When the Wind Blows · reception & legacy
1986 · Jimmy T. Murakami
How When the Wind Blows has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Released into the thick of 1980s nuclear dread alongside Threads and The Day After, it was respectfully received as the 'animated one' of the bunch — now it's climbed into the canon of most-devastating films ever, a fixture on 'movies that broke me' lists.
What's debated
The perennial fight is whether it out-devastates Grave of the Fireflies and Threads — and whether anyone can honestly claim to have watched it twice.
Its footprint
It's the ultimate 'from the makers of The Snowman' whiplash — the gentle Raymond Briggs watercolour style weaponised — and David Bowie's title song gives it a cultural afterlife well beyond animation circles.
Where it stands
A cult 'one-watch masterpiece': beloved, endlessly recommended with warnings attached, and a staple of Letterboxd saddest-films lists.