Cosmic Princess Kaguya!

bakutwice★ 8

Cosmic Princess Kaguya is a futuristic retelling of The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, and also a sapphic love story (which is a pleasant surprise). The movie starts off slow, but it was necessary to flesh out Iroha & Kaguya so that we'd feel more attached to them. Their bond is central to the plot and they did a good job in showing how the girls naturally became closer. Once the main characters' dynamic was established, the story began to move, their friendship started to blossom into something more, and we become swept up into their world - both in real life and in the virtualrealm, Tsukuyomi. Characters: Our main character Iroha is a hardworking protagonist with many sides to her and someone you can't help but root for. She had a couple of intriguing conflicts, but most of them were surface-level. Still, Iroha had decent characterization and development, which even some series with multiple episodes have a hard time achieving. Kaguya is a genki/deredere type that you see in a lot of anime. She is quirky, cute, lovable, and a delight to watch. She had potential to become more interesting, and it's a shame that the story didn't give her more depth. The characters are pretty simple and aren't written in a deep, complicated manner, but this approach worked since the story is straightforward and doesn't try too hard to be something it's not. The girls' relationship, banter, and dialogues were also written quite well. They had plenty of sweet and heartwarming scenes, and their chemistry kept getting better as the movie went on. The side characters weren't focused on as much, but they were still enjoyable and memorable enough. Animation: One of the most visually appealing anime movies I've seen in a while! Everything was so full of life. The art style is fresh and distinct, but still familiar enough that didn't make it too jarring. It can get silly and cartoonish at times, but I found it to be charming and fitting. You could feel the characters' emotions with how their expressions and body language were animated. The character designs were iconic and unique, especially in Tsukuyomi. The virtual world was extremely detailed and stunning. They put their all in animating the action scenes which really looked like they were from a video game, but some of the fight scenes went on for too long in my opinion. What most of the viewers looked forward to were the musical performances in the movie, and the animation for them did not disappoint. Each frame looked like it came from a high-budget music video/opening sequence. The performances were smoothly and beautifully animated, especially the close-ups and realism of the angles and perspectives in some shots. Music: It seems like a lot of people had high expectations for the soundtrack since it was promoted as the highlight of the movie. A lot of well-known vocaloid producers and musicians worked on it, but unfortunately, the OST was a bit underwhelming and didn't leave much of an impression on me. I wanted to love the music, but they didn't really stick with me after finishing the movie. You would probably need to listen to the original songs and covers multiple times before they finally grow on you. But if you love idols, vocaloid, utaite, and vtuber culture, then I'm sure you'll appreciate what the movie has to offer. The downside (MINOR SPOILERS): My main issue lies with the last couple of minutes in the movie. The ending was rushed and the twists could've been executed better. The way things were explained and wrapped up near the end felt anticlimactic. There were also some pacing issues and underdeveloped plotlines. Nevertheless, the movie won me over with its amazing visuals, wholesome humor, and endearing characters. I also love that it has a lot of rewatch value, since there's so many details and realizations about the movie that you'll only notice or understand if you watch it again or if someone else points it out. Overall, Cosmic Princess Kaguya was a fun, refreshing take on the famous Japanese folklore. My favorite thing about it is how it unexpectedly ended up being a compelling romance. While watching, I couldn't help but wish that it would turn into an actual yuri rather than queerbait where they'd only be labelled as "besties", so I'm glad that the romantic tension between the two girls became strong and obvious enough by the end of the movie to the point that even the general audience wouldn't be able to deny it. Score: 8.5/10

next-lvl★ 7

Watching this felt like eating pop rocks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Only pop rocks. All day. My senses are overstimulated, my belly still wants proper food. That's not to say that pop rocks are bad, no, these pop rocks (visuals) are the highest quality I've ever tasted, but even the most awesome things are only good in moderation. I wish there was either a better plot, or better characters, sometimes just one of those is enough to carry a movie. Loud and quirky gremlin characters can be done well (see Nimona, Konosuba), but every character in this movie is astoundingly stereotypical and forgettable, it'skind of impressive how they make the plot seem okay in comparison (it still was meh and made me feel nothing). I don't expect a writing masterpiece from an anime, still I feel like they could've taken some budget from that animation, slowed some scenes down a little, and spent more on writing. I'm doing this review because I spent months looking forward to this, the animation's excellent, I just wish it didn't lack in the other aspects so that I'd give it a 10 as I was expecting to.