Studio Ghibli’s animated film The Tale Of Princess Kaguya (Kaguyahime No Monogatari) comes to blu-ray on the Dec 3rd 2014. The anime is directed by the co-founder of Ghibli Isao Takahata ( Tombstone Of The Firelies, Pom Poko, My Neighbour The Yamadas. )
Also releasing on the same day is a 3 hour documentary “The Making Of Princess Kaguya”. (image below)
Some tech specs for the 2 blu-rays are listed below :
The Tale Of Princess Kaguya Blu-ray
– Running Time : 137 Minutes
– Aspect Ratio : 16:9 Widescreen 1920×1080 FULL HD
– Mastering : MPEG-4 AVC/MGVC
– Languages (dubs): Japanese/English/French/Cantonese/Chinese
– Subtitles : Japanese/English/French/Korean/Cantonese/Chinese
Supplements :
– Storyboards (Picture In Picture Mode with film)
– Voice-over Script
– Press conference for completion of project
– Trailers
Price : 7344 Yen (5344 Yen on Amazon Japan)
The Making Of Princess Kaguya Blu-ray
– Running Time : 200 Minutes
– Aspect Ratio : 16:9 Widescreen
– Languages : Japanese
– Subtitles : None listed
Price : 6264 Yen (4559 Yen on Amazon Japan)
Although not my favourite Ghibli film, Kaguyahime is a beautiful and poignant tale exploring sombre themes like loneliness, regret and loss. At the end of the screening I attended in Shinjuku I could clearly hear sniffing from audiences seated around me.
I also highly recommend the Art Of Kaguyahime book featuring lots of amazing art work from the film.
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9
September 8th, 2014 at 1:30 am
I need to learn Japanese immediately, truly a goal no question.
September 8th, 2014 at 4:16 pm
awesome! hopefully i can catch it at TIFF (i live in Toronto).
sometimes i prefer Takahata over Miyazaki because i feel like his films have more variety. and i love my variety. Still i would definitely not say Miyazaki has little variety, he’s still great in his own right.
on a side note you left out another film Takahata directed, “Only Yesterday” which is my 2nd favorite Ghibli film. (with Mononoke being my favorite). Maybe i misread and you were simply listing Takahata’s most well known films
September 9th, 2014 at 12:39 am
DISTRAKT – Now is always a good time to start. :]
martin – I like Takahata’s work too, but sometimes his films are a little depressing to re-watch. 😛
You’re right, I was just listing his more popular films that first came to my mind. Mononoke Hime is my fav Ghibli film too. I can never decide which is my 2nd. 😛