awkwardanime: Awkward Anime Episode 12: The Wind Rises As I pressed play and the Ghibli logo met m
awkwardanime: Awkward Anime Episode 12: The Wind Rises As I pressed play and the Ghibli logo met my eyes again, I knew that the following 2+ hours would have me immersed and hypnotised no matter what story would be told. Those feelings of wonder and curiosity, once the movie had ended, turned into the same thought that always goes through my mind after witnessing a Hayao Miyazaki film: “He’s not a bad at making films is he?” but also how the greatest Director in the world yet again shows his principles of life through storied complexities within simplicity. I have simply run out of words to describe the art that Studio Ghibli produces every few years. In what was supposedly another “last hurrah” for Mr. Hayao Miyazaki, the highly acclaimed Director decided to take a different path creatively in 2013 with the release of The Wind Rises. As a hobby, Miyazaki loves to draw Manga for magazines, and his 2009 publication was deemed to be interesting enough to be adapted into a movie by his producer Mr Suzuki who constantly asked him: “Why don’t you make a movie about this?” The story of that particular 9 chapter Manga series in 2009 followed the career and dreams of one Jiro Horikoshi, whose love for the elegance of flight leads him to a non-stop working frenzy to create the perfect airplane… the Mitsubishi A5M. This story is actually a fictionalised biography of the man with the same name who did indeed design the most famous Mitsubishi planes back during the days of World War II. The story was also loosely based off the famous short story by Hori Tatsuo in 1937 titled The Wind has Risen. “From the tragedy they experienced, these two people, as I continued to look at them, became the one protagonist in my film” Funnily enough, the man himself was reluctant to adapt his manga into a feature length Animation as he originally believed it would be a huge gamble due to his adamant stance on how Animation should always be created to expand the minds of children and let their curiosity shine. It’s definitely clear to see why he had doubts about making this film, with political and ethical issues being raised by the movie. In fact, after the release in 2013, many of the Japanese political groups alongside the Japan society for Tobacco control criticised and accused Miyazaki about his decision to make his main protagonist a warplane engineer. With this fear, he even jokingly said to his staff that “Somehow, we are digging our own graves in a way by creating this film.” The were many challenges that arose during the making of this film, as the Staff at the Studio were young and so they had to be taught about the small intricacies of the time period. “How to sit on a Tatatami…How to walk in a Kimono. We all needed to learn once again the details of this way of life.” Never can it be overlooked with a Ghibli film, and yet again this 2 hour story is filled with absolutely stunning animation. I found myself mesmerised by the artwork, notably how my eyes were made to believe the wind rose and ran across the fields as the love interest Nahoko Satomi brushed across her canvas. Throughout this movie, I constantly got goosebumps. I was drawn into the art and more importantly, the life of this young man who was simply trying to design and create the perfect plane. The audience knew that it was to be used for War, and so did the main character Jiro Horikoshi. Yet, that never crossed his mind… how his beautiful creations would be torn down in seconds by the “enemy”, Jiro simply loved his dreams of the “perfect plane” dancing across the horizon as the wind followed suit. This indeed is a simple story. Filled with deep issues. Who is in the right here? Is there a right or wrong here? These are the questions that Mr. Miyazaki purposely raised to the viewers by creating this story. The animator-turned-Director principles within his films are to show a plot that is never one dimensional. Life is never straight forward, and nor should it be. “Things are way more difficult and complex. History is as well. We can’t easily just say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to how we look at things.” The life that popped out at me during the dream sequences were so fulfilling. Colours of green and blue, as the planes filled with ecstatic relatives gained momentum and flew, showed how wonderful life can be if you believe in something. To oppose that image of life bursting in colour, we saw the dark and dreary consequences of a disaster as an Earthquake along with the effects of War shattered the landscape of Japan. For me, the 5 seconds that warmed my heart was as Jiro was tending to the young Nahoko and her friend, he put his suitcase down and simply opened it up. The clothes puffed up and rose to the top. In this scene, I could almost see the suitcase being alive. Finally it could breathe again. I can’t get those 5 seconds out of my head. A lot has to be said about the beautiful animation, so of course it is truly heart-warming that Miyazaki constantly praises his Staff at Studio Ghibli repeatedly stating about what gives him most satisfaction during the production of a film: “I am most satisfied when my staff does good work. When one image or one scene that they draw is well done, I’m very happy” Even though most of his highly grossed creations came in the past 2 decades, Hayao Miyazaki actually had already completed his dreams in animation by the time he was 40. After this time, once his ideas had all been brought to fruition, his biggest challenge was to keep creating new intriguing films. Remarkably, he had no idea what he was going to create in these past 20+ years, yet he still took that step to do so, truly letting his passion for creating, much like Jiro, never stop rising. To describe his creative mind to seek out new themes, he says “It was like walking into a dark room, not knowing where to go” “Don’t follow the path of just one person. Strive to find your own path” This film epitomises what many love about Hayao Miyazaki. The themes he chooses are not ordinary, you would not see many hit these topics, all the while giving you an intriguing and emotional story yet somehow making it seem “simple”. The Wind Rises is a movie that grabbed me instantly, with the inspirational outlook on life and the ever present green scenery that had me having to pick my jaw up off the floor numerous times, it is without a doubt an instant classic. I almost feel like it was made 20 years ago, it has that feeling to it. It was made just a few years ago, which shows how we as people can look back at history and not make assumptions, as well as taking this message into the future to see the world as what it is, and to get in your plane as you rise with the wind. “ Le vent se lève! … il faut tenter de vivre!” Please share if you enjoyed this analysis and remember to eat those tiny trees! Check out previous Eps: Ep 11 - The Secret World of Arrietty Ep 10 - Tokyo Godfathers Ep 9 - Garden of Words Ep 8 - Kimi No Na Wa Ep 7 - The Boy and the Beast Ep 6.2 - Fading innocence of Ame Ep 6.1 - Wolf Children Poster Ep 5 - My Neighbor Totoro Ep 4 - Summer Wars Ep 3 - Spirited Away Ep 2 - Koe no Katachi -- source link