Every Studio Ghibli Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

The Wind Rises proved to be Miyazaki's last film, and it is emotionally affecting for that and far more substantial reasons. The film met with a considerable amopunt of controversy when it was released thanks to the decision to tell the tale of Jiro Horikoshi, the designer reponsible for the Japanese Zero Fighter.

Unfortunately for Ghibli, this attracted accusations of glossing over a man who consciously made instruments of war and removing the artist's share of responsibility in favour of a romantic story that makes him too sympathetic. That's a fairly reductive way to view the film, as it misses the point that the film's message is about imagination and how the destructive nature of humanity pollutes artistic creation.

The film also follows Miyazaki's long-running passion for flight: Jiro might as well be a stand-in for the studio founder himself and the love story between him and Naoki is paralleled by a romance between man and the limitless freedom of flight. Once more, it's the juxtaposition of a "small" humanist story and a much bigger message about the essence of existence, all with a surprisingly introspective element on Miyazaki's own creative life.