Another Peek Into "Princess Kaguya"

Studio Ghibli's official Twitter account just posted some new stills from their fairy tale film, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, being released in November (in Japan, at least) this year.

Although we've seen a couple of these before most are new and all show a lovely calligraphic quality of line. You can almost feel the hands behind these drawings.

Note: I just want to cheer on behalf of the health of babies everywhere for the tasteful portrayal of a mother breastfeeding her baby - and, if I'm correct, this is her adopted baby too [and yes, that is possible, it's just a lot of work to make happen]. Part of the reason I'm even mentioning this is that when kids see this sort of role modeling by good parents in movies and stories, it doesn't seem like a foreign concept when they get older and they have more tools in place to make active and informed choices.

The famous Japanese folktale Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) centers on princess named Kaguya who was discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant.Taketori Monogatari has inspired dozens of manga and anime stories, such as Reiko Shimizu'sKaguya Hime and Arina Tanemura's Sakura-Hime Kaden. (Source)

For those who follow casting in anime, the confirmation of the Japanese voices may interest you. Here's the summary:

Aki Asakura will lead the cast as Kaguya, and Takeo Chii, who passed away in June of last year, will still play the role of Okina (Old Man), as he had recorded his part before his death. Kengo Kora and Nobuko Miyamoto round out the main cast as as Sutemaru and Ouna (Old Woman), respectively. Other cast members include Atsuko Takahata, Tomoko Tabata, Tatekawa Shinosuke,Takaya Kamikawa, