Name that 80's feature-length cartoon (or Anime):

May 13, 2006 11:40 PM

Giant slugs with odd appendages bent on destroying all life run over kid, feel bad about it, then heal him.

Here's what I know:

Aired on TV in the 80's (My father taped it for us, we re-watched it endlessly)

The "Bad Guys" looked like semi-truck-sized slugs with appendages in the front that drug them along like this:

These things lined up like a wall and basically trampled over everything in their path... The climax is where the young protaganist sacrafices himself and stand in front of them. They run him over, feel bad about it, then they lift him up, the red tips of their appendages turn blue, and he gets healed.

That's about it... I've had this rolling around in my head for years, I figure that someone here might remember seeing it, or know where I could go to find people who would know!

posted by hatsix to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

Best answer: Is it Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind?

More here
posted by thewittyname at 11:43 PM on May 13, 2006

I think Nausicaa must be it - here is a picture of the creature you drew, and here is a picture of the final scene.
posted by thewittyname at 11:46 PM on May 13, 2006

Actually, what you saw in the U.S. in the 80s was more likely Warriors of the Wind. Miyazaki says you should put it out of your mind. The best way to do that would be by renting and watching the DVD of Nausicaä.
posted by mr_roboto at 12:12 AM on May 14, 2006

By the way, awesome ohmu you've drawn there.
posted by mr_roboto at 12:20 AM on May 14, 2006

Response by poster: God how I love AskMe!!

I bet I saw the Warriors of the Wind, esp. since it aired on HBO, and my Dad was a huge fan of taping things off HBO on the "Free HBO Weekends" that was offered twice a year

Well, it's queue'd up in Netflix, lets hope it's everything I remember!!!
posted by hatsix at 1:04 AM on May 14, 2006

If what you saw was 'Warriors of the Wind.' then Nausicaä should be loads better than you remember. (Also the boy is a girl, named Nausicaä)
posted by Tenuki at 1:59 AM on May 14, 2006

The manga is better IMHO than the film. You can buy them online.
posted by beerbajay at 3:01 AM on May 14, 2006

!

Heh!

It looks like you got an answer to your question already, but giant slugs with healing properties seems eeriely reminiscent of Bruce Coville's My Teacher Flunked the Planet, from the My Teacher Is An Alien series.
posted by The Confessor at 6:22 AM on May 14, 2006

Thanks for reminding me of this. Haven't thought of it in years, but I've also queued it up. I remember loving it.

If I might piggyback here, there was another feature-length anime, probably on HBO, around the same time. All that I remember is that there was a marionette which turned evil. It would shoot beams of light from its fingers and I believe it rode on a broom.

Another character had a pair of headphones with a frog in one side and a bird in the other (described as the woofer and tweeter).

Any ideas?
posted by Captaintripps at 9:04 AM on May 14, 2006

Captaintripps,

It sounds like one of the Unico movies, most likely Unico in the Island of Magic. The character with the headphoes is definitely Melvin the Magnificat (picture.)

The evil puppet is Kuruku, but I don't know if it rode a broom.
posted by thewittyname at 9:49 AM on May 14, 2006

Spot on thewittyname. Thanks! It looks like it's probably one of those ones from my childhood that I won't enjoy as much, but I'll check it out.
posted by Captaintripps at 10:28 AM on May 14, 2006