Windaria
Entry updated 21 October 2024. Tagged: Film.
Japanese animated film (1986; original title Dōwa Meita Senshi Windaria; vt Once Upon a Time; vt Legend of Fabulous Battle Windaria). Kaname Productions. Directed by Kunihiko Yuyama. Written by Keisuke Fujikawa. Voice cast includes Tōru Furuya, Kazuhiko Inoue, Waka Kanda and Naoko Matsui. 101 minutes. Colour.
The film opens with mourners watching "the ghost ship" – which resembles a Spaceship – descend from the sky, to be met by a glowing red bird rising from a laid out corpse (see Eschatology). The craft departs; during the film it can occasionally be seen in the sky, with more red birds heading towards it.
Saki (called "Blossom" in some versions) is a rural community that worships the immense Tree of Windaria (see Religion). It is a Pastoral rural idyll, emphasized by the presence of unicorns (see Supernatural Creatures) and windmills. Izu (Furuya), a young farmer (see Agriculture) from Saki, is visiting the City of Itha when its sea gate is opened; courageously he manages to close it before serious damage is done. The saboteur is captured by Princess Ahnas (Matsui) and under questioning by the Queen confesses he was hired by the King of Paro, who wishes to add Itha to his territories (see Imperialism). Matters are complicated by Ahnas dating Prince Jiru of Paro (Inoue): he is against the War, pointing out that their ill-disciplined army is inadequate. As rumours of the coming conflict spread, the people of Saki wonder if they should take sides or remain neutral. Izu boasts of being a hero should there be war, but is affectionately mocked by the others. His deeds at Itha lead to an approach by Paro's Head Minister, who offers him work and presents him with a hover vehicle; Itha's Minister also asks for help, but Izu – already resentful of not being thanked for preventing the flooding – is dismissive of their gift, "a cheap trinket". Izu has always dreamt of great deeds and renown: knowing this, and despite wishing he would stay, his wife Marin (Kanda) gives her blessing, and promises she will await his return.
Izu goes to Paro, the mirror image of peaceful Itha, a mountainous, industrial and militaristic nation afflicted with poverty, violence and vice; nonetheless he perseveres in trying to gain an audience with senior officials. Eventually succeeding, he is tasked with what he prevented before: opening Itha's sea gates and flooding the city. Meanwhile, angered by his son's insistence that the war be called off, the King tries to stab him; in defending himself, Jiru accidentally kills his father. This means he now has to lead the invading Paro army through the Forest of Doubt, which creates visions of the fears of those passing through: the soldiers panic, but Jiru manages to coerce them into continuing their advance. Princess Ahnas takes control of the Ithan army and the lovers face each other: Jiru admits "Paro's history is crushing me", but it means he cannot retreat; Ahnas observes whoever wins the pair of them will "have no place to go back to". She shoots Jiru, then herself (see Suicide); their story is presumably intended to echo that of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (performed circa 1595-1596; 1597).
Three months later, Izu is still being treated as a hero in Paro and indulging himself – but the authorities have had enough and order his mistress to kill him. This is botched and he flees, firstly to Itha, where he is shocked at the sight of the flooded city. Hundreds of red birds, presumably the souls of those he killed, fly up. Then he goes to Saki; the other inhabitants have left, but Marin is there to greet him, puzzlingly as earlier we appeared to see her house hit by a bomb; but then she says "the ghost ship is calling me ... now I have nothing to regret, because I fulfilled my promise", she turns into a red bird and flies up to the passing ship.
Earlier we learnt that a druid's lover had become captain of the ghost ship, collecting the souls of those who have died, and she awaits the end of his tenure: Izu cries out he will take his place as captain, but that is not for another six months (and may be never). The film ends with him making his way to Windaria and sobbing on one of its great roots. The English version edits out some nudity and violence and does what it can to manufacture a happy ending, with narration explaining Izu redeemed himself by working to rebuild what he had destroyed before joining his wife in the afterlife. But in its original form Windaria is a tragedy: the bad guys win – and even they lose their king and his heir; only the great tree is unchanged, indifferent to events (as it seems to have no magic, its role is presumably symbolic).
As indicated by the unexplained spacecraft collecting souls, Windaria is a Science Fantasy. It is not anti-Technology or anti-city, but differentiates between the Ecologically sensitive and others. Itha's technology is more stylish and often has an old fashioned look, at times almost edging into Steampunk; Paro's is brutal and dehumanizing. The states' respective cities are similarly at different poles and, like their machines, have shaped the inhabitants (see Sociology): Paro is a seedy and corrupt male-led Dystopia, Itha and environs a beautiful, harmonious female-led Utopia (see Feminism). Visually impressive whether being picturesque or evoking Horror, and well told – if, as such moral tales tend to be, perhaps a little didactic – Windaria is a fine Anime. [SP]
links
previous versions of this entry