The Tale of Princess Kaguya, by Studio Ghibli.

The previous drawing was made by: Ani Vardevaryan

The Tale of Princess Kaguya, another new Ghibli film that I have had the pleasure of seeing, somewhat different from the other films of this studio, something that stands out (and by a lot) is its animation style that makes it very different from other of their productions. Today I want to tell you a little about this film and the image it has left me as a viewer, I hope you like it.

The first thing we can appreciate in this film is its exquisite animation, the drawings seem to be made with brush strokes (so to speak), the sober lines and colors make the scenes look like paintings made by the best of painters, in some passages of the film you can notice the colors like watercolors, as if they were painted by hand (without any computerized technique). If like me, you appreciate all these details, you should definitely see this movie, it is actually a delight visually speaking.

The second thing to mention is that The Tale of Princess Kaguya is based on a traditional Chinese story called The Bamboo Cutter, so it is obvious to appreciate many aspects of Japanese culture in this film, it was written and directed by Isao Takahata, one of the founders of Ghibli and if you have seen his other films, I don’t have to tell you how talented he is. The soundtrack is in my opinion the weak point, it is not very engaging and becomes somewhat monotonous (perhaps because the rhythm of the music is a bit slow), although it fits perfectly with the moments of sadness and happiness that occur throughout the film.

I will try not to give spoilers by telling a little about trafficking: A humble bamboo cutter who lives in a small town in China, goes out to work one day, after cutting several bamboos he will find a very large and shiny one, full of curiosity he goes to cut it only to realize that at the root there is a little girl; Full of fear, he goes to where his wife and the two of them raise her; The elderly couple cannot have children, so they attribute the discovery as a miracle from the gods.

The little girl grows very quickly and her father (the bamboo cutter) decides that it is best to take her to the big city, since both the father and the mother think that the girl is sent from heaven and that she should be raised like a princess. So, they leave the small town leaving friends, anecdotes and happiness.

It is not until when the little girl leaves her adolescence that a wise old man names her Kaguya (which means “Bright Light”). Many men try to conquer her (even the emperor), but Kaguya lives very sad, because she never wanted to leave the small town where she lived. This will lead to a somewhat melancholic ending that will make us reflect on how good or bad we can become.

Definitely another Studio Ghibli film that has left me more than satisfied, I hope that you now dare to see it, then you can leave in the comments what you thought of it, if nothing else, I’ll see you next time. See you soon.

Translated using GPT 5.3 Codex