The Tale of the Princess Kaguya



"Children: Go round, go round, water wheel go round, Go round and call Mr. Sun, Bird, bugs, bees, grass, flowers, and trees, Spring, summer, autumn, winter, bring them all on."

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Japanese かぐや姫の物語, Hepburn Kaguya-hime no Monogatari) is a 2013 film directed by Isao Takahata and animated by Studio Ghibli partially based on the literary tale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. The film originally was planned for a release alongside Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises — which would be the first time two directors release a film simultaneously since 1988 — but was delayed due to production issues. It was Takahata's last film as a director before his death in 2018, and one of the final films from the studio before its restructuring. It is Takahata's first directorial credit since My Neighbors the Yamadas in 1999.

The film had a lengthy creation period. Takahata first expressed interest in adapting The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter back when he worked at Toei Animation, long before he even thought of starting an animation studio. The project was abandoned for over half a century, and Takahata revisited it fifty-five years later, with the announcement that Takahata was developing a new project in 2008. The film was in production for eight years, and is notable for being the most expensive anime film ever produced, with a budget of five billion yen, or $49.3 million USD.

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya was released to critical acclaim, being nominated for an Academy Award for the Best Animated Feature (although it lost to Big Hero 6), and an Annie Award for Best Animated Feature (losing to How to Train Your Dragon 2). It is one of the few films to have a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The story begins with a bamboo cutter — Sanuki no Miyatsuko — finding a girl — Later named Princess Kaguya — in a shoot, and taking her home and raising her. Princess Kaguya grows quickly, to the point where she is nicknamed Little Bamboo by the children around her. She begins playing with the children, and meets Sutemaru, the oldest of them, and develops a close friendship with him. Miyatsuko went back into the bamboo forest, where he is blessed with luxury clothes as well as gold. Using these, his family, including Kaguya, moves into the capital, away from the natural Arcadia lifestyle and her childhood friends. The rest of the film deals with Kaguya's internal conflict of the lifestyle pushed onto her by her parents, and her desire to return to her natural home. Kaguya slowly accepts her new lifestyle, but always kept her old one in mind.


