Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation film studio founded in June 1985 by the director Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and the producer Toshio Suzuki. The company's logo features the character Totoro (a large forest spirit) from Hayao Miyazaki's film "My Neighbor Totoro". It has its headquarters in Koganei, Tokyo. Share your love of all things Ghibli!
Discussion
I just did a Studio Ghibli marathon and I watched Princess Kaguya and I had some interesting existential related thoughts come up. I almost felt like ( and this is purely anecdotal and my own metaphorical ideas) that the ending felt like the idea of death to me.
When she comes to Earth she comes as a fully formed being almost like a soul and then finds her earthly human body etc. Similar to beings that get attached to comforts and relationships so did she . She was depressed because the worldly obsession with the material didn’t sit well with her, which kind of reminds me of capitalism and how it’s making many depressed or sick. So when she finally leaves and she finally realised what Earth has meant to her it reminds me of death. When we think we’re going to die we finally fight to live or desire more time. Would love everyone’s thoughts on the movie.
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Watch “Isao Takahata and His Tale of the Princess Kaguya.” It’s a making-of documentary. And in that movie Takahata literally states that his interpretation of the fairy tale is that the ending, when she goes back to the moon, is actually about death. So I think you nailed your interpretation.
OMG I had no idea there was a documentary on this! Thanks so much I’m going to check it out. Haha I don’t know why I feel so validated by your statement! Thank you 🙏🏽.
It’s a really entertaining documentary. You can rent it from iTunes Store for a few bucks, and it’s included with the Blu-ray releases of Kaguya as well
This movie always makes me cry. It was best for her to leave.
Why was it best for her to leave though? I just wish her father realized what he was doing to her and that they would all return to their home on the mountains...
Poor thing just had had enough of the undue rules and attention as a princess and in the end chose to go back to the moon.
Yes! The ending is extremely bittersweet and heartbreaking. All the possibilities of what could be and could have been!
When her memories of her entire life on Earth are extinguished (when they put the robe on her), that's definitely a kind of death.
But then she looks back at Earth with tears in her eyes, and you realize she must still remember!!!
This movie's amazing. I gotta see it on the big screen in November.