Movie - the tale of the princess Kaguya

Movie: The tale of the Princess Kaguya
Original title :''Kaguyahime no monogatari"

Year: 2015

Score: 9.5/10
Director : Isao Takahata
Country : Japan
Language : Japanese

Duration: 2h17

We had seen the tale of the Princess Kaguya in the theatre on 1st of July 2014 with our friend Anaïs, then on bluray on 24th of April 2015, again with Anaïs, and other friends.

I have much to say to each experience, as you will see ...

This film is based on a the 10th century Japanese '' tale of the bamboo cutter '', where an old man discovers a microscopic girl in a bamboo shoot. He and his wife adopt this little girl who grows very quickly into a normal sized girl.Wanting to offer her the best, they take her to the capital where she could be married to a prince and thus become a princess. 

A beautiful fable, the film combines charcoal, watercolours and digital animation; it is directed by Isao Takahata, who in 1988 made the poignant 'Grave of the Fireflies'.

I loved most of scenes, although I spent a short time to get used to the very different artistic style. Some scenes are incredibly beautiful - the animation of a character who runs through walls is simply sublime! - And the end can be seen from different angles, which makes us think and talk many times about this allegories shown in this movie.


Its beautiful soundtrack is signed Joe Hisaishi, Hayao Miyazaki's resident composer - with whom Takahata had co-founded the Ghibli Studios back in 1985.
To date, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is the longest Ghibli feature with 2 hours 17 of wonder, songs, beautiful countryside, bamboos ; the princess is the most beautiful character, and very fascinating music.  

Resolutely a masterpiece .


A quick scene with pheasant hunting, shown without blood and which luckily doesn't linger too long. 
 I preferred to look away and without that scene, the film would have received a perfect technical score of 10/10, but my appreciation is slightly revised downwards. Given the% of the time, I have to give the film a score of 9.5/10.


After the session, we went looking for a bar to discuss the movie, and found Kissaten, a lovely tea room, where we discovered with great pleasure that the owners were fans of animated Japanese animated movies, especially by Ghibli. Moreover, while we savoured our drinks, a best off music of these films played in the background, changing from the bad rock music many bars play too loudly...

During the Kaguya evening with our friends, we watched the movie on bluray and ate some bamboo shoots, in honor of the theme.




 the tale of the princess Kaguya... in the media

The film was released on dvd and bluray but with fairly significant disparities in the content.

 I begin with the French edition. First, the DVD for € 18, € 20 for the bluray.
The film is presented in its original aspect 16/9 1.85, with full HD 1080p resolution on bluray (only).
Each with subtitles in French and ... French for the hearing impaired.

Sound: 5.1 Dolby Digital (DVD) and DTS Master Audio (bluray).

Languages: Japanese and French dubbing.

The DVD is limited to Zone 2 (Europe) while bluray is all all zones a, b & c.

Bonus: on a diet, only trailers and tv spot.

A Stereo audio description for the visually impaired track is also available - I do not know its quality, as i didn't buy the French edition ... In fact, I found the American edition * much more interesting. When I ordered my copy, the French BD cost 25 €  and for just a few cents more expensive, I found the American edition, on sale.

 It consists of a small box with 1 all zones bluray and 2 zone 1 dvds.

The film is available on bluray and dvd 1, with a 5.1 dolby digital (DVD) dts-hd master audio (bd), in original Japanese as well as French and English dubs  with subtitles in English and French. It is best to choose the options in the main menu because once the movie started, the transition from one option to another is limited to only one other language instead of the two available.

On BD, the movie is of course full hd 1080p.

The bluray and first dvd offer the same content:The movie, and the following bonuses:The press conference announcing the end of the project (40 minutes)12 trailers of the Japanese tv (total duration 13 minutes)2 trailers of American tv (total duration 3 minutes)

The second bonus DVD is called Isaho Takaha and his Tale of the Princess Kaguya, a 1 hour 25 documentary, proposed in Japanese with English subtitles, in stereo. This DVD seems to have no menu and starts automatically.


Each disc contains 2-3 Disney adds which can be avoided by skipping chapters, and the FBI's warning against piracy, with a duration of 10 seconds that one is forced to watch.

A menu allows the setting of the film (languages and subtitles) or selection of bonus.

* I also saw that the movie was released on DVD and comics in Germany and Italy, with the dubbing of local languages plus Japanese, but I have no information about the bonuses.