 * Affectionate Nickname: Little Bamboo, given to Princess Kaguya by the children to reflect her rapid rate of growth.
 * Aliens Speaking English: Or Japanese, depending on which language track you're using. The people from the Moon are able to communicate with people on Earth easily.
 * All Just a Dream:
 * Arcadia: Princess Kaguya lives this lifestyle before she is forced to move to the city and live the life of loyalty. This is idealised, and elements of it are present throughout all aspects of the film, including life in the capital. Kaguya trying to return to this lifestyle and enjoy nature, outside of the expectations placed onto her by loyalty, is a conflict present throughout most of the film.
 * Arranged Marriage: The Emperor of Japan tries to arrange one with Kaguya. Kaguya refuses to accept this, instead.
 * This also occurs with the five prince suitors who are interested in her. Although she has a choice in which one to marry, and she sends them on a Fetch Quest, she is still expected to marry one of them.
 * Art Shift: The art style becomes much more sketchy and rough when Kaguya runs away from the mansion, and becomes much colder and more focused in the scenes following.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: Kaguya wishes that she doesn't have to marry the Emperor of Japan, and calls out to the moon for help.
 * Blue and Orange Morality: The
 * Character Title: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.
 * Costume Porn: In contrast to the people living in Princess Kaguya's village, the people living at the capital wears elaborate and decorative clothing. The clothes that Princess Kaguya wears serves as a visual representation of her transition from her childhood home to life in the capital. The scene where she runs away with Sutemaru has her throwing of the robes she is given, symbolising a transition back into her Arcadia lifestyle.
 * Deranged Animation: The animation style of the film adapts to Kaguya's emotions. In the scene where Kaguya runs away from the capital, the animation style becomes rough, unpolished, and uneven to reflect her sudden anger. Near the end of the film, when Kaguya reunites with Sutemaru, they run away together, and this is shown as them flying through the landscape. In addition, the last scene  feature plenty of usage of this trope, involving people running across water and sitting on clouds.
 * Downer Ending:
 * Easy Amnesia: Perhaps one of the easiest methods to induce amnesia in any piece of media:.
 * Engagement Challenge: Kaguya sends the five suitors each one of these, the objective being to fetch a rare item which they have compared her to.
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin: This film is, you guessed it, a tale about Princess Kaguya.
 * Fetch Quest: Kaguya's five suitors are asked to find the precious objects which they compared her to — such as the Jeweled Branch of Mount Horai and a robe of fire-rat fur — as a test of their loyalty.
 * Foreshadowing: The conflict between Kaguya's desire to be with nature or to live in the capital. This is established in a scene near the beginning of the film, where the children of the village calls her Little Bamboo and calls her to come. Her father calls her Princess and calls for her to come to him. She first walks towards the children — reflecting the Arcadia life that she lives for the first quarter of the film — but then walks towards her father — reflecting her life as royalty in the capital.
 * GASP: After the running away scene and falling in the snow, Kaguya wakes back up in the house she ran away from,, and GASPs at this sudden realisation.
 * Ghibli Hills: A common occurrence at the start of the film, present in almost all shots, depicted in a different, minimalist art style reflective of ancient Japanese paintings than Trope Namer Ghibli's usual lush green paintings.
 * Gilded Cage: Kaguya's home in the capital serves as this to her. It's luxurious and large, but she feels confined due to the expectations placed onto her. She resorts to having a slice of the Arcadia life she used to live, planting a small garden in the house.
 * Heroic BSOD: Princess Kaguya has one when she is told that Sutemaru and the children has moved away to another area where there are trees to chop. After hearing about this, she wonders away silently, collapsing in the snow.
 * Leitmotif: A rare example where the motif used is both diegetic and non diegetic. Kaguya's motif accompanies the opening credits, and appears in other places in the film as well. She also frequently sings it when she's playing with the children and Sutemaru.
 * MacGuffin: The items that Kaguya asks the suitors to bring her.
 * Narrator: In both the Japanese and English tracks, introducing audiences to the bamboo cutter which would serve as Kaguya's father in the opening. The narration continues on for the film, explaining actions of the characters without delving into Captain Obvious territory. This is used to develop and enhance the 'fairy tale' feeling of the film, alongside its art style.
 * Rags to Royalty: Princess Kaguya was found by commoners in a bamboo shoot they cut down. Later on, her father went into the forest to cut down bamboo, and gold spills out from one of plants he cuts. Her parents uses the gold to buy a mansion and to hire a tutor, aiming to make Kaguya into a proper princess. Unfortunately, she wishes to live in the countryside, away from the capital. Near the end of the film, this is subverted when.
 * Rebellious Princess: 'Princess' Kaguya, who refuses to do almost everything expected from a princess. She refuses to paint her teeth black, or to pull out her eyelashes, only doing so after much time and . Instead of dedicating herself to rigorous study, she instead chooses to play and run around her house.
 * Retraux: The art style of the film is reminiscent of early Japanese paintings, rather than Ghibli's usual style.
 * Rule of Symbolism: Kaguya is given a bird in a cage. She sets it free, seeing how the bird represents her, and the cage represents the mansion she is confined in. The bird flying away represents her desire to be with nature.
 * Scenery Porn: Occurs a lot in Kaguya's early childhood, with many shots focusing on distant mountains, greenery, or small animals. There are many shots of trees blossoming or flowers opening.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Princess Kaguya, running away after guests at her naming party demands to see her, but her father not permitting. Deranged Animation follows.
 * Single Tear: When Princess Kaguya's eyebrows are being picked out, serving as a sign for her getting further and further away from her childhood.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: When Kaguya is being, joyful and festive music plays in a scene which should be melancholic. The soundtrack eventually progresses to a depressing and sorrowful song, averting the usage of the trope in the later parts of the scene.
 * Ten-Minute Retirement: When Kaguya abandons her role as a princess and runs back to her childhood home. She shortly returns to the role when she discovers that
 * Time Skip: As the film follows the life of Princess Kaguya from birth to death, there are bound to be some of these scattered throughout the film. The skips from when Kaguya is a toddler to a child is noticeable, although many of the other skips are much more subtle and can easily be missed.
 * Weird Moon: In this case, the weirdness comes from size. In some shots of the film, notably the last one before the credits, the Moon takes up over half of the screen. The shot is made more weird by the lack of saturation when compared to the rest of the film.
 * World's Most Beautiful Woman: Princess Kaguya, to the point where even the Emperor of Japan took interest in her appearance, and Kaguya receives many letters from people waiting outside her palace. The five suitors race to her palace, causing a stampede and knocking bystanders into a river. "Narrator: As time went on, rumours of the princess's beauty grew, the streets outside the mansion became crammed with people, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious Princess Kaguya."


 * The X of Y: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, fitting in the formula The (common noun) of the (Proper Noun).