The Wind Blows is a two-hour animated historical drama feature from 2013 that takes a look at the life of Jiro Horikoshi, who was a successful designer Japanese fighter planes during World War II. This was to be the last film of director Hayao Miyazaki as he had retired but wound up coming out of retirement in 2017 to do one more film after this one.
The story starts in 1918 with Jiro as a child who dreams about flying and designing airplanes. He is highly inspired by the famous Italian aircraft designer and engineer Giovanni Battista Caproni. Unfortunately, young Jiro is nearsighted and because of that, he cannot be a pilot. However, even though he will never be a pilot, he can still design aircrafts. In 1927 he joins a major Japanese engineering company where he, along with his good friend Kiro Honjo would become a leader in the world of airplane designers and be hugely successful. During this time, he has been introduced to and later married to the love of his life Naoko Satomi. Problems arise which distract Jiro as poor Naoko has health issues which worsen by the moment. He has a responsibility to creating aircrafts but wants to spend as much time as possible with the love of his life.
The Wind Rises, is a great compelling, moving film with characters that will hold your interest throughout. The animation is fantastic and the voice-acting is fantastic, be it in English with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Martin Short, William Macy and Werner Herzog or in Japanese with Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto,Hidetoshi Nishijima and Masahiko Nishimura. Iconic director Hayao Miyazaki keeps the story moving fluidly at a steady pace. Some may argue that the two hours for an animated film is a bit long but this is not the case for this feature.
Shout Factory re-releases The Wind Rises on Blu-ray using same 1080p transfer used by Disney with additional extras. The video presentation is without question, gorgeous with beautiful, strong, saturated colors and deep black levels. Details to the scenery are crisp and clear. The picture quality is about as perfect as it gets!
The audio for this release includes both English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks. Both mono tracks are sufficient with clear, rich dialog and other sounds. The musical scores by Joe Hisaish also are clear without the soundtrack coming in overly aggressive.
Optional English subtitles are available for this release.
Shout Factory has added a few bonus features to this package to go with the already existing supplements that have been ported over from the previous Disney release. The first new feature for this release of The Wind Rises includes a brand-new documentary with the man behind Studio Ghibli. Entitled “10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki” the documentary shows plenty behind the scenes footage of the legendary director. Also new for this release is a new booklet with translated notes by Hayao Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki
The remaining extras are from the previous Disney / Buena Vista Blu-ray. “The Wind Rises Behind the Microphone” is an interview with voice director Gary Rydstrom, and the American voice-cast Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Stanley Tucci and William H. Macy. Remaining extras include Storyboards, Announcement of the Completion of the Film and original Japanese trailers and TV Spots.
The Wind Rises is a fascinating film to watch. The animation is breathtaking, with top-of-the-line audio and video quality. The previous release was a dandy, but if you are an extras enthusiast, I can recommend this release because of the added content.
The Wind Rises
Director- Hayao Miyazaki
Cast- Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski
Country of Origin- US, Japan, France
Distributor – Shout Factory
Number of Discs – 2
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date 2-12-21