In a piece of rather fascinating news, a real-life replica of the glider from Nausicaä was flown for the last time over the last weekend.
For those who don’t know, the glider that Nausicaä famously rides is called Möwe, which is derived from the German word for gull.
In the story, it is a remnant of a previously advanced empire called Eftal, which had been wiped out by the previous Daikaisho event 300 years earlier in the story.
As for this glider, it has been the passion project of Kazuhiko Hachiya, who started the project back in 2003 and was finally flown for the first time in 2016.
Designated as M-02J, this glider is also jet-powered, but Hachiya is far more sensible and is carefully attached to the glider itself, compared to in the manga and anime, where Nausicaä just grabs it and flies off.
I’ve been following the progress of this for years now, and I can understand why Hachiya is stepping down as its pilot, as he’s 59.
Being the gracious chap he is, he wants to hand down his expertise and allow a younger generation to take this project over not only in how to build more, but also the know-how in piloting it.
In the meantime, you should absolutely check out the original Nausicaä manga and anime, with the latter only covering the early segment of the story.
However, I will be keeping a lookout to see if this glider flies again, hopefully with a new pilot.
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