Kaguya Princess Story

Directed by
 Music by
 Budget
(5.15 billion Yen)

Kaguya Princess Story (also known as The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) is a 2013 toho anime film,Directed by Takahata Isao.

## Plot

Once upon a time, live taking a bamboo mountain village Weng and Ona was purchased. One day in early spring, Okina finds a princess that fits in the palm of his shining bamboo shoot and takes it home. The princess turned into a human-sized baby within the same day, and was brought up as an "gift from heaven" by Okina and Sai. Immediately after becoming a baby, he grew quickly and became a girl in about half a year. The princess is called a “bamboo shoot” by the children of the woodblock teacher who lives nearby, including a boy, Sutemaru , and grows up innocently while playing with them in nature. From an early age, the princess knew the children's songs that celebrated the natural activities of the children, and also remembered another song with different verses and lyrics. The song made her cry in her eyes, but she didn't know why. On the other hand, Okina, who had repeated the experience of giving gold (gold particles) and luxurious clothes from glowing bamboo, thought that "Tenga commanded the princess to grow brilliantly," and said, "Raise to a noble princess and begin to see him. That's the happiness of the princess," he said, building a mansion in the city and moving in the fall.

The princess is disciplined as a "noble princess" by Sagami, a female officer invited by Okina from the palace . During the lessons taught by Sagami, the princess was just playing and playing around. However, in the front of the old man, Sagami did the manners properly as a princess astonishingly. Eventually, the princess will be given the name of " Princess Kaguya Nayotake ", and an adult ritual ( dressing ) and a reception party will be held. However, the drunken party uttered an abusive word against the old man to insult the princess. Upon hearing this, the princess jumps out of the mansion, strips off her costume and continues to run, and arrives at her home in the mountains in her native clothes. There are no wooden masters in the village there, and a charcoal man I met said that the wooden master would not return here for 10 years. The man replies to the princess, "Isn't the mountain dead?" The princess fell and fell in the snow, but when she noticed, she returned to the mansion wearing her original costume.

Since then, the princess has stopped acting and behaves well according to Sagami's teachings. Next spring, in front of the mansion, there were many men who welcomed the princess to their wives. Eventually, five young nobleman ( Kurumaji prince , Ishitsukuri son , Abe udaijin , Otomo Dainagon - Ishigami Chunagon ) visit to the suitor aligned. The princes, who praise the princess as an unusual treasure, asked the princes to bring the treasures with which they were compared to themselves as proof of their feelings. The officials pulled out stunnedly, and Sagami also left the mansion to teach the princess who refused to marry. The men in front of the gate disappeared when the public returned. The princess, who was pleased with this , goes out to see the cherry blossoms with her maiden and maid girl . Along the way, I found a wonderful cherry tree and headed underneath it, but I was shocked that a family of a low-grade child who collided with myself fell asleep and asked for forgiveness, and I returned home without seeing the cherry blossoms. .. Along the way, he was more sad when he saw Shunmaru, who was chased of suspected theft, and faced sanctions against the theft.

Three years later, officials claiming to have brought their treasures appeared, but it was revealed that they were counterfeit and that they had been tampered with in order to attract the attention of the princess. The princess blamed herself and mourned when Nakagami Ishigami died in an accident to obtain the treasure. However, Gomon is interested in Kaguyahime as "a woman who takes the five princes as a bean," and tries to invite him to the palace. To the princess who doesn't serve even if she replaces her life, Mikado sneaks into the mansion and tries to hug and take her. At that moment, the princess disappears. At the call of the amazed Gomon, the princess appeared, and she said, "I believe that the next will come to me," and went up to the Gosho.

Since this event, the princess began to look up at the sky alone on a moonlit night. When Okina and Nii asked the reason, she revealed that she was "a person who has been put down from the moon on the ground", and unconsciously called for help during the visit to the gate, saying, "I don't want to be here." Will be picked up from the moon on the 15th of." The elder said that he wanted only the happiness of the princess, but he exclaimed that the "happiness" that the elder wanted was not painful to him (the princess), but came to the earth with his origin as a result of the visit of the gate. I remembered the reason, the meaning of the children's song, and going back to the moon. I cried down because I didn't want to go back to the moon.

