Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Kaze Tachinu

Japanese: 風立ちぬ

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Information

Type: Movie

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jul 20, 2013

Producers: Nichion

Licensors: Disney Platform Distribution

Studios: Studio Ghibli

Source: Manga

Genres: Drama, Romance

Theme: Historical

Duration: 2 hr. 6 min.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.10¹ (scored by 162,624 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #442²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #709

Members: 284,471

Favorites: 2,708

External Links

Official Site, AnimeDB, AnimeNewsNetwork, Wikipedia

Streaming Platforms

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8.10

Ranked #442Popularity #709Members 284,471

MovieStudio Ghibli

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Synopsis

Although Jirou Horikoshi's nearsightedness prevents him from ever becoming a pilot, he leaves his hometown to study aeronautical engineering at Tokyo Imperial University for one simple purpose: to design and build planes just like his hero, Italian aircraft pioneer Giovanni Battista Caproni. His arrival in the capital coincides with the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, during which he saves a maid serving the family of a young girl named Naoko Satomi; this disastrous event marks the beginning of over two decades of social unrest and malaise leading up to Japan's eventual surrender in World War II.

For Jirou, the years leading up to the production of his infamous Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter aircraft will test every fiber of his being. His many travels and life experiences only urge him onward⁠—even as he realizes both the role of his creations in the war and the harsh realities of his personal life. As time marches on, he must confront an impossible question: at what cost does he chase his beautiful dream?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Before its release, director Miyazaki Hayao declared that Kaze Tachinu would be his final film. Like most of Miyazaki's films, it was the top-grossing movie of its release year, earning $113 million in the domestic box office in 2013. The film was controversial on both sides of the political spectrum because of its sympathetic portrayal of Horikoshi and its perceived anti-war stance. The film was nominated for an Academy Award, Miyazaki's third nomination.

The film has won several awards. In 2013 it won the Best Animated Feature during the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, during the New York Film Critics Online, during the Online Film Critics Society, during the San Francisco Film Critics Circle and during the Toronto Film Critics Association. Also in 2013 it won the Best Animated Film during the Boston Online Film Critics Association (which tied with Frozen), during the Boston Society of Film Critics, during the Chicago Film Critics Association, during the New York Film Critics Circle and during the San Diego Film Critics Society. During the same year it won the Audience Favorite – Animation during the Mill Valley Film Festival and the Best Family Film during the Women Film Critics Circle. In 2014 it won the Animation of the Year during the Japan Academy Prize, the Best Animated Film during the National Board of Review and the Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media during the Satellite Awards.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Kaze Tachinu: Miyazaki Hayao no Mousou Comeback

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Horikoshi, Jirou

Main

Anno, Hideaki
Japanese

Satomi, Naoko

Main

Iino, Mayu
Japanese

Castorp

Supporting

Alpert, Stephen
Japanese

Caproni, Giovanni

Supporting

Nomura, Mansai
Japanese

Kurokawa

Supporting

Nishimura, Masahiko
Japanese

Honjou, Kirou

Supporting

Nishijima, Hidetoshi
Japanese

Horikoshi, Kayo

Supporting

Shida, Mirai
Japanese

Hattori

Supporting

Kunimura, Jun
Japanese

Sone, Yoshitoshi

Supporting

Kurokawa, Wife

Supporting

Ootake, Shinobu
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Suzuki, Toshio

Producer

Miyazaki, Hayao

Director, Screenplay, Original Creator

Kimura, Eriko

Sound Director

Kasamatsu, Kouji

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme here.

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Ending Theme

"Hikouki Gumo (ひこうき雲)" by Yumi Matsutoya

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Reviews

Mar 4, 2014

m0llerz

Recommended

Hayao Miyazaki's ultimate film is an accumulation of his life's work pieced together into his final masterpiece: The Wind Rises.

The film is based on a true story, that of Jirou Horikoshi. He was a japanese aeronautical engineer in charge of the design of the Mitsubishi Zero, the fighter plane used in World War II - specifically during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The movie begins by following Jirou at a young age and his dream to become a pilot. This is not the case because Jirou is nearsighted; nevertheless, we see Jirou's great interest in the Italian aeronautical pioneer, Count Caproni, as he becomes inspired ... to become an aeronautical engineer.

The story doesn't just focus on Jirou and aviation, but it develops into a love story between Jirou and Naoko. Hayao Miyazaki was able to produce a beautiful love story that did not interfere with the work focus surrounding Jirou. Both Jirou's love for airplanes and Naoko were able to coexist and have the same equal amount of passion throughout the film.

