Available in both calm and violently angry versions!

Recently, we’ve been seeing a slew of cool Studio Ghibli anime-inspired toy cars, with miniature automotive salutes to films including My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Laputa: Castle in the Sky. However, that lineup, from toymaker Takara Tomy, doesn’t have anything for what’s considered the de-facto first Ghibli anime, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Luckily, a different Japanese toy company, Ensky, is here to fill in that gap. Though the company doesn’t call them “cars,” the items in its Pull-Back Collection are toy cars in everything but name; they have wheels on the bottom, and after you pull them back, they scoot forward. And coming soon to the Pull-Back Collection? The Ohmu, the mysterious giant insect-like creatures so central to Nausicaa’s story.

The Ohmu’s compact nine-centimeter (3.5-inch) length belies the mobile figure’s high level of details, with the creature’s dozen-plus eyes and overlapping carapace plates intricately rendered. What’s really impressive, though is how the Ohmu undulates as it moves, as shown in the video here.

Speaking of the Ohmu’s eyes, those who have seen Nausicaa will recognize that the blue color shows that this is a calm Ohmu. When frightened, threatened, or enraged, the Ohmu’s eyes turn red, and so there’s a second version of the pull-back Ohmu with angrier optic indicators.

Ensky’s Pull-Back Collection Ohmu were offered before, but have been out of production for some time. The company has decided to bring them back, which is good news for Ghibli fans, but as with any cool merch related to Japan’s most prestigious animation house, there’s no guarantee in-store stocks will last very long. Thankfully, Esnky has started taking preorders through its online store (calm blue here, angry red here, both priced at 3,300-yen [US$26]) with shipping scheduled for this May.

Source: Ensky via Japaaan
Top image: YouTube/EnskyChannel
Insert images: Ensky, YouTube/EnskyChannel, Ensky (2)
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