The princess whispered to the kite, a heavenly man who had returned from the earth on the moon  , singing a song (another "child song") meaning "I'll come back soon if I'm really waiting" Tell him about the experience of seeing tears, saying, "I can now understand the feelings of the heavenly man, and I want to go home again." The puppet hides the princess away from her and makes her head to the hometown mountain where the bush was picked up. At about the same time, the woodworkers such as the grown up rounds had just returned to the mountain. Princess, who reunited with Sutemaru, may have been happy with Sutemaru, but said, "It's too late to escape." Even so, the princess was pleased with the circumcision "I want to escape with you." The two danced in the air with mysterious powers, held hands, and hugged each other. However, when the moon appeared in the sky, the two were separated, and Aize was recognized by Sutemaru as a dream. Sutemaru returned to the wooden masters with his wife and children.

On the night of the full moon on August 15, a group of celestial celebs greet the princess on a cloud in the old mansion guarded by samurai. The heavenly people slept those who had defended themselves with an unknown power. Furthermore, the princess loses her sanity and invites her body to the clouds. When he tries to put on Heaven's robe, which loses the memory of the earth as recommended by the heavenly people, the princess regains her sanity when he hears the children's songs sung by the girls and children. Meanwhile, Okina and Kai were invited to the cloud with the princess. The princess begs the heavenly man for a moment now. The heavenly man ( King of the Moon ) tolerates it, and the princess weeps and farewell to the old man and his niece. In response to the words of the heavenly female officer who says, "If you return to the moon, you will not be disturbed and the dirt on the ground will disappear." Dressed up, the princess leaves with the party. As he suddenly noticed on leaving, the princess who turned around to the Earth had tears in her eyes, even though she should have lost her memory of life on Earth.

## Cast

1. Yuji Miyake recorded additional dialogue for the bamboo cutter following Takeo Chii's death.

## Staff

* Draft/Director- Isao Takahata
* Production- Saichiro Ujiie
* Production Name- Yoshio Okubo
* Planning- Toshio Suzuki
* Original Work- " Taketori Story "
* Screenplay-Isao Takahata, Riko Sakaguchi
* Music- Joe Hisaishi (Soundtrack/ Tokuma Japan Communications )
* Performance- Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
* Person modeling and drawing design- Osamu Tanabe
* Art- Kazuo Oga
* Animation Director- Kenichi Konishi
* Drawing- Shinji Hashimoto , Takayuki Hamada, Masashi Ando , Akiko Yamaguchi
* Edit- Toshihiko Kojima
* Recording production- Naoko Asashi
* Recording-Eihiko Ohno
* Harmony-Koji Kasamatsu
* Effect-Tomoko Otsuka
* Painting and pattern drawing-Masaya Saito
* Color drawing inspection-Noriko Akiyama
* Special Scene Design- Yoshiyuki Momose
* CG-Tomonari Nakajima
* Assistant storyboard- Masako Sato , Shinsaku Sasaki , Shinji Hashimoto
* Video inspection-Maiko Nogami
* Color designation-Yukiko Kakita
* Finishing inspection-Fumie Kawamata, Kumi Nanjo
* Director of Photography-Keisuke Nakamura
* Special Sponsor- KDDI / Aiful Home
* Special Cooperation- Lawson / Yomiuri Shimbun
* Advertising Producer-Akito Takahashi/Tomoko Hosokawa
* Production- Seiji Okuda , Ryoichi Fukuyama, Naoya Fujimaki
* Drawing cooperation - anime ass , answer studio - Oh! Production - Ozawa Design Works , Kyushu animation , connect , studio cockpit - studio Comet , Takuranke , Tatsunoko , David production , video studio , Nakamura production , Japan animation , clown , project team, Sarah・Vega Entertainment・Bonds・Magic Bath・Mad House・Yuhodo・Leiden Film Osaka Studio・Japanese Animation・APPP・C2C・MAA MOPICS・Production IG・STUDIO 4℃・Wish
* Finishing Cooperation-Wish, Animation, Time , Egelnest , Anitas Kobe , Studio Gimlet
* Production cooperation-T2 studio/Kentaro Takahashi
* Production- Koji Hoshino Studio Ghibli
* Producer- Yoshiaki Nishimura

## Review

Goji888888888889 has reviewed the first 40 minutes of the film and rankaned it 4/5 stars!

