The Wind Rises

You are all going to think of my as an incredibly sappy, weak and emotional person.  I don't care.

The English trailer for The Wind Rises, the last film from Hayao Miyazaki has been released.  I can tell already from the small segments shown in the trailer that Miyazaki has only gotten better at his craft with age.

I was able to keep it together for mostly the entire trailer, until the "Farewell Masterpiece" came up.

Then it hit me.

This man, whom I have never met, has been telling me stories and taking me on journeys since I was 12 years old, when I watched Princess Mononoke for the first time at a friends house.  He has told me tale after tale, and now he is finished.  I took him for granted all this time, and I never thought that he would really stop.  I've learned a lot in that time, and some of my morals have been shaped explicitly by some of Miyazaki's films.

I learned leadership skills from Naussica, I finally figured out how to make someone laugh from Lupin, and through nearly all of them I was indulged in my passion for flight.

Now in his final piece, he is waving goodbye.  Someone I never met, wrote or spoke to has given me years of lessons and is now waving his hand as he departs this medium.

It is sad to see him go.

I am reminded of a poem by Christina Rossetti

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
the wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow their heads,
The wind is passing by.

Farewell Miyazaki, thanks for everything.