This Week in Anime

Even Princess Kaguya Livestreams Nowadays!

Sylvia
Positively brimming! Coop, I don't want to bury my lede: I watched Cosmic Princess Kaguya! about 48 hours ago, and it has taken over my every waking moment since. I'm infected. I'm compromised. And the only thing I wish to do is spread this virus. So please, readers, if you harbor any appreciation for webgen sakuga, women who love women, 21st-century weeaboo culture, or some combination of those, run to your nearest Netflix app and watch this movie. Join us.

But we certainly have a fair bit to talk about before we dive into spoilery territory. As you've alluded to, the film is built on approximately a metric ton of cultural context. Even a little heightened awareness of that will behoove your CPK experience.

You have to understand that this story has been around for a thousand years. It's as big a cornerstone as The Tale of Genji, and it's been told, retold, remixed, reinterpreted, and played around with for centuries. Sailor Moon is Princess Kaguya. Turn A Gundam is Princess Kaguya. If a Japanese story involves a moon, it is probably in conversation with Princess Kaguya.

To that end, I second Takahata's version as an easily accessible one that beautifully renders the core components of the story while honing its emotional edge. It provides a baseline for what CPK does and doesn't do. Generally, though, The Tale of Princess Kaguya is a classic fairy tale—an instructive tragedy about the transience of existence. In the end, Princess Kaguya must return to the moon and leave all her terrestrial memories behind, while her family and friends grieve her loss. And CPK's own version of Kaguya has some measured, carefully considered thoughts on that.

It's chock full of metacommentary, and that's a significant part of its appeal for me. Like, it kicks off with very storybook narration that it immediately subverts for comedic effect, and that just portends the rest of the film. I think it's also worthwhile to reflect on the relationship animation in particular has with these foundational folk tales. The granddaddy studio of modern cinematic animation, Disney, rose to fame and power through its interpretations of classic European fairy tales. In fact, for multiple generations, many of those Disney films have become the "canonical" versions of these stories. What we picture as Snow White is a lot different than what a 19th century German child would have pictured. Adaptations are powerful.

Seriously, watch that! It's not even a half hour long, and it gives you an excellent overview of the philosophies and techniques behind the scenes of CPK's production.

I must confess, too, that the power of Yamashita's name is what originally drew me to the film. He's been a big deal in sakuga-appreciating circles for much longer, but he caught my attention more recently with his string of iconic anime OPs.

I knew I was in for a treat when I had a folder full of funny faces before the opening ten minutes were up.

That creative and rebellious spirit of the webgen scene definitely carries through the entire film, too. The character acting in particular is a gem. Frequently loose and expressive, but also reined in and meticulous when it suits the tone.

And although I think the finished product has its uneven spots, there was never a single moment when I felt it ease off the gas pedal. That's the spirit of youth distilled into an anime production. It is greater than the sum of its parts, and there are so many parts.

There's an argument that, in a different time, this would have been an OVA. You can intuit where the episode divisions would be when you watch it. But I also think, in the year 2026, it works as-is. In fact, this could have only come out in 2026. I sincerely believe you could use Cosmic Princess Kaguya! as a device through which to teach a 101 course on 21st century anime fandom. It has Vocaloid, vtubers, yuri, mid MOBAs, VRChat, and so much more.

Oh yeah, that "sekai de" knocked the wind out of me.

It's so cool! They got all of these foundational Vocaloid producers to revisit some of the most important songs from the scene's early days, and on top of that, the film manages to recontextualize them in a manner that fits the story and its themes.

This didn't make it into the film, but ryo (of supercell fame) even dropped a new mix of "Melt." Bonkers. But lest we get too into the Miku weeds, the larger point is that the entire film feels like this. I think it'll probably appeal most to Gen Z otaku whose childhoods may have been defined by these touchstones, but even my relatively old Millennial ass found so much love and authenticity poured into CPK's presentation.

Incidentally, that part of the story is a fun riff on the original Princess Kaguya tale where a gaggle of opportunistic suitors try to take her hand in marriage. The traditional version has Kaguya come up with impossible tasks that the men can't perform, but I might prefer the violent mascot fighting game guardian solution.

And I suppose this is as good an opportunity as any to stress how utterly, holistically, agonizingly gay Cosmic Princess Kaguya! is.

Iroha and Kaguya invent a handshake that involves scissoring and kissing! Get on their level!!

Kaguya proposes to Iroha, and it's played completely straight. Or, uh, the opposite of straight. You know what I mean.

I hope it comes as no surprise to our audience that I am a huge lesbian, so I speak with some authority when I say that I believe CPK may be the most important yuri film in years. I've already seen a ton of fanart. Word of mouth is very positive and getting out there. The Netflix algorithm will ideally push it on a ton of teen girls who need to see it. I think it can achieve real staying power.

But to properly dig into what makes CPK so special, I think we need to breach the spoiler barrier.

Before we get to that point, Kaguya's tale concludes like it's supposed to. The moon denizens eventually find her and take her back home, and Iroha, after a period of intense grieving, decides to move on with her life. It's a bittersweet ending with an emphasis on the bitter, well within the scope of the original fairy tale.

Cue credits

And I have to admit, that got me good. A+ gag.

But there's still half an hour left in the film at that point! Iroha, on second thought, says, "screw that!" and immediately gets to work on reuniting with her one true love.

It's such a cool moment! And it's thematically consistent with Kaguya's earlier complaints about the nature of the folk tale's conclusion. Iroha wants to forge their happy ending, fate be damned. Metatextually, you could even interpret this as a rebuke of the "bury your gays" trope, since Kaguya's ascension to the moon is also a metaphor for death.

I legit experience vertigo when I think about Yachiyo's whole deal. 8000 years of yearning. She waited all that time, built an entire metaverse, slipped subliminal messages into her songs, and silently guided the events of the film behind the scenes—all so she could spend time with Iroha again without getting in the way of her past self. Such profound longing. Such unfathomable devotion. That, to me, is the quintessence of yuri.

Like, the song Iroha listens to at the beginning of the film, the one Yachiyo literally titled "Remember," is 168 bpm. 1-6-8 in Japanese is ichi-roku-hachi. I-ro-ha. I am so unwell about this.

I can't wait to see how much I writhe in pain rewatching it with the full knowledge of Yachiyo's thoughts and feelings. It's gonna be so much fun!

And the film really earns its happy ending through all of its moxie and exuberance. While I enjoy tragedies, especially queer ones, I think it's important to have uplifting stories like Cosmic Princess Kaguya! too. Iroha and Kaguya/Yachiyo work on their relationship. They don't give up on it or each other. And I really hope their success can touch an impressionable audience the same way that Adolescence of Utena's powerful ending made me gay around that age.

Before I forget, CPK's queer subtext (and plain old text) doesn't end with robot lesbians. Noi's avatar, presumably an otoko no ko, appears early in the film in a frilly oni maid getup. Cool stuff. However, then the real Noi pops in at the very end to make a very specific request of Iroha.

I'm just saying: I see her.

A theatrical release would go so hard. Sadly, it's probably too much to ask for CPK to do KPop Demon Hunters numbers, but a girl can dream. And speaking of music videos, if you haven't already, after you've finished the film, check out this MV. It acts as a coda of sorts.

Netflix, it is your solemn duty to infect the KDH girlies with the CPK mind virus. I need more comrades. Himejoshi will inherit the earth.