Anime Eiga Review: The Wind Rises

Film Synopsis

Ever since he was a child, Jiro Horikoshi (voiced by Hideaki Anno) has loved planes. Due to his poor eyesight becoming a pilot was out of the question. So he turned his attention to building rather than flying.

Jiro is now considered a genius in the field of aeronautical engineering. In 1927, he's hired by the aircraft manufacturer Mitsubishi, which has been receiving large orders from the Imperial Military. Japan has been desperately trying to catch up with the Western powers, but the gap appears too great.

Jiro is sent all over the world to study the cutting edge of flight technology. He can't help feel a little disillusion knowing the machines he loves will ultimately be used as weapons of war. Making matters grimmer, the world sits on the cusps of a second horrific conflict.

Following a string of failures, Jiro decides to take a holiday to clear his head. While on retreat, he falls for the beautiful Naoko Satomi (voiced by Miori Takimoto) who he previously rescued during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Naoko has been suffering from the effects of tuberculosis. Though the disease is incurable, ensuring any relationship will end in heartbreak, the two marry.

With a fresh mind, Jiro returns to work and comes up with the design of the Mitsubishi A5M. This aircraft is a technological marvel and would serve as the predecessor to the sword of the Japanese Air Force during World War II, the Mitsubishi A6M “Zero”.

Despite a heavy heart, Jiro never forgets the reason why he loves airplanes as the beautiful machines they are.

Film Positives

Jiro Hirokoshi

From Nausicaa to now, Hayao Miyazaki has given us so many stories of fantasy and magic. Whether it's My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso, or Spirited Away, there have always been hints of mysticism and other worldly elements. Then there's The Wind Rises which has none of that. Miyazaki still uses his breathtaking style of storytelling, but this is the first time he's focused on an actual historical figure.

Jiro and Naoko

This distinction is simply a bit of trivia and The Wind Rises is a wonderful addition to the master’s already impressive collection.

The Story

Do you want a story or an accurate depiction of a person’s life. If it’s the latter, this is not the movie for you. The Wind Rises is more of a historical fiction rather than a biographical film, focusing more on Jiro Hirokoshi’s breakthroughs and achievements. What happens in between was left to the storyteller’s discretion.

I’m not sure how one goes about depicting the life of an aeronautical engineer and make it interesting to someone who doesn’t know a damn thing about the field; much like yours truly. The Wind Rise found a way.

How the film depicted key events of the time period made getting into the story fascinating. You understand the fear and devastation of the Great Kanto Earthquake, you feel the frustration from people who saw their international rivals outclass them, and you get a real sense of the rising political turmoil not just in Japan, but around the world.

However, the romance between Jiro and Naoko brought everything into perspective. When first meeting her during the earthquake, I thought Naoko was going to be a one time character never to be see again. Thankfully I was wrong.

This was the person who finally proved to me that Jiro was a human being. Although it was great to see him geek over his passion, when Jiro moved all that energy into thinking and worrying about Naoko, it was as if we were seeing an all new character.

There was a scene which took place after Naoko’s condition took a very bad turn. At this point, Jiro somehow made himself a target of Japan’s secret police and went into hiding. But the moment he hears about his fiancée, he drops everything and rushes to her side. When he showed up, Jiro doesn’t even give Naoko a chance to say anything before embracing her. She tries to remind him about her disease, but he ignores the warning and refuses to leave.

Then of course there was Jiro and Naoko’s wedding. It was spontaneous and rushed, but it was one of the most moving ceremonies I've ever seen in cinema. Jiro may have looked like a regular stiff, but Naoko was absolutely gorgeous and the entire scene complimented it well.

Jiro made his lifelong love of airplanes secondary and Naoko became his number one. This relationship between the two made the rest of the movie that much sweeter and a lot sadder.

Film Negatives

Jiro's monotonic as hell.

Regardless of what I just got done saying about Jiro and Naoko’s relationship, our lead is very one dimensional. There's not a single moment I can recall him showing emotion or hearing any inflection in his voice.

Yeah tears came out of his eyes when he was sad, but his face never contorted, he never got flustered, nothing seemed to faze him. Jiro always managed to say the right things and have a general not-a-care-in-the-world type of attitude. 

When his superiors would demand something, yell at him, or deliberately over work him, this guy took it all with a smile on his face. Even when he was being confronted with Nazis and shady government agents, it never was that big of a deal.

That’s why I liked having Naoko around. She was able to pull him away from this one note, lackluster cloud he had going for him. I accept the fact Jiro loved Naoko to no end, but I can also image the ten year old version of him saying the same exact lines to her.

For all of the Miyazaki leads I've seen this month, Jiro is the one that left the smallest impression.

Final Thoughts

As of today, The Wind Rises has been the last feature film directed by Miyazaki, who is now currently in retirement. While it's concerning to think the world may never again see one of his films on the big screen, Miyazaki has gone in and out of retirement more than once. So the chance of there being one more isn’t exactly zero.

If this does turn out to be the last though, The Wind Rises is a great send off to one of film's greatest. To take a story born of history and give it the same magical feel as Kiki Delivery Service, Ponyo, and Howl’s Moving Castle takes a real master.

Ghibli Month will continue tomorrow with 2013’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

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