## Titles

* Kaguya Princess Story (The Original Japanese poster title)
* The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (The Original Worldwide release title)
* Tale of kaguya (Forgotten original spoken title)

## Production

### The origin of the project

Immediately after joining Takahata Isao (1959), Toei Animation (now Toei Animation ) introduced the planning of an animation movie for "Taketori Monogatari" directed by Tomu Uchida . This project was not realized due to various reasons, but at this time, the plot that was invented by Takahata but became the cause of this work is  ..

### Production process

In the first half of the 2000s, " Heike Monogatari " was a strong candidate as a director's work plan for Isao Takahata, following "Horokeke next to Yamada-kun"  . However, due to reasons such as Osamu Tanabe , who was appointed as an indispensable staff from Takahata, did not agree with the description of the violent scene, he was abandoned  . Around 2005, Toshio Suzuki recalled that Takahata once said that "Taketori Monogatari" should be visualized, and proposes it as a project  . A dedicated person  was also placed and started, but the project was interrupted at the end of 2005 because Tanabe could not draw the picture necessary to proceed with the project  . At this stage, Takahata had not stated that he would undertake the director .

The project resumed in 2006 after the release of " Ged Senki ", and Yoshiaki Nishimura joined in charge  . Toshio Suzuki is as a new planning Shugoro Yamamoto presented a "Yanagibashi story" of, but for the first time Tanabe in 2007 drew a picture of the character, Takahata refused and can not make a movie in this picture, their own Norio Akasaka of He proposed a project based on "The birth of a lullaby"  . Over a year has been spent on this project, and Takahata agreed to accept the director during that time, but it is concluded that it is difficult to make a movie  . In the spring of 2008, the project was returned to "Taketori Monogatari" again, and was officially decided on May 8 of the same year  . However, the work of Tanabe's painting did not proceed, and the first person in charge left the board, and the remaining Nishimura decided to make the script first  . The first draft was completed in February 2009 by a scriptwriter  of an acquaintance in Nishimura, but it did not match Takahata's intention, and then Takahata himself wrote it, but the progress was slow, soSakaguchi Riko was added for further study, and the preparation draft was completed in October  . This preparatory draft officially determines production at Studio Ghibli  . Around this time, on September 29, a "preparation room" was opened in the first studio in which the main body of Ghibli was located, and from December the storyboard work by Osamu Tanabe started  .

During this time, it reported that the new movie of Takahata in October 2009 is that the "Taketori Monogatari" to the original  , in January 2010, " Shukan Bunshun is Takahata himself in the article," "bamboo preparative story "and" to the original wildlife caricature stated that the work of such drawn in touch as "  . Takahata said in "Weekly Bunharu" that "I want to make a completely different impression without changing the story. It may be a little ahead without progressing quite a bit," he said.

A draft prepared by Sakaguchi in April 2010 was prepared, and received high praise among related parties  . A private studio will be opened on the south side of Higashi Koganei Station in June, and in the same month Kazuo Oga will be participating as an art director  . However, even after that, the storyboards and character painting by Tanabe and Takahata were still slow. In order to break the stagnation, a pilot film was created by Toshio Suzuki as a company's life, and was completed in 2011, but internal evaluation was severe regarding whether it could be a feature film  . As the next means, we will carry out prescoring with the aim of obtaining the image of the character . The first Presco took place in August-September 2011  . In order to improve the progress of storyboard work, a rough storyboard as a base was created by a person other than Tanabe  . In the fall of 2011, the simultaneous release of this work and Hayao Miyazaki 's work " Kazetachinu " will be decided within Studio Ghibli  . Yoshiaki Nishimura notes that this decision was a "large bang" that he worked with Toshio Suzuki to inspire Takahata and restore the schedule .

In February 2012, moved production base to the wider "7th Studio"  . 2012 theaters on December 13, on the same day as "unexpected Standing Wind"  have been announced, about a month working in November of this just before the field is stopped, production continues Fall into the situation that is asked  . It decided to continue after increasing the number of staff  but it was a delicate situation for simultaneous disclosure  . The storyboard completed at the end of 2012 was equivalent to 96 minutes, and about 300 cuts, which was 1/4, were unfinished  . Eventually, on February 4, 2013, the postponement of the publication to the autumn of the same year was announced. Then, it was announced in August that the release date would be November 23 of the same year  . The storyboard was completed on March 23, 2013 (subsequent minor revisions)  .

