The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises is a fictionalized biographical account of Jiro Horikoshi, a visionary aeronautical engineer who designed the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane. The story follows Jiro from his provincial childhood in the Taisho era, where his nearsightedness prevents him from becoming a pilot, to his transformation into a brilliant designer driven by a singular, obsessive passion to create something beautiful. His journey is guided by recurring dream encounters with the legendary Italian aircraft designer Giovanni Caproni, who becomes a spiritual mentor and philosophical mirror for Jiro's ambitions.

Set against the turbulent backdrop of early 20th-century Japan, the film depicts historical milestones such as the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the subsequent rise of Japanese militarism and the Great Depression. Parallel to his professional evolution, Jiro experiences a profound, tragic romance with Naoko Satomi, a young woman he meets during the earthquake. Their love story, inspired by Tatsuo Hori’s novel, becomes a race against time as Naoko battles tuberculosis while Jiro labors to perfect his masterpiece amidst a country descending into the horrors of World War II.

The core of the film is a meditation on the "cursed dream" of the artist and the engineer. Miyazaki explores the paradox of creation: the pursuit of pure, aesthetic beauty that inevitably becomes entangled with destruction and death. Jiro's desire is not to build weapons, but to create "beautiful airplanes," yet the reality of his time demands that his genius be used for war. The film suggests that while the winds of history may be terrifying and destructive, the individual must still find the courage to live and create, regardless of the eventual fate of their work. It is a deeply personal reflection on Miyazaki's own career, questioning whether the obsessive devotion required for high art is worth the personal and social costs.

Many critics view Jiro as a direct surrogate for Hayao Miyazaki himself. In this reading, the airplanes are metaphors for animated films—beautiful dreams that demand total sacrifice and can be misinterpreted or misused by the world. Another interpretation focuses on the ending: when Jiro says "thank you" in the final dream, some see it as a moment of atonement, while others see it as a tragic acceptance that his life's work resulted in a "kingdom of dead planes." Some also interpret Naoko's illness as a metaphor for the "illness" of Japan during the militaristic period—beautiful but doomed from within.

The Wind Rises sparked significant controversy upon its release. In Japan, it was criticized by the political right for being "anti-Japanese" due to Miyazaki's concurrent essay opposing constitutional changes for remilitarization. Conversely, some pacifists and South Korean audiences criticized it for glorifying the designer of the Zero, a plane used for imperial aggression. Despite this, it was the highest-grossing Japanese film of 2013 and received universal critical acclaim, earning an Academy Award nomination. It is regarded as Miyazaki's most "adult" film, shifting away from fantasy toward a complex, morally ambiguous exploration of national identity and historical trauma.

Audience reception was polarized but generally very positive. Western audiences and critics praised the film's breathtaking animation and mature themes, often ranking it as one of Miyazaki's most profound works. However, some viewers found the lack of clear condemnation for Jiro's military contributions unsettling. The romance was praised for its emotional weight, though some felt it was overly sentimental compared to the grounded engineering plot. In Japan, it remained at the top of the box office for weeks, resonating with a generation reflecting on the nation's past and the uncertainties of its future.