“The Wind Rises’ was supposed to be the final film that Hayao Miyazaki worked on before his supposed retirement. This animated movie is an adaptation of children’s books titled “The Wind Rises” and “The Man Who Became Pope.” These books were written by the favorite author of Hayao Miyazaki, who is Tatsuo Hori. “The Wind Rises” is an animated movie that takes place during the early 20th century in both Italy and Japan. The story revolves around the adventures of a young boy named Jirō Horikoshi.
The primary theme of “The Wind Rises” is Hayao Miyazaki’s personal farewell to flight and dreams. The anime movie shows the life of a young boy named Jirō Horikoshi, who has dreams about designing airplanes that can fly higher and faster than anyone has ever flown before. But he never gives up on his dreams and always remembers the words of his father: “Never give up on your dreams.” He overcomes all the hurdles in his life and succeeds as an airplane designer. He designs airplanes that can fly higher and faster than anyone has ever flown before, and he gets recognition and fame all over the world.
Dreams, Duty, and Desire: Jirō’s Journey Through Innovation and Uncertainty
Among the most peculiar works of Studio Ghibli, there is “The Wind Rises” (2013) by Hayao Miyazaki, in the sense that it takes place in the real world, as opposed to the adventures of “Spirited Away” or “My Neighbor Totoro.” This film finds its roots in the life of Japanese engineer Jirō Horikoshi, who designed the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, and it walks the line between reality and imagination, since it reflects the brilliance and the challenges that come with creating something truly extraordinary during hard times.
The film, produced from the Ghibli Studio, depicts the life of Jirō from childhood to adulthood. The desire of Jirō to fly started during his childhood, and it was enhanced by his dreams about the Italian airplane pioneer named Giovanni Caproni. The dreams are not escapes but conversations as well as visions that keep on sustaining Jirō’s perception of beauty even in war machines.
However, at the centre of it all is Jirō, who has been enchanted by airplanes, though because of poor eyesight, he never gets to fly, but he does get a chance to be in the air as an aeronautical engineer. His personality is established by his reserved nature and ability to concentrate on the beauty of flight while the rest of the world gets restless. His ideas about beautiful machines are clouded by the reality that these machines will be used in fighting. The complexity of ambition and the relationship between the pursuit of beauty and destruction is explored through the character of Jirō by Miyazaki.
In the early 20th-century Japan in which the story takes place, the world of Jirō is full of turmoil. This is exemplified by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 that strikes Tokyo, creating a kind of destruction that aids in the transformation of the Japanese spirit. Hard economic times will soon follow, and the trend toward militarization is beginning to establish a high priority.
Hayao Miyazaki’s Reflection on Dreams, Loss, and the Passage of Time
In the midst of all these influences, there is another part of his life that brings him a respite that is gentler, as his encounter with Nahoko, whom he meets during the Kanto Earthquake, is marked by tuberculosis. Their love is one that grows not in grand expressions but in moments of quiet togetherness – from sketching together to moments of silent giggling to an understanding that can never be articulated but is always there – the potential that time may be short.
One of the things that make Miyazaki a master is his incorporation of ideas about humanity and nature, but in this instance, he takes a different route. “The Wind Rises” is all about the complexity of dreams and the creative process, which can be beautiful and destructive all at once. Jirō’s flying contraptions are a reflection of his genius as a designer; however, these will be used in a war. The film does not critique him for that but leaves it up to the audience to deal with that idea. The animation is not simply computer-generated imagery but has that Ghibli feeling of being hand-drawn, having a world full of life, and an auditory sense of place where even the wind is given a name. It is in these small details: the movement of the clouds, and the hesitation before Jirō and Nahoko’s terrible parting ways. Apparently, this was the last film from Miyazaki (although he returned with “The Boy and the Heron”), thus making “The Wind Rises” something of a swan song. Rather than building towards some ultimate climactic moment, the film moves as if with gentle introspection, weighing and measuring the price of living out one’s own dreams, the trade-offs that come with living and with how history sometimes requires, and the fleeting nature of love itself. Jirō’s success comes with the measurements of both pride and sadness, a reminder that even in success, there is always the darkness alongside. The ending is as complex as living itself, where the meeting of hope and loss and resilience comes into play. It is also in the phrase that gave the film its title: “The wind is rising! We must try to live,” which is itself a gentle reminder that in order to live life to the fullest, one must necessarily be willing to face the light and the darkness of it all.