Toshio Suzuki stated after the publication that this work had the intention of "I wanted to do an experiment", including not only the work itself, but also the staff organization and fund collection that only outsource  . For this reason, Suzuki continued to decline even when Yoshimura Nishimura requested assistance from Ghibli staff  . Also, when the production delay became serious, he asked Nishimura, "Which is the most important? The work or Mr. Takahata?" When Nishimura replied that the work was open, he told Takahata to be dismissed (also an option). has revealed that  .

In the background of the production decisions of this work, Takahata supervision work especially a favorite "Yamada-kun of Hohokekyo next to" Nippon Television president (at the time), Seiichiro Ujiie that there is an intention that "I want to see the new work of Takahata supervision" of  . Ujiya passed away in March 2011 without seeing the completion of the work, but due to his involvement, the name was recorded as "production" in the advertising material and work credits  . In addition, "The Road to "Kaguya Hime no Monogatari"" published in the monthly storyboard of the storyboard states that this statement was made by Ujiie when he was in the process of planning "The birth of a lullaby.  .

### Music

The music was in charge of Shinichiro Ikebe in the announcement in 2012, but was changed to Joe Hisaishi after entering 2013  . It is Takahata who used Hisaishi in " Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind ", and Hisaishi has participated in Hayao Miyazaki's work for many years since then , but this is the first time he participates in Takahata's work  . Hisaishi's participation was made possible by the change in the scheduled release date due to production delays and the fact that he no longer batting with "Kazedachi"  . Regarding the reason for his appointment, it is said that Takahata liked the music from the movie " Bad guy " that Hisaishi worked on in 2010 . Hisaishi says that Takahata was asked to make three points when he made music, saying "I don't express the feelings of the characters," "I don't care about the situation," and "I don't want to upset the feelings of the audience . " Hisaishi has long wanted to participate in Takahata's works, and stated that after the movie was released, "I feel like my dream for 30 years has come true"  .

### Casting

Although many general entertainers have been appointed as seen in many Ghibli animation works in this work, this work was a posthumous work for one of them, Takeo Chii  . The recording of the line that Chii was in charge ended in 2011 because it adopted the Presco format that blows the voice before the completion of the drawing , and you can check the performance before you get sick  . Most of the scenes were handled by Chii, but Yuji Miyake served as a substitute for the re-recording of a total of 6 scenes where dialogue changes and breath adjustments were made near the completion of his death  .

The role of the main character Kaguya princess became an audition, Aki Asakura was selected from about 300 candidates (finally narrowed down to about 50)  . The decisive factor was that Asakura's sadness was "with regret", said Nishimura Yoshiaki  . In addition to Asakura, Takimoto Miori participated in this audition, at which time Takimoto was recommended as the role of Nahoko in " Kaze Tachinu" and was officially appointed later  .

### Extra

As a child, Takahata read *The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter*. He recalled that he struggled to relate and sympathize with the protagonist; to him, the "heroine’s transformation was enigmatic" and that it "didn’t evoke any empathy from [him]". In 1960, Takahata was preparing for a potential adaptation for his employer Toei Animation, which eventually was abandoned. After rereading the tale, he realized the story's potential to be entertaining, as long as an adaptation allowed the audience to understand how Princess Kaguya felt.

Studio Ghibli revealed that Isao Takahata was working on a feature-length film in 2008. Takahata announced at the 62nd Locarno International Film Festival in 2009 that he intended to direct a film based on the anonymous Japanese literary tale *The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter*.

*The Tale of the Princess Kaguya* was financed by Nippon TV, whose late chairman, Seiichiro Ujiie, gave ¥5 billion (approximately $40 million) towards the project. Ujiie loved Takahata's work, and pleaded with Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki to let Takahata make one more film. Ujiie died on 3 March 2011, but not before being able to view the script and some of the storyboards.

To make sure the audience emotionally connected with the film, it was important to Takahata that viewers were able to "imagine or recall the reality deep within the drawings", rather than be distracted by a realistic art style. He wanted to have people "recollect the realities of this life by sketching ordinary human qualities with simple props". To assist with this vision, Osamu Tanabe provided the character designs and animation, and Kazuo Oga drew the watercolor backgrounds.

