The Tale Of Princess Kaguya is a retelling of the Japanese legend of the Bamboo Cutter that Studio Ghibli released in 2014. The movie is accurate to the myth, but some parts of the story do happen off scene. The art in the movie is amazing and is among the best that studio Ghibli has ever released.
Once upon a time their was a Bamboo Cutter and his wife could not have children. One day while in the field the Bamboo Cutter cut down a bamboo stalk and found a child siting on a lotus whom he named Princess. Seeing her as a blessing from the heavens the Bamboo Cutter took her home and raised her as his own daughter.
One day the Bamboo Cutter is out cutting bamboo when he finds massive gold and a royal robe. Convinced Kaguya to be some form of divine royalty the Bamboo Cutter uses the money to move to the Capital where he becomes a noblemen. Kaguya then is raised in a life of luxury and leisure.
The Bamboo Cutter becomes over bearing forcing his daughter to become the princess he see her as. This makes her miserable and she longs for a simple life in the country. Once she comes of age every man in the kingdom wants to marry her because of her unearthly beauty.
Kaguya refused to marry her suitors because she did not want to belong to a man who saw her as an object. Her refusal to marry did not discourage her suitors and she drew the attention of the five most powerful princes in the land. Kaguya devised a series of quests for the princes to prove their worth to her. Each of the five princes failed in their quest and went home in shame or died.
This did not end the unwanted attention from suitors that she received as in turning down the five most powerful princes drew the attention of the Emperor who having heard of her beauty desired to make her his wife. Kaguya refused to marry the Emperor even under pain of death.
The Emperor unlike the other princes does not take no for an answer and travels to her house. Not taking rejection well he tries to rape her and she disappears. In despair Kaguya heart calls out to the moon and the moon hears her prayer. The people of the moon take place a robe on her that cause her to forget her time on earth as they ascend to the heaven.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya is a story about appreciating our life and the people in it. The transition of Princess Kaguya from the mortal world to the Moon is symbolic of death. Even though she does not technical die in the film she does leave the earth ,which makes her effectively dead in the eyes of her parents. She is gone forever and her parents morn her toward the end of the film. This movie has quickly become my favorite anime film and I encourage you all to watch it.
Moral of the Story: Life is short so appreciate the people in it , for you will never know when they are gone.
