Story
Iroha (voice of Dawn M. Bennett) is young and determined to live independently from her mother after the death of her father. She’s a diligent student, intent on winning a scholarship to college, so she struggles to get by while managing school and part-time work. Iroha’s only leisure time activity is gaming in a virtual world called Tsukuyomi, run by singing idol Yachiyo (Ryan Bartley and Frankie Kevich).
One day while walking down the street, Iroha sees a lit-up light pole and her life is turned upside down. The pole opens and reveals a baby inside. Not knowing what to do, Iroha takes the baby home. The baby grows rapidly into a young girl whom Iroha names Kaguya (Jeannie Tirado) after a Japanese folktale. Kaguya says she comes from the moon and doesn’t like the ending of the folktale. She’s determined to make hers a happy ending.
Iroha reluctantly introduces Kaguya to Tsukuyomi, where Kaguya meets Yachiyo. Together, Iroha and Kaguya take on the challenge of the Yachiyo Cup, but to do so, they have to fight Mikado (Max Mittelman) in a battle game called KASSEN. The girls don’t win the fight, but they win the Cup because of their popularity.
Kaguya, who is a high-spirited and volatile girl, knows she must eventually return to the moon but intends to use the time she has with Iroha to the best of her abilities.
Themes
Science fiction; virtual reality; loss of a parent; gaming
Violence
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! has a lot of animated violence. For example:
- Kaguya is a highly strung character, who’s prone to fits of temper. She often yells, screams and bangs her head.
- Iroha yells at Kaguya in a very angry way.
- Iroha and her friends fight moon aliens who arrive to take Kaguya home.
There’s also violence in the virtual world of Tsukuyomi. For example:
- There are battles involving guns, knives, swords, bows and arrows.
- Characters punch, kick and throw things.
- There are explosions, and buildings get blown up.
- A character has a limb chopped off, and black blood flows from the wound.
- Several characters die and just disintegrate.
Sexual references
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! has some sexual references. For example, it’s suggested that Iroha and Kaguya love each other.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
There’s no use of substances in Cosmic Princess Kaguya!
Nudity and sexual activity
There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Cosmic Princess Kaguya!
Product placement
The following products are displayed or used in Cosmic Princess Kaguya!: Lipton tea and Coca Cola.
Coarse language
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! has some coarse language including ‘screw this’, ‘pee’, ‘What the hell?’, ‘hell yeah’, ‘damn’, ‘God awful’, ‘Shut the hell up’ and ‘screwed around’.
There’s also name-calling, including ‘creepy alien’, ‘dumb’, ‘dummy’, ‘nerds’ and ‘pain in the butt’.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! is a Japanese anime movie and a modern retelling of a folktale called ‘The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter’. It has a lot of animated violence, particularly in the virtual world of Tsukuyomi, along with some intense themes. It’s also over 2 hours in length, making it better suited to older children and teenagers.
The main messages from Cosmic Princess Kaguya! are to live your best life and to set realistic goals in life.
Values in Cosmic Princess Kaguya! that you could reinforce with your children include friendship, collaboration, self-determination and independence.
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like the following:
- Iroha works very hard and pushes herself too much. You could talk about the need to keep things in perspective and have a good work-life balance.
- There’s a lot of violence in the virtual world of Tsukuyomi. You could talk about violence in video games and how it might affect children.