The Tale of The Princess Kaguya · reception & legacy

2013 · Isao Takahata

How The Tale of The Princess Kaguya has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Praised as a masterpiece on release but a box-office disappointment in Japan against its enormous budget, it has since climbed steadily — now routinely named among the greatest animated films of the century and, for many, the crown jewel of Studio Ghibli.

What's debated

It's the engine of the eternal 'Takahata vs. Miyazaki' debate — a growing faction insists this, not any Miyazaki film, is Ghibli's true masterpiece, while detractors admit the artistry but call its 137 minutes slow.

Its footprint

The frantic charcoal-sketch running sequence is one of animation's most shared and gif'd moments, a shorthand for what hand-drawn animation can do that nothing else can — and its watercolour style made it instantly recognisable even among Ghibli films.

Where it stands

A canon climber and Letterboxd darling: Takahata's swan song, now firmly a 'you must see this' for anyone who claims to love animation.

★ Did you know? It was originally announced to open in summer 2013 as a double bill with Miyazaki's The Wind Rises — echoing the famous 1988 Totoro/Grave of the Fireflies pairing — but Takahata's famously slow pace forced a delay to November, and the twin release never happened. It later lost the Best Animated Feature Oscar to Big Hero 6, a result cinephiles still grumble about.

Named by the director

Influences Isao Takahata has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

Frédéric Back — Takahata repeatedly cited the Canadian animator (The Man Who Planted Trees) as the artist who showed him a film could be carried by expressive, sketch-like drawings — the approach he pursued in Kaguya.