Her real love is for Sutemaru, who she finds again as an adult, now married with children. They frolic and play and Kaguya’s love of life and the earth is seen, but mostly it’s seen through her love for him.

Kaguya dreams of returning to the forest idyll, and to her one-time playmate Sutemaru — but the bittersweet lesson in The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is that there is never really any going back, but only an eternal return to match the cycles of the seasons or the phases of the moon.

Princess Kaguya is a popular fairy tale figure in East Asian folklore, much like Cinderella to those who grew up in Western culture. It is unclear when the fairy tale first originated, but according to the British Library, at least some elements can be traced as far back as 7th century Japan.

Netflix has now added all 21 of these titles, from Spirited Away to Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
Princess Kaguya is based on a 10th-century Japanese folk story called The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, which tells of a poor couple that discover a mystical girl in a forest and take it upon themselves to raise her as a princess.

Yes! As of Feb. 1, 2020, Studio Ghibli films have entered the Netflix library. If you subscribe to the streaming service, you can have access to some of the greatest animated features of all time, including Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Kiki’s Delivery Service.

After she grows, her beauty attracts five suitors seeking her hand in marriage, whom she turns away by challenging them each with an impossible task; she later attracts the affection of the Emperor of Japan. At the tale’s end, Kaguya-hime reveals her celestial origins and returns to the Moon.

Kaguya-hime no Monogatari is based on the 10th century Japanese folk tale of the same title. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 87th Academy Awards, the first such nomination for Takahata. The film received over 20 nominations worldwide from critics associations, film festivals, and academies, winning seven times.

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Japanese: かぐや姫の物語 Hepburn: Kaguya-hime no Monogatari) is the 20th animated fantasy drama film produced by Studio Ghibli and directed and co-written by Isao Takahata, based on the folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.

About 50-minutes in, there is a running sequence in one of Kaguya’s dreams, in which the animation grows frantic and messy, perfectly encapsulating her emotional state as she withdraws. In a frenzy, she returns to the lands where she grew up.

Kaguya-hime announces that, though she loves her many friends on Earth, she must return with the beings to her true home on the Moon. She writes sad notes of apology to her parents and to the Emperor, then gives her parents her own robe as a memento.