Like any other Miyazaki and Ghibli film, the art is memorable and breathtaking. The watercolor style backgrounds are drawn with so much care and detail that the animation alone is able to bring the movie to life.

For those of you who have seen Miyazaki's films, you will definitely have déjà vu moments as you see the similarities between the artwork and music. You will see the animation and music that made: Porco Rosso, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and his other movies so distinctive from one another all coming together and producing that unique tone for The Wind Rises. We can clearly see all of Miyazaki's accomplishments in the industry pouring out into this film and piecing itself together like a perfect jigsaw puzzle.

I believe that the characters are what drive this film to its fullest potential. I have only watched the english dubbed, but the casting was great. Each voice fit the different role remarkably. Emily Blunt and Joseph Gordon-Levitt deserve nothing but praise as they did an outstanding job voicing Naoko and Jirou. All of the relationships developed in this movie are a beautiful portrayal of every day life friendships and interactions. There are no “bad” guys. The suspense built is not from an external race trying to cause havoc, but rather a more personal suspense built within Jirou. Overall, the characters are very charismatic and enjoyable.

The pacing of the movie was very steady. It never felt as if it were too rushed or was dragging. Much of the film is spent in and out of Jirou’s dreams. Some people believed that it was hard to decipher when he is actually dreaming versus when he is not. The introduction of Caproni makes it very obvious, or should, to whether or not he is dreaming.

There have been many complaints about how this movie doesn't live up to Miyazaki and his other films, but I think otherwise. Each of his movies are uniquely set in their own world of a dream-like fantasy. The Wind Rises joins them as a masterpiece, but in its own category.

By the end of the movie, all of your questions will be answered. Your overall understanding of the events that have just taken place will hit you straight in the heart - let those tears of joy and sadness run down your cheeks! The finale of Miyazaki's movies has ended. Go with the wind as you take away the two hours of complete sublimity. My words alone cannot even describe the amount of emotion and beauty seen in this film, you will have to see it for yourself!

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Mar 1, 2014

Flawfinder

Mixed Feelings

It’s no secret that Miyazaki is a big giant grump who looks down on practically every part of anime culture that doesn’t include flying or trees, and while it’s true that allowing that abomination known as Project Ice to exist was a bad movie on the industry’s part, it would really help if he controlled his own fetishes when trying to show people what he thinks animation should be like. Whilst I’ve enjoyed everything he’s made before his (fourth) final film, it’s pretty clear that he’s been losing control when it comes to delivering what’s fun over what’s important to him and I’ve always feared ... that he would eventually let his biases overwhelm general entertainment if he didn’t stop soon, so hopefully he stays retired this time.

Of course, it would have been even better if he did it before Wind Rises came into existence, because my god was this one fucking dull movie.

The genre that Miyazaki tackles with his latest flying extravaganza is the biographical one. Whilst it’s true that stuff like Porco Rosso and Kiki were films centered around one protagonist’s life, Wind Rises goes a step further by detailing the life of our main hero, Jiro, as he grows from a boy to university to adult to irresponsible fuckwad. We see that he’s acrophobic but still wants to build planes as inspired by his dream friend and famous plane designer Caproni. As such he grows into a man who builds planes that are eventually used for war – who didn’t see that coming? – and eventually gets to marry a girl he knew when she was only twelve or so whilst he was in college. More things happen later, but it’s not really my place to spoil that stuff, so I’ll just go into “complaining mode” now.

Okay animation guys, I’m going to establish a new rule. You know those slice-of-life stories where we follow a dude as he learns about new things and the charm apparently relies on how much you like the focus character whilst throwing in a few comedic scenes that make up the crux of anime like Silver Spoon or Uchouten without any real conflict that can’t be solved through a counselor on Skype? You’re NOT allowed to do that anymore! You can still have them as downtime or whatever, but you have to have something else, even if you have to hire the Kanon car or introduce a sick mum who’s not really that sick, Totoro-style. Why? Because it’s boring! It doesn’t allow the audience to learn about the subject matter you’re probably trying to teach. And it’s #1 on my most hated anime cliche list for a reason.

Even if I was into Jiro as a character, I still wouldn’t find following him for two hours all that interesting because there is no real personal conflict that happens to him throughout the majority of his life. He likes planes. Some plane-related/war-related incidents happen that have fuck-all tension and don’t really affect him all that much. He meets the girl he’s going to marry and we get a few playful scenes before they decide they want to be together. He goes through a bunch of timeskips that have no subtitles to indicate when they’re happening and come off as jarring when they occur without incident because after he stops being a kid, he looks the same in his thirties as he does in his twenties.

