The Wind Rises
Movie, 2013, The 2010s, Set in Jiro Horikoshi's planes
The Wind Rises is #20 of 25 in release order and #20 of 25 in chronological order in the Studio Ghibli.
The story
A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.
The Wind Rises recap
The Wind Rises (2013) is a fictionalised life of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the Mitsubishi Zero fighter, from boyhood dreams of flight to the eve of war. Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed this adaptation of his own manga, mixing in Tatsuo Hori's novel The Wind Has Risen. Jiro (Hideaki Anno), too short-sighted to fly, dreams of the Italian designer Giovanni Caproni (Nomura Mansai), who tells him that planes are beautiful dreams. As a student he helps the young Nahoko Satomi (Miori Takimoto) and her maid during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. At Mitsubishi with his friend Honjo (Hidetoshi Nishijima), he designs aircraft that fail, and visits Germany to study Junkers. At a mountain resort he meets Nahoko again; they fall in love, though she has tuberculosis, and marry at the home of his boss while he finishes the prototype.
The Wind Rises ending explained
The Wind Rises ends with the test flight of Jiro's prototype, as Nahoko quietly leaves to return to the sanatorium to die. A gust of wind tells him she is gone. In a dream after Japan's defeat, Jiro walks among wrecked planes with Caproni, and Nahoko's spirit tells him to live. Miyazaki announced this would be his last film, then returned with The Boy and the Heron.
Post-credits scenes
No. The Wind Rises has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch The Wind Rises
The Wind Rises is streaming on HBO Max in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.8/10, Rotten Tomatoes 88%
Where it fits
- Release order: after From Up on Poppy Hill, before The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.
- Chronological order: after From Up on Poppy Hill, before The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.
Cast
- Hideaki Anno as Jiro Horikoshi (voice)
- Hidetoshi Nishijima as Honjô (voice)
- Miori Takimoto as Naoko Satomi (voice)
- Masahiko Nishimura as Kurokawa (voice)
- Stephen Alpert as Castorp (voice)
- Mansai Nomura as Giovanni Battista (voice)
- Jun Kunimura as Hattori (voice)
- Mirai Shida as Kayo Horikoshi (voice)
- Shinobu Otake as Mrs. Kurokawa (voice)
- Morio Kazama as Satomi (voice)
- Keiko Takeshita as Jirô's mother (voice)
- Sascha as German Security Guard / Flight Engineer (voice)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki.