Nausicaa. It was
very good, although I disagree on one point. Some of the
edited scenes were actually significant to the original plot.
The scene in Nausicaa's garden room demonstrated that the plants
from the "Toxic Jungle" were not inherently poisionous. All the
plants came from the jungle, but they were grown in clean sand
taken from the bottom of wells, using well water. As a
result, they did not give off poison spores. Nausicaa's
conclusion was that the soil of the Valley of the Wind
was contaminated, and was the cause of the illness which
afflicted her father and others.
In the scene underneath the "Toxic Jungle", Nausicaa listened
against a petrified tree, and heared the sound of water flowing
through it. She then sees sand falling down through the roof.
When she examines the particles, she crunchs one clump in her
fingers. She realizes that the same type of clumps are found
at the bottom of the wells in the Valley of the Wind, their
source of uncontaminated water. The reason the air and water
are clean in that section of the Jungle is because the Jungle
plants actually purify the air, soil, and water of the earth.
Ultimatly, human survival depends on the Jungle, because that
is what purifies the water found in wells. Later, when she
get's captured by Asubel's (Milo) father, she tries to convince
him that his plan to attack the Jungle using the Fire Demon
is suicidal.
Steven Barnes
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{hplabs,amdahl,3comvax}!bnrmtv!zarifes --Ken Zarifes