All of this takes place in the 1920s and 1930s, as the world arms up for war. "The Wind Rises" is a mild anti-war film (in an early scene, when Jiro beats up a school bully, his mother scolds him saying, "Fighting is never justified."), perhaps too mild, considering its topic. But Miyazaki sticks close to Jiro's journey, following him through his dreams, his schooling, his investigative trips to Germany, and his sweet courtship of the girl Naoko, who will become his wife. Still, with all of that, "The Wind Rises" has an uneasy undercurrent about what these "beautiful dreams" will become when used in warfare. Planes then turn into nightmares, raining death down on the people below.
In Jiro's dreams, the sky is filled with airplanes, swooping and colorful, like big fanciful paper birds, or benevolent bright dragons, harmless and buoyant.
As the film moves on, and as Mitsubishi competes for contracts with the army and navy, he realizes that what he is doing is designing a killing machine. There were many like him in his generation of early aviators and airplane engineers. Man had dreamt of being airborne for centuries. To defy gravity, to soar through the air—what an example of what humanity can do if it just dreams big enough!
Seiring perjalanan film, dan saat Mitsubishi berkompetisi dalam memperoleh kontrak di angkatan darat dan udara, ia sadar bahwa yang ia lakukan adalah merancang mesin pembunuh. Ada banyak yang seperti dirinya di generasi awal ahli penerbangan dan insinyur pesawat terbang. Orang telah bermimpi untuk terbang selama berabad-abad, Untuk menyangkal gravitasi, untuk melebarkan sayap di udara- sebuah contoh betapa kemanusiaan dapat melakukan itu semua hanya dengan bermimpi yang cukup besar.