The Wind Rises

**The Wind Rises** is a historical, war, drama, romance, tragedy  Japanese anime film.  It was written and directed by

    Hayao Miyazaki, musically composed by Joe Hisaishi, cinematography by Atsushi Okui, edited by Takeshi Seyama, distributed by Toho, produced by Toshio Suzuki and Studio Ghibli, and starred Hidaeki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Hidetoshi Nijijima, Masahiko Nishimura, Steve Albert, Morio Kazama, Keiko Takeshita, Mirai Shida, Jun Kunimura, Shinobu Otake, and Nomura Mansai.  It's based on a novel called The Wind Has Risen which was written by Tatsuo Hori.

## Plot

In 1918, a young Jiro Horikoshi longs to become a pilot, but his nearsightedness prevents it. He reads about the famous Italian aircraft designer Giovanni Battista Caproni, and dreams about him that night. In the dream, Caproni tells him that he has never flown a plane in his life, and that building planes is better than flying them.

Five years later, Jiro is traveling by train to study aeronautical engineering at Tokyo Imperial University and meets a young girl, Naoko Satomi, traveling with her maid. When the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 hits, Naoko's maid's leg is broken and Jiro carries her to Naoko's family, leaving without giving his name.

In 1927, Jiro graduates with his friend Kiro Honjo and both are employed at aircraft manufacturer Mitsubishi and are assigned to design a fighter plane, the *Falcon*, for the Imperial Army. During tests, the *Falcon* breaks apart in mid-air and the Army rejects it. Dispirited about the seeming backwardness of Japanese technology, Jiro and Honjo are sent to Germany in 1929 to carry out technical research and obtain a production license for a Junkers G.38 aircraft. Jiro sees Hugo Junkers, argues with German guards and witnesses a minor Jew hunt. He dreams again of Caproni, who tells him that the world is better for the beauty of planes, even if humankind might put them to ugly purposes.

In the spring of 1932, Jiro is promoted to chief designer for a fighter plane competition sponsored by the Imperial Navy, but his design, the Mitsubishi 1MF10, fails testing in 1933 and is rejected. Disappointed, Jiro goes to a summer resort in Karuizawa to rest, where he meets Naoko again. They become engaged, but Naoko has tuberculosis and refuses to marry until she recovers. Castorp, a German visitor privately critical of the Naziregime, assists in the romance before fleeing arrest by the Japanese secret police.

Wanted in connection with Castorp, Jiro hides at his supervisor's home while he works on a new navy project. Following a lung hemorrhage, Naoko recuperates in an alpine sanatorium but cannot bear being apart from Jiro, and returns to marry him. Jiro's sister Kayo, a doctor, warns Jiro that his marriage to Naoko will end badly as tuberculosis is incurable. Though Naoko's health deteriorates, she and Jiro enjoy their time together.

Jiro leaves for the test flight of his new prototype aircraft, the Mitsubishi A5M. Knowing that she will die soon, Naoko returns to the sanatorium, leaving letters for Jiro, her family, and friends. At the test site, Jiro is distracted from his success by a gust of wind, suggesting Naoko's death.

In the summer of 1945, Japan has lost World War II and has been devastated by air raids. Jiro again dreams of meeting Caproni, telling him he regrets his aircraft was used for war. A group of Zeros fly past and their pilots salute Jiro. Caproni comforts him, saying Jiro's dream of building beautiful aircraft was nonetheless realized. Naoko appears, exhorting her husband to live his life to the fullest.

## Why It Rocks

1. The story is very unique not only for Studio Ghibli films, but for anime in general.
2. Excellent animation.
3. This is probably the most sophisticated and grounded story that Hayao Miyazaki has ever told.
4. Good voice acting.
5. The movie tells a beautiful story about early aviation, which is a very passionate topic for Hayao Miyazaki.
6. Great soundtrack.
7. The two main characters, Jiro Horikoshi and Nahoko Satomi have amazing on screen chemistry as a romantic couple, and you want to see them end up together.
8. Appealing character designs.
9. The wedding scene probably the best and most emotional scenes in the entire movie.
10. All of the characters are likable and interesting.
11. The main character, Jiro, is based off of a real Japanese fighter pilot who built the planes that they used during World War 2.  When the movie came out there was a lot of controversey surrounding making him the main character, due to what his planes ended up doing in the end, but the movie makes it clear that all he wants to do is create and innovate, and that it's other people who use his creations for destructive purposes.
12. The dream sequenses are spectacular.

## Bad Qualities

1. While most of the voice acting is good, the one bad one is Hidaeki Anno, the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion.  The guy is a great writer and director, but he isn't a very good voice actor.  He doesn't know how to show emotions through his voice, and it really shows whenever Jiro, the main character, is talking.
2. While the dream sequences are great, they could have used better transitions between them and reality.  Sometimes it's hard to tell where the dream sequences starts and ends.

## Reception

**The Wind Rises** has a 89% critic rating and a 84% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a 3.9/5 on Letterboxd, a 7.8/10 on the International Movie Database (IMDB), an 82% community approval rating on Kitsu, and a 4/5 on AnimePlanet.