I do wish to preface that I write all this as a man, but still wanted to collect my thoughts in a place, hopefully free from judgement.

Nausicaa of the Valley (Kaze no Tani no Naushika)

This is one of the OG Miyazaki / early Ghibli films. After doing some brief research, I found out it's actually a Topcraft (the studio that helped animate the Hobbit and the Return of the King movies) film that was done by a couple people who would form Studio Ghibli (e.g., Miyazaki, Takahata), as well as others who are strongly associated with the studio (Hisaishi). It has a lot of the themes that Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki are commonly known for, like anti-war / pacificist views, more powerful civilizations in the past, and environmentalism, presented in classic Studio Ghibli aesthetic (though the age is a bit more apparent than more modern films from the studio).

To provide a brief synopsis, Nausicaa is the princess of a village that is in the titular "Valley of the Wind", using wind power and ~17-18th century technology in a post-apocalyptic world. A power struggle between two larger civilizations, the Tolmekian Empire and Pejite, a city-state within the Dorzok Empire, ultimately throws the village, minding their own business, into trouble. You should definitely watch the film if you're interested, but it's a pretty typical fantasy hero story, just with pretty solid worldbuilding (for a movie) and sick aesthetics.

The film made me think about Studio Ghibli's proportion of films with female protagonists, then contrasted it to some of the other films, where the women leads are less physically powerful (e.g., Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, though you might argue Howl is the main character there, Whisper of the Heart). Miyazaki has a similar setup in Princess Mononoke, where San is an absolute fucking beast, but I actually think Nausicaa is even cleaner, considering she has pretty elite social leadership skills, insane physical skills, and is also smart AF (the scene where she uses a small bit of gunpowder to get the Ohm's eye off is cheeky).

Miyazaki's portrayal of Nausicaa also reminded me quite strongly of Go Ae-shin from Mr. Sunshine.

Ae-shin is also a unit and a half, with crazy martial arts, parkour, and sharpshooting skills, while also being a really popular noblewoman.

I think one interpretation of some of the way media is shifting in terms of the gender of the protagonist is that production studios are trying a bit too hard. My hope is that we'll see more great media featuring strong and powerful women as protagonists, where it doesn't feel forced. Please send me any recommendations for other media you've enjoyed like this, and I hope this inspires you to watch either Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind or Mr. Sunshine.