Produced by Studio Ghibli and distributed by Toho, the film stars the voices of Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masahiko Nishimura, Morio Kazama, Keiko Takeshita, Mirai Shida, Jun Kunimura, Shinobu Otake, and Nomura Mansai.

[5] Juxtaposed with the historical events is a fictional romance of Horikoshi's, inspired by the similarly-named semi-autobiographical novel The Wind Has Risen by Tatsuo Hori.

In 1925, Jiro graduates with his friend Kiro Honjo, and both are employed at aircraft manufacturer Mitsubishi amidst the Great Depression.

Pivoting their plans, Mitsubishi sends Jiro and Honjo to the Weimar Republic in 1929 to obtain a production license for a Junkers G.38 aircraft, intending to build a bomber.

Wanted in connection with Castorp, Jiro hides at his supervisor Kurokawa's home while he works on a new fighter aircraft project for the Imperial Navy.

Caproni comforts him, saying that Jiro's dream of building beautiful aircraft was nonetheless realized, in the form of his masterpiece - the A6M 'Zero' fighter.

[17] The manga portrayed certain characters as anthropomorphized pigs, employing a design reminiscent of that seen in Miyazaki's film Porco Rosso (1992).

[21] The story in the manga follows the historical account of Horikoshi's aircraft development up to 1935 (the year of the Mitsubishi A5M's maiden flight),[22] and intertwines with fictional encounters with Caproni and Nahoko Satomi (里見菜穂子?).

[23] The scenes with Nahoko in the manga included elements from the novel The Wind Has Risen,[17] in which Tatsuo Hori wrote about his life experience with his fiancée, Ayako Yano (矢野綾子?

[24] Characters frequently discuss Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain, and, in a letter to Nahoko, Jiro names his fleeing German friend "Mr. Castorp" after its protagonist.

At first, Miyazaki rejected the proposal because he created the manga as a hobby and considered its subjects not suitable for children, the traditional audience of Studio Ghibli's features.

Matsutoya had collaborated with Studio Ghibli on Kiki's Delivery Service, which features her songs Rouge no Dengon (ルージュの伝言) and Yasashisa ni Tsutsumaretanara (やさしさに包まれたなら).

Producer Suzuki recommended "Hikō-ki Gumo" to Miyazaki in December 2012, feeling the lyrics resembled the story of The Wind Rises.

[30] "Das gibt's nur einmal" (English: It only happens once) is the German song Hans Castorp sings while playing the piano at Hotel Kusakaru in the film.

[31] The Wind Rises was to have been released simultaneously with The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, another Ghibli film by Isao Takahata, in Japan in mid-2013.

[39] Disney held a one-week release window in the Los Angeles theatrical circuit beginning on 8 November 2013, so that it could qualify for Academy Awards consideration.

In the United States, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on 18 November 2014.

The release includes supplement features with storyboards, the original Japanese trailers and TV spots, a "Behind the Microphone" featurette with members of the English voice cast, and a video from when the film was announced to be completed.

[citation needed] The film has grossed over $9 million from physical DVD and Blu-ray sales in the US as of April 2022[update].

The website's consensus reads: "The Wind Rises is a fittingly bittersweet swan song for director Hayao Miyazaki.

"[51] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 83 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

He wrote: "While initially jarring, Miyazaki's unapologetic deviations from fact help The Wind Rises to transcend the linearity of its expected structure, the film eventually revealing itself to be less of a biopic than it is a devastatingly honest lament for the corruption of beauty, and how invariably pathetic the human response to that loss must be.

[55] Scott Foundas of Variety wrote "The score by frequent Miyazaki collaborator Joe Hisaishi recalls Nino Rota in its lilting accordion-and-mandolin main theme.

"[61] In an interview with the Asahi Shimbun, Miyazaki said he had "very complex feelings" about World War II since, as a pacifist, he felt militarist Japan had acted out of "foolish arrogance".