The Wind Rises [2013]: Notes from a Beautiful Collapse

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There are films that speak to you. The Wind Rises doesn’t. It murmurs just loud enough for you to lean in, and by the time you realize it, you’ve fallen into something that isn’t quite a dream, and not exactly reality either. It’s like remembering someone else’s life, one detail at a time—half of them beautiful, the other half too quiet to name.

Jirō isn’t a hero. I’m not even sure he’s the protagonist in the usual sense. Watching him is like watching a man fold his soul into blueprints. He’s not trying to change the world—he’s just trying to build something that flies, even if it burns on the way down. And somehow, that makes him harder to love and harder to judge. I kept wondering: how much beauty is worth the cost of silence?

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The film moves like wind itself—sometimes aimless, sometimes abrupt, sometimes whispering things you only understand after they’re gone. It’s full of stillness, but not the peaceful kind. More like the kind that fills a room after someone leaves. Even the love story, if that’s what it is, doesn’t offer shelter. It just… happens. Briefly. Tenderly. Like two people sharing a secret they both know will expire.

Visually, it’s deceptive. The softness of the animation lulls you into thinking it’s safe. But it isn’t. There’s a quiet violence in the way things are drawn here—how the sky always seems just out of reach, how the wind carries more than air. It’s all so gently precise that you forget you’re watching war materialize in pencil strokes. And maybe that’s the point: the most dangerous things often arrive wrapped in beauty.

When it ended, I didn’t feel sad. I felt haunted. There’s something deeply unsettling about watching a man chase a dream that’s already marked for ruin. But what got to me most wasn’t the war, or the loss, or even the inevitability of it all—it was the way Jirō kept walking forward, like forward was the only direction he could understand. Not hopeful. Not naïve. Just… committed. And I’m still thinking about what that says, not just about him, but about all of us.



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10 comments
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Sometimes you just need a small action to change the world. This is not something that is necessarily linked to fame or human desires, rather, it is social construction. I say this because of the contributors in the review.

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I agree, @neruel . But if you watch this film, perhaps the closest feeling that could catch you is a bit of despair and maybe some of emptiness. It's a wrap, no questions about it. And visually speaking it f*cks with your senses also.

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My favorite Ghibli''s movie 💝

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You find it visually speaking related to Oppenheimer the film, as well?

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A beautiful movie with great messages, sometimes in life it takes small steps to change something and in this movie, Studio Ghibli has done a great job reflecting those actions, it is well worth watching and analyzing in depth 🙏

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Wow! What a beautiful and profound way to describe a movie. I haven't seen it, but your review has left me dying to see it. I'm very intrigued by what you say about Jirō, that he's not your typical hero and that it's like watching someone “bend their soul into planes.” And the visual description, how the smoothness of the animation can deceive and hide a “silent violence”... Wow, it sounds like a movie with many layers.

The way you describe it definitely makes it seem like one of those works that leaves you thinking long after it's over. Thank you for sharing your perspective, I'll make a note of it right away! It's clear that it touched you deeply.

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My advice to you? Spend 2 hours with nothing on your hand (cellphone, tablet, social networks. Anything at all...) and you will enjoy something magnificent

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Hello @chris-chris92! The Anime Realm team here 😊.

We want to thank you for choosing this community to publish your manga and anime related content.

Don't forget to check the rules and the suggested community guidelines post. Also, always keep in mind the importance of visiting and supporting other users' posts, those will allow us to keep growing as users and as a community.

We hope to see you soon. Greetings!

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es una buena historia, me encantan las de studio Ghibli´s en definitiva jeje ´


it's a good story, I love studio Ghibli´s stories in short jeje

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Take the time and just enjoy it, love. It's a beauty, indeed...