frustrating ending

bigmustache93 said:
when i first watched the movie i was aware that it was based on a japanese folk tale but haven't read it.
now after i have read the tale of the bamboo cutter i still didn't understand what was the meaning of that ending. can sombody explain it to me?

groundfish said:



1.When those celestial being come to take Kaguya Hime back to moon,she was under some kind of spell,losing her humanity and emotion.After that,the song sung by a bunch of children wake her up.Then,when she wear that cloth,she forget everything again and follow them back to moon.

2.However,when she almost reach moon,she heard the song sing by someone she know as mentioned in the movie.All of her memory had been erased but deep in her heart,she still remember that song.She instictly turn back to see the earth for the last time and has no idea why her eye is full of tears.*The song is sang by another goddess whom you can see her husband and her son is standing while watching at the sky.

3.Kaguya Hime reincarnate to earth because she is longing for freedom,as shown as the theme of the song that she is always singing,not because she want to become princess.Those celestial being gift(gold and kimonos)make her father think otherwise and ultimately ruin her life in the earth.

4.Kaguya Hime come to earth as punishment after she has humanity and emotion because in the moon palace,emotion is seen as baggage before one can turn into perfect being(Buddhist concept of Primary Afflictions is the root of all suffering). The punishment she face is actually a scheme of the moon palace to eliminate her yearn for human emotion that begins with the song sing by another goddess in the moon that came back from the earth.

Srry for my bad english as english is not my native language.

groundfish said:



1.When those celestial being come to take Kaguya Hime back to moon,she was under some kind of spell,losing her humanity and emotion.After that,the song sung by a bunch of children wake her up.Then,when she wear that cloth,she forget everything again and follow them back to moon.

2.However,when she almost reach moon,she heard the song sing by someone she know as mentioned in the movie.All of her memory had been erased but deep in her heart,she still remember that song.She instictly turn back to see the earth for the last time and has no idea why her eye is full of tears.*The song is sang by another goddess whom you can see her husband and her son is standing while watching at the sky.

3.Kaguya Hime reincarnate to earth because she is longing for freedom,as shown as the theme of the song that she is always singing,not because she want to become princess.Those celestial being gift(gold and kimonos)make her father think otherwise and ultimately ruin her life in the earth.

4.Kaguya Hime come to earth as punishment after she has humanity and emotion because in the moon palace,emotion is seen as baggage before one can turn into perfect being(Buddhist concept of Primary Afflictions is the root of all suffering). The punishment she face is actually a scheme of the moon palace to eliminate her yearn for human emotion that begins with the song sing by another goddess in the moon that came back from the earth.

Srry for my bad english as english is not my native language.

Kenokiri said:
I just wanna say I absolutely hate her father

Rob7 said:
In short, that gold (money) f* up her free-poor-happy life. lol


That is the final moral of the story, money is evil. hahaha

One day of real hunger and she would regret. Anyways, that is why great philosophers were chubby.

Lylaaz said:
Sorry i didn't notice this is an older topic, but i think it's still relevant (for whoever watches this now)

I think the "frustration" was the point.

She came here to be happy, only to realise that happiness is not in the stupid artificial society that the humanity has come up with. Yet she never opposed her father. She valued his happiness over her own. In the end she said that she would kill herself anyway if she had been with the emperor.

You can't hope that everything always goes well, so eventually she still left this stupid society. The guy she liked already had a wife and a child, so it was too late, too late to find the true happiness. Perfect sad and frustrating ending.

wistfulonging said:

You are very impressive. I think you're half-way there. Unlike many people who talk about riches & money around here. I think some of those people were focusing too much on the original Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. And this film was intentionally rewritten by Isao Takahata.

After reading many people's opinions on this film, I have come to the conclusion that people who aren't familiar with Buddhism, Hinduism, non-American-Christianity or any religion that preached asceticism and people who aren't familiar with Asian worldviews are incapable of understanding the central issue addressed by Takahata through this film.

Like you said, Kaguya ended up disappointed. Kaguya was too good. Kaguya was noble. Kaguya was the personification of Enlightenment. Then again, Takahata (and Kaguya) asked, "What's the use of being so good, so noble, so enlightened in this material world?"

I came here because I yearned for life and yet after I have lived life, though I still love it, I can't help but feeling disappointed with it. There're still so many things that are missing.

No suitors could handle her. She was nobler than any of her suitors. Her first love too was disappointing. Her visiting him paralleled us looking back at our past, memories & being nostalgic. That moment when you feel like contacting people from your past and ended up noticing that "Nope, it was all in the past. It was already gone forever. All that's left is just the memory of it."

And so, Kaguya, the noblest living being in the material world, once again has to return to the immaterial world.

For Takahata and us who still value virtues, the question remains, "What's the point of being good in this very world?" (Perhaps not for Takahata. For he already left us. Hopefully he has found the answers that he was looking for.)

I wanted to partake in all the follies & joy of this material world but I ended up again and again saying, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

Kaguya represents people who have a natural tendency toward bettering their inner selves, people who believe in the word "Good".

Hence, no matter how hard you tell Kaguya to just marry & enjoy life, Kaguya can't obey you. For Kaguya was above any of those things. This much is obvious.

Well, it's a shame that not too many people could comprehend this film but this much is expected... I don't wish for people to agree with me or with Takahata, let alone with Buddhism, I only wish people would be.. better.

I guess I just took life & education way too seriously.

Kenokiri said:
I just wanna say I absolutely hate her father