#AGhibliADay #TheTaleOfThePrincessKaguya

Today we watched The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, the last film by Isao Takahata before his passing in 2018. Neither of us had seen it before, and I wish I'd liked it more.

Based on the The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, a Japanese folk tale, the movie follows Kaguya, from the moment she is born from a bamboo shoot to the moment she returns to the moon. It's a rather faithful adaptation, but there are a few changes/additions, like the inclusions of the village love interest Sutemaru and the noble teacher Lady Sagami, and the Emperor being kind of a dick. Takahata uses a similar visual style to what he used in My Neighbors the Yamadas, making it stand out from other Ghibli films. The film is also the longest of any Ghibli film, and is the most expensive animated film ever produced in Japan.

I don't know what lessons to draw from this film. Kaguya knows what she wants out of life, to play and work in the countryside, but subsumes those desires in deference to what her adoptive father wants, a large mansion in the city and many noble suitors. As such, Kaguya lives a miserable existence until her moon family comes to take her to her real home, and makes her forget everything she experienced on Earth. She doesn't want to go, because even though her existence was miserable, she loves her adoptive parents, and she certainly doesn't want to forget her experiences, but she has no choice. She forgets, and she goes back to the moon, and the film ends.

There are interesting bits in the middle, right after Kaguya and her parents come to the city. She is supposed to be learning how to be a proper princess from the put-upon Lady Sagami, and the usual country-person-trying-to-be-a-noble-person shenanigans occur. There is also the character of Menowarawa, one of Kaguya's ladies-in-waiting, who has the best design of the whole film. She is tiny and plump, and has the most amazing facial expressions.

Yeah, I don't know. This is not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, but I was expecting it to be so much better than it was. If you're interested in the story, but aren't interested in watching this 137-minute film, then read the original folk tale instead. It's a decent story, just like the film based on it, but it won't take you as long to finish.