Cosmic Princess Kaguya! is a music-fantasy anime film on Netflix, reimagining the folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, and is produced by Studio Colorido and Studio Chromato. The film features music from Vocaloid producers Ryo of Supercell, Yuigot, Aqu3ra, HoneyWorks, 40mP, and Kz of Livetune. The main reason I was interested in this movie was that this was the directorial debut of Shingo Yamashita, the man behind the opening sequences for many anime series, including Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 and Chainsaw Man Season 1.
The story of Cosmic Princess Kaguya! takes place in Tsukuyomi, a virtual realm where hopes and dreams come together. Iroha Sakayori, a 17-year-old high school student in Tokyo, leads an extremely busy life trying to balance part-time work and academics. She finds peace by watching a popular streamer named Yachiyo Runami, who is the administrator of an online virtual space called Tsukuyomi.
On her way home one day, Iroha finds a telephone pole shining with iridescent hues. To her surprise, an adorable baby emerges from the pole. Unable to abandon it, Iroha takes the infant home and watches her rapidly and unnaturally grow into a girl her own age. Iroha says, “Are you Princess Kaguya?” The grown-up Kaguya develops a self-indulgent personality.
At Kaguya’s fervent request, Iroha helps her start streaming in Tsukuyomi. With Iroha as producer and songwriter and Kaguya as streamer and singer, the two grow steadily closer. Little do they know that ominous forces lie in wait, eager to take Kaguya back to the moon. This is the tale of Princess Kaguya as never seen before.
The coolest part of Cosmic Princess Kaguya! is how it blended the classic folklore with a modern setting. I love how quickly it explained The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, and then seeing the events unravel like the prophecy—but with a few twists and turns. This is a fairy tale that has a lot of highs to grasp anyone’s attention, with enough emotional beats to make our eyes water. The visual and storytelling elements felt and looked inspired by Studio Ghibli and Makoto Shinkai’s works, if not, even better than some of those works.
Immediately, the visuals and art style pushed all colours to the foreground. The multi-coloured aurora effect and the shifting skyscapes hitting the eternal water scenery within Tsukuyomi kept my eyes glued to the screen—enjoying every bit of clean, vibrant details. To tell this unique take on the Princess Kaguya tale, the visuals have to be godly and otherworldly. I never thought I would see a living tiger fused with motorcycle parts to form a vehicle! But also, how have we not had RGB-lit chopsticks made yet?
“By the end of this film, I believed how deeply these fictional animated characters cared for each other—something many films fail to do.”
The mix of art styles delineated different story moments and worked really well to heighten the emotions of the scene. As Cosmic Princess Kaguya! is a music film with multiple concerts, matching the fantastical sounds and singing to the limitless virtual world of Tsukuyomi was a must. The CGI blend of 3D and 2D animation worked heavily in this movie’s favour, much like how they used these techniques for the Infinity Castle in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle.
While the music from the Vocaloid producers was super catchy, the score from composer Hiroaki “Conisch” Konishi (Hetalia: Axis Powers series, Let’s Play) also stood out. With Iroha’s keyboard skills, I felt the piano/keyboard notes resonate well with the more pop/techno beats—for both the tearjerking moments and the happy notes.
Building on the audio experience, I found the sound design had amazingly nailed a near-perfect ASMR immersion. The clicking sound matched the different stills of Iroha getting ready for her day, the explosive engine thrusts of a giant engine-thruster battle hammer, and so much more sounded so believably good.
Keeping with the audio of Cosmic Princess Kaguya!, the voice acting performances of its two leads were phenomenal. The chemistry between Yuko Natsuyoshi, Anna Nagase, and Saori Hayami’s characters needs to be studied—both respectively and as a whole. Primarily for Natsuyoshi and Nagase playing the lead roles, these two did not feel like they recorded their lines separately.
Even Miyu Irino’s (One Piece) Akira Mikado and his Saja Boys-esque partners executed their lines for being those kinds of characters in the plot. Most importantly, the conversations flowed and sounded very realistic—both heartwarming and relatable too. By the end of this film, I believed how deeply these fictional animated characters cared for each other—something many films fail to do.
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! hit all the themes it was going for, albeit with deep symbolism. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, subverting expectations when things looked too good to be true. This was a great coming-of-age story, particularly for girls growing up into womanhood and finding friendship and purpose. The AI and human themes surprisingly blew me away with how it all came together in the end; I thought it was a healthy portrayal of how humans interact with AI.
By the end of Cosmic Princess Kaguya!, I would have liked to see this on a cinema screen. This movie has a high potential to be my top animated film of the year already, as I have not seen something as beautifully crafted since Carole & Tuesday. The themes are perfect for the whole family, and, as a bonus, there were a few outstanding choreographed action sequences. Sadly, I do not see this movie being a worldwide phenomenon as KPop Demon Hunters, but I wish it were.