And to make it worse, the finale of the film is that the story just ends. No real big scene. No big climax. It’s just a revelation where the message overrides the story and then it just ends without a second thought. That’s got to be the most sudden “okay we’re done” ending I’ve seen since that godawful Steins;Gate movie.

I won’t say the film isn’t without merits. The stretch of time where Jiro gets married and has to care for his wife is decent, if only because it actually introduced a personal conflict to his life. The way it all ends up is sad, even though the finale became a little manipulative in that Up sort of fashion. Unfortunately, that only takes up about twenty minutes of the film at most and it only happens in the last act.

I suppose Wind Rises is worth watching if you’re a plane geek who’s into all the “many” historically accurate details that are peppered through the film’s early 90s setting, or if you’re a die-hard Miyazaki fan (despite the fact that I didn’t like this film, I’ll probably still buy it just to complete the collection), or if you’re into “feels”, whatever the fuck that means. But dude, that’s a lot of hype and talent to use up on what comes across like a nature documentary with a plane dude as the main subject. Personally, I want to free up time to watch Castle in the Sky again. Whilst eating Papa John’s pizza.

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Sep 18, 2013

Hidden_Joker

Recommended

I had the good luck to be able to watch The Wind Rises on the big screen in a theater not long after it screened in Japan, for it had a theatrical release in Korea. Although due to the amount of controversy it was generating among Korean audiences (and a fair amount of hate, which I found was a bit too overblown after I finished the movie), the movie was only available in a few select theaters, I say it was quite worth the long trip I made to find a theater that screened this movie.

So, The Wind Rises is a movie that focuses on ... a man named Jirou Horikoshi, the designer of the A6M Zero fighter plane of World War II, notoriously known for its use in the kamikaze, or suicide, missions back in the war.

That said, this is far from a biographical movie. It's a fictional work loosely based around the historical figure known as Jirou Horikoshi. Wikipedia classifies this movie as an "animated historical fantasy film" and I think that classification fits the bill perfectly.

The story focuses on the life of Jirou Horikoshi and the romantic relationship between him and a woman named Setsuko, who suffers from tuberculosis. Overall, I felt the pacing of the movie was pretty well done, starting from childhood and slowly progressing through different stages of his life in a very fluid manner, although there were moments that felt rushed from time to time (the romantic relationship between Setsuko and Jirou for example).

The animation was of course amazingly detailed and well done (I loved how they paid attention to giving the animation depth; little mannerisms like a guy habitually shaking his legs under the desk while he’s working or the main character’s suit crumpling up when he sat down on a stool). One other thing I loved were the “dream sequences”, basically portraying Jirou’s dreams in a very surrealistic manner, as they were very vibrant and made for perfect transitions between different parts of the movie. These things, combined with an amazing soundtrack that fit perfectly with the mood (as expected of Hisaisi Joe), made some scenes truly amazing. Well, I had expected nothing less from Ghibli and Miyazaki Hayao, but even with that in mind, it blows you away.

The characters are overall unique and likeable. We also have some glimpses of other historical figures such as aeronautical engineers Giovanni Batista Caproni (who serves as a role model of sorts in Jirou[‘s dreams] in the movie), and Hugo Junkers. And of course there’s Setsuko, the lover of our man, Jirou. The romance in this movie of course tugs right at your heartstrings. It's not burningly flamboyant nor overly exciting; rather it is one of those faint, calm romances that makes you feel calm and happy inside. It makes you shed a few tears (and be on the brink of shedding more on other occasions) for the romance for it was absolutely beautiful and heart-wrenching.
(Fun fact: Giovanni Batista Caproni’s aircraft manufacturing company, Caproni, manufactured a plane called the Caproni Ca.309 Ghibli, which served as the inspiration to Ghibli’s name)

On a side note, the voice acting by Anno Hideaki (famous for being the chief director of Evangelion TV and movie series) I thought was quite amusing; it fit the out-of-it character of the main character pretty well, although at the more emotional moments of the movie, it lacked depth.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable 2 hours. It made me laugh, it made me cry at the right moments, it made me stare at the screen with a slack jawed expression because some scenes were just too beautiful.

Finally, I found the criticism and controversy it’s generating (especially in Korea) was a bit overblown. If anything, I found it to be quite critical of war and Japan attacking other nations (at several points in the movie, the characters say that Japan is going down a path of ruin [along with Germany] ).
I think it’s best to enjoy this as a piece, a work of art, rather than read too deep into it. I advise you to watch it just as a story of the life and love of a man who simply loved aircrafts.

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Horikoshi, Jirou

Satomi, Naoko

Castorp

Caproni, Giovanni

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Kaze Tachinu

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Information

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Synopsis

Background

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