The release of *The Tale of the Princess Kaguya* was finally confirmed by Studio Ghibli and distributor Toho on 13 December 2012.

## Release

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya was initially announced to be released simultaneously with The Wind Rises, another Ghibli film by Hayao Miyazaki in Japan in the summer of 2013, which would have marked the first time that the works of the two directors were released together since the release of the films My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies in 1988. However, in February 2013, distributor Toho announced that the release of Kaguya-Hime no Monogatari would be delayed to Fall 2013, citing concerns that the storyboards were not yet complete. On 12 March 2014, independent distributor GKIDS announced that it had acquired the US rights for the film and that it would release an English dub version produced by Studio Ghibli and Frank Marshall. Chloë Grace Moretz is the voice of the title character in the English dub. It was released in select theatres in North America on 17 October 2014 and was also released on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan on 3 December 2014. The film was selected to be screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Its North American première took place at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival during the festival's "Masters" program.

### Box office

The film debuted at first place during its opening weekend in Japan, grossing ¥284 million ($2.8 million). By 2 February 2014, the film had grossed ¥2,313,602,733 ($22,613,153) at the Japanese box office. The film went on to gross ¥2.47 billion ($25.35 million) in Japan, where it was the eleventh top-grossing Japanese film of 2014.

Overseas, the film grossed $703,232 in North America, and $969,920 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $27.02 million.

#### Award and nomination

The nominations and awards for the movie awards are as follows. The final selection for the Academy Award-winning animated film award is second only to Hayao Miyazaki as the Japanese director.

In addition, director Isao Takahata won the special prize "Anime Doll" at the 2014 Tokyo Anime Award , and as mentioned above, the evaluation of this work is cited as the reason for the award  .

### Critical reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes assigned the film a score of 100% "Certified Fresh" with an average rating of 8.21/10 based on 92 reviews. The critics' consensus says, "Boasting narrative depth, frank honesty, and exquisite visual beauty, *The Tale of the Princess Kaguya* is a modern animated treasure with timeless appeal." It was the first film of the decade to receive a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating, making it one of the highest-rated films of the 2010s.**‹See TfM›** Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 89 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

In February 2014, *The Tale of the Princess Kaguya* placed 4th in both Kinema Junpo's Best Ten and their Reader's Choice Awards. David Ehrlich of *The A.V. Club* gave the film an A, deeming it "the best animated movie of the year," adding that it is "destined to be remembered as one of the revered Studio Ghibli’s finest achievements." Nicolas Rapold of *The New York Times* praised the artwork calling it "exquisitely drawn with both watercolor delicacy and a brisk sense of line."

### Published outside Japan

In March 2014, it was announced that it will be released in France on June 25 of the same year  .

On April 30, 2014, South Korean Taewon Media announced that the release date in South Korea is June 4th  .

was exhibited during the "Director Week" sponsored by the French Directors' Association, which is held in parallel during the Cannes International Film Festival in May 2014.

Screened at the opening ceremony of Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 9, 2014.

In North America, on March 12, 2014, GKids Film in the United States acquired the screening right and announced that it will be released in the "second half of this year"  . The title of the English version is "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya". A dubbing cast was announced in July, and Chloe Grace Moretz will play the role of Kaguya Hime  . After the North American premiere of the 39th Toronto International Film Festival , which was held in September, was held in New York , Toronto , and Los Angeles on October 17, and the film was launched in North America.

## Extra information

the film is originally based on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, a 10th-century Japanese literary tale. It was produced by Studio Ghibli for Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DYMP, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, Toho and KDDI, and distributed by Toho.

The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes Aki Asakura, Kengo Kora, Takeo Chii, Nobuko Miyamoto, Atsuko Takahata, Tomoko Tabata, Tatekawa Shinosuke, Takaya Kamikawa, Hikaru Ijūin, Ryudo Uzaki, Nakamura Shichinosuke II, Isao Hashizume, Yukiji Asaoka (in a special appearance) and Tatsuya Nakadai. The film features the final film performance by Chii, who died in June 2012, and was the final film directed by Takahata, who died in April 2018.

It was released in Japan on 23 November 2013, distributed by Toho. At the budget of US$49.3 million, it is the most expensive Japanese film as of 2020. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 87th Academy Awards. The production of the film was the subject of the feature-length documentary film Isao Takahata and His Tale of the Princess Kaguya.