How exciting is this ? Studio Ghibli has announced the release for Miyazaki Hayao’s upcoming animated film Kaze Tachinu ( The Wind Rises ) in Summer 2013. This will be the first time in 5 years (since Ponyo) that he has directed a feature length film.
Kaze Tachinu is based on the serialized manga appearing in the Japanese monthly magazine Model Graphix from 2010-11, which in turn is adapted from a short novel of the same name by Tatsuo Hori, written in 1936-37.
(below) One of the original watercolor illustrations by Miyazaki-san that appeared in Model Graphix magazine.
From what I understand, the film will also touch on elements from Jiro Horikoshi’s life, who was the lead engineer for many WWII Japanese fighter planes, including the Zero Fighter. I hope Miyazaki-san will only allude to the events of the war and not depict any of it.
Kaze Tachinu is one of two film releases slated by Ghibli in summer 2013, the other being Isao Takahata’s ( Miyazaki-san’s mentor ) Kaguya-Hime no Monogatari ( The Tale of Princess Kaguya ).
While this is still speculation at this point, I have a hunch that the Ghibli Museum might hold a special art exhibition for both films during their release ( as it has done for many of its films in the past ), so if you’re planning a trip to Tokyo next year, you might want check on the Ghibli Museum website from time to time for updates.
The official site for Kaze Tachinu is at http://kazetachinu.jp/
More information on both films can be found at the excellent Nausicaa.net.
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December 17th, 2012 at 5:45 am
this could be really interesting. i would kind of like to see it more like Porco Rosso or Mononoke Hime, as a more serious piece that leads to something more sinister. the idea that it has to do with the life of a man who helped build and engineer planes for WWII could be something really special and lead to conflictions between pride in one’s work and accomplishments without regard to the reprecussions it has on the rest of the world. i have never read the book or manga, but i still think that that is an interesting concept.
December 17th, 2012 at 5:48 am
even the title, The Wind Rises, has a somewhat sinister sound to it, evoking even The Dark Knight Rises’ tagline of “the fire rises”, especially if one remembers that Kamikaze means divine wind.
December 17th, 2012 at 4:41 pm
Excellent news, I’m counting the days for both films.
In Miyazaki-san’s watercolor above, I recognize the depiction of “La Domenica del Corriere”, an italian weekly magazine famous for its beautiful illustrations (particularly the covers):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Domenica_del_Corriere
For those interested, here are some covers (from above: sport, war, advertising, animals, news, oddities, other covers):
http://www.clubdomenica.it/default.asp?modulo=pages&idpage=3
As a side note: Miyazaki-san has often portrayed characters, cities and atmospheres from Europe, always with deep understanding, sensitiveness and intelligence, and probably much love, too. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same of many american films/animations, where Europe is just a funny and picturesque background for the characters.
July 20th, 2013 at 1:06 am
‘Kaze Tachinu’ full theatrical trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3AekHQy6lc&t=1m17s