Super Kaguya-hime! is a feature-length original anime that premiered worldwide on Netflix on January 22, 2026. It takes The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter as its motif, but reworks it around streaming and music activity inside a virtual space called “Tsukuyomi.” It’s directed by Shugo Yamashita, and multiple Vocaloid producers contributed songs.
What struck me first was how this reinterpretation of a classic actually feels alive in the present.
It connects the mystique of a princess born from bamboo to the speed and texture of internet/streaming culture today. On paper, the premise sounds like it could be gimmicky, but in execution it lands as a genuinely compelling coming-of-age story.
The relationship between Kaguya and Iroha was especially strong.
Kaguya looks like a free-spirited genius, but underneath that she’s carrying the fear of never truly belonging anywhere. Iroha, meanwhile, is capable and grounded, yet clearly being crushed by everyday reality. The way they fill in each other’s missing pieces through music is handled with surprising care.
Behind the flashy live performances, the film keeps returning to a very human tension: I want someone to find me—but I’m scared of being seen. That was the part that hit me hardest.
As for interpretation, the “moon” here feels like more than a fantasy element—it reads as a metaphor for the pressure to return to your “proper place.”
The “place Kaguya is supposed to go back to” resembles the modern label of “this is what you should be.” In that sense, Tsukuyomi isn’t just an escape; it becomes a space where those labels can be stripped away and a self can be renamed on one’s own terms.
From this angle, the final choice isn’t simply a romantic or friendship resolution—it’s about reclaiming agency.
The use of music is also notable.
In this film, songs feel less like hype devices and more like confession. Emotions that can’t be spoken in dialogue are released through melody and rhythm. So the live scenes work not only as spectacle, but as psychological drama.
There’s a lot of visual information throughout, but what lingers in the end isn’t just “a great song”—it’s the urgency of a voice that needed to be heard.
Overall, Super Kaguya-hime! feels less like a straightforward reboot of a classic and more like a contemporary reactivation of the classic’s emotional core.
Its surface is cutting-edge, but its heart is timeless—and that’s exactly what makes it powerful.
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