Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
zozozee
Based on a popular Japanese folktale, The Tale of Princess Kaguya is a profound metaphor for the process of growing up as a girl— the journey from carefree youth to a life of enforced discipline and policing simply because we are women. Kaguya's parents believe they act in her best interest, but they never ask HER what she truly wants for herself. They see their daughter as a blessing from heaven, and everything they gain afterward is poured into raising her to be the "princess" they believe her beauty has destined her to become. Yet they fail to see that what truly makes her happy is not gold or silk or courtly admiration, but the simple pleasures of a life where she is free.
What makes the film so devastating is that there are no true villains. Her parents are not cruel; they are simply…
Read at the sourcejay_quelin
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter has always eluded me at a young age. When I was a child, I watched Sesame Street's 1988 special "Big Bird in Japan," where the story was inserted within Big Bird's adventures in Kyoto. I never understood the full picture until now. Here, Studio Ghibli reinvisioned the classic Japanese folktale in a way that's much more entertaining and much easier to understand. The movie is long and the sketch animation might take some getting used to. But once you get past the first twenty minutes or so, you'll find yourself wanting to see things through. The story incorporates some feminist undertones about how Japanese women were treated during the Heian period. It emphasizes how women were upheld to strict standards of beauty, and unreasonable expectations of behavior and…
Read at the sourceSupersonic_Pain
Prior to today, something I took some twisted contrarian pride in but also a good deal of shame in was that I'd never seen a Ghibli movie. It's just one of those things that always slid under my radar (generally because I'm not a huge anime movie watcher, it's generally gotta be thrust upon me or part of something I was already watching).
However, one of the movies that fascinated me most from Ghibli's filmography was this little movie called The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.
Obviously Ghibli films infamously look good almost always but the hand-drawn style looked really appealing, like an old Japanese folk tale come to life.
And that's really the best way I can describe this movie.
From the sense of wonder built in the first few minutes when we see Kaguya as a child to the morality pla…
Read at the sourceTheGOF
The greatest film of, in my opinion, animanga's greatest ever director. Takahata Isao spent years toiling away at this project and you can feel the care, love and attention in every frame. He intended this to be his magnum opus and it certainly is. His preoccupation with the simple beauties of life, with rural landscape, with familial connection, with slowly growing up, all come to fruition in this film. Takahata finds the real love story in Kaguya's love for her family- it's a stunning re-invention of the fairytale in a telling that feels otherwise traditional. There are numerous unforgettable sequences, but ones that really spring to mind are Kaguya fleeing her naming ceremony and the incredible descent of the moon's army. This is the closest you'll get to a 10/10 anime.
Read at the sourcemaya_kotori
This is one of those films that so many people praised that I finally had to see for myself what the hype was about and honestly, I have nothing to criticize. It’s a rare kind of film that feels both ancient and timeless, delicate yet emotionally powerful. I’ll admit, at the very beginning I wasn’t sure what to think. For a moment I wondered if it might end up being a bit strange or even boring, and I almost questioned whether I should keep watching. But then the story slowly revealed itself that I found myself completely drawn in. The animation style is breathtaking in its simplicity, almost like a moving watercolor painting. The emotional depth of Kaguya’s journey, her longing, her joy, her sorrow, all felt incredibly real. Once the plot unfolded, I was fully immersed, and by the time th…
Read at the sourceGraciana
This film is so beautiful. It was a mixed feeling, but as a woman, it was a happy ending for Princess Kaguya, finding peace away from greed and the people who disturbed her. She deserved better! She is young and is supposed to be happy, free, and live her life, but has held back from the things she once loved. Anyway, you will love every female character in this movie, and hate how the childhood friend was willing to run away with her when he had a wife and a child, LIKE WHAT. The beginning made me smile a lot, but then… BLAME THE GRANDPA.
Read at the sourceelumizu
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya feels like witnessing a delicate painting slowly come to life. The story moves with a quiet elegance, unfolding like a folktale whispered across generations. Beneath its gentle beauty lies a deeply emotional exploration of freedom, expectation, and the fleeting nature of happiness. The film follows the life of Princess Kaguya, a mysterious girl discovered inside a glowing bamboo stalk by a humble bamboo cutter. Believing the child to be a divine blessing, he and his wife raise her with affection as she grows at an extraordinary speed, transforming from an infant into a young girl in what feels like mere moments. During her early years in the countryside, Kaguya experiences a joyful and simple life surrounded by nature and childhood friends. These scenes carr…
Read at the sourceBee-ku
I saw this movie with my mom and we both agree that this movie handles a beautiful story, it has emotional moments, characters that you like and characters that you dislike, but we also agree that the ending is a bit bittersweet. I understand the message the movie wants to leave, your happiness is more important than any material thing and once you realize that it may be too late. There are movies that handle this moral in different ways but on this occasion, this movie made me understand the message well from beginning to end. I want to add that my mom was a fan of the animation that this movie had, it was just beautiful.
Read at the sourceMob_Psykos
A Tragic Masterpiece
Story: 10/10 A+
Animation/Art: 11/10 S-
Sound: 9/10 A-
Characters: 10/10 A+
Acting(subbed): 10/10 A+
Overall: 12/10 S+
TLDR:
This is an absolute masterpiece of a film. It truly feels like the love child of a genius. You can feel the amount of passion, love, and dedication that was poured into this film. Story wise it's perfect. It's emotional, funny, and tragic and is very well-paced. The animation is incredible, full of expression and its simplicity allows for such dynamic and incredible movement. Unfortunately, the art style may not be to your liking but I for one love it. The music is amazing for this movie, as with most Studio Ghibli movies, but unfortunately, despite it certainly amplifying the effect of many scenes, none of the music particularly stands out as t…
Read at the sourcethelastavocado
A miraculous girl,
Ah, what a nice main character to write a story about... As expected, Studio Ghibli made another masterpiece that shines like a star.
This story made me feel like, wow, how can they make such a good and long storyline? The film itself is 2 hours but it feels like a season of anime actually. And beside being long, it's fascinating... Princess Kaguya's life is just like the princesses in our child stories. The one who seeks for true love and honesty, not wealth and power. Princess meets a bunch of noble people, who just cares about valuable things in this world. But the truth is, she never cared about tangible things. She wanted to feel like living. She wanted to have fun with some true friends. She wanted to have a honest husband who loves her because he treasures her.…
Read at the sourceHoozyOne
Most of the film can easily be considered a masterpiece in all aspects, but the final act sours the experience. The ending is great though! And fits in with the message the authors are trying to tell.
The final act introduces the secret background of Kaguya rapidly, which feels like an exposition dump and sours the experience. If those elements had been introduced in small pieces throughout the story, the pacing would have been fine and the ending would have had a greater emotional impact on the viewer.
The hand-crafted animation is beautiful, one of the best in animated media overall, and definitely elevates the emotions one can feel for the main character.
If not for anything else, Kaguya-hime no Monogatari makes one just a little bit more intrigued by Japanese literature.
Read at the sourceAtsunome
Kaguya-hime no monogatari is yet another beautiful addition to the Studio Ghibli movie collection. In fact, with its unique and hand-drawn art style, I might actually argue this is the most beautiful of them all.
Story & Characters: 7/10
Now, since this is technically a remake of an existing story (albeit with some improvements), I can’t give it full marks in either of these sections. If you’ve already read/heard of the original Bamboo Cutter story, this is all around a pretty faithful adaptation to film.
Sound: 9/10
Beautiful. Just stunning. I would expect nothing less of Ghibli, to be honest. I don’t have much else to say, as this is one of those aspects you really have to experience for yourself to understand.
Animation: 10+/10
Sorry, Shinkai, but we have a new winner for “best anim…
Read at the sourceyuurei_tokyo
I decided to watch this movie because I had seen a lot of people praise it as one of Ghibli's best films, but sadly, it did not live up to the hype for me. Without further ado, let's get into my thoughts:
Art and Animation: 10/10
Most of the positive things I have to say about Kaguya-hime are regarding its art style. This movie is incredibly visibly appealing, with its gentle brushstrokes and flowing movements. If I had to pick one thing that I didn't like about it, I would say that the colors could afford to be a bit more vibrant, but that doesn't detract from my admiration of the visual aspects of this movie.
Sound: 7/10
I watched this in the English dub, and the voice cast was of good quality. The score was nice as well, but it didn't particularly stick out for me.
Story: 3/10
I kne…
Read at the source0ri00
It is a fantastic film, with spectacular and unique animation, despite not having much dialogue, the film shows its message very clearly and is very beautiful, also the animation as if it were all painted like watercolors gives it a magical and surreal touch.
The story introduces us to a totally different world, in addition to showing the greed of the human being and how far he would go to feel that he is self-satisfied, showing that we have a nature rooted in lies.
It is a film that in my opinion transports you to a place full of different problems, but at the same time everything is so magical, in addition to showing or leaving us a reflective air when it ends.
Read at the sourceInter_anime
Critically acclaimed anime can be a lot like fine wine: to the cultured individual is can be exquisite, but to those without a refined palate it’s hard to tell apart from the regular stuff. I probably fall into the latter because while “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” is certainly a good movie, I fail to see why so many consider it so great.
Starting with the strongest aspect of the film, the art here is special and unique. Every scene looks like it was hand painted or drawn in a distinctly homemade way. Apparently this is one of the most expensive animated films ever produced, you can tell director Isao Takahata invested a lot of care in this. I think the story too has its strengths, that you can’t force someone to be something their not, as Kaguya’s dad tries to force her to be a noble…
Read at the sourceelijahahmed1005
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is a 2013 anime film based on the oldest surviving folklore narrative in Japan from the late 9th or 10th century called The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. It was produced by Studio Ghibli and was the last movie Isao Takahata, the director of beloved films such as Grave of the Fireflies and Only Yesterday, made before his tragic death in 2018.
The film starts with a bamboo cutter who finds a glowing light coming out of a bamboo shoot. He finds a miniature girl inside the shoot and believes her to be a princess and of divine royalty. He then takes her home where he and his wife decide to raise her as their daughter. The princess grows at a rapid rate like a bamboo shoot and soon enough makes friends with the other village kids who nickname her Little Bamboo. Kagu…
Read at the sourceMur-CuoreDiVirgo
Princess Kaguya is an anime which really surprised me for its genuineness, simplicity but especially the remarkable visual art style based on a particular “pastel” effect, where I could really and genuinely feel on each single frame all the passion of its artist.
I found some of the scenes of this anime really memorable, especially the one with the princess running, where I was able to feel the movement like few other cases (I don’t give any other detail to avoid spoilers). The anime story for my knowledge should be based on a real popular Japanese tale, and it’s nothing but delicious and tender.
A great work from dear master Isao Takahata from Studio Ghibli (before he unfortunately passed away) which I truly recommend! Good bye dear master Isao Takahata, and thanks for your great work…
Read at the sourceTwistedTempest23
This movie is absolutely bugging out.
My lack of feelings regarding Studio Ghibli as a company should have allowed me to review this movie as objectively as possible, but those missing feelings are actually what made me deduct this movie from the status I think it could've achieved.
This movie starts out as a masterpiece, descends in the middle, reaches almost the same heights as its beginning towards the end, and then shits the bed completely at the finish line. The art style is a little bit hard to get used to at first but reaches its true heights during the scenes like Kaguya's dream and her reencountering Sutemaru in the cart, the sound is consistently exceptional in both the music and voice acting, and the characters are all compelling in their own unique ways, from the greed of the…
Read at the sourcelamaraptor
For how prevalent the Tale of Princess Kaguya is in Japanese culture and how often you see it's influence in various anime, I can say I honestly never actually knew the original story very well. Sometimes also called the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, it's one of Japan's oldest surviving stories. Obviously, like many a European folk tale, it's influence is going to sink deep into almost any narrative written in that culture. So I view an anime film like this less as a form of entertainment and more as a study of culture and a fascinating look into history, and how that history is viewed through a modern lens.
It's clear that the treatment of women has changed quite a bit since the time this tale is meant to take place. Heck, it's not controversial to say it's changed pretty drastically in jus…
Read at the sourceLucentRivers
There's a danger here, which Studio Ghibli has willfully evoked, of misinterpreting the oldest surviving novel in Japanese history. I've seen this story adapted in other formats, or given a small nod to in other media like the game Okami, and even just reading short plot synopses of the various ancient versions of the original tale evokes something more than this film did.
The overall story is there, true, but character development is muddled, and some characters, such as the Emperor and the bamboo cutter are turned into rather indecent characters, removing the restrained, bittersweet maturity of the original tale.
The art and music are fairly par for the course for Ghibli. It's a nice getaway for a couple of hours, though... overlong and boring at times. There are some tacked on fligh…
Read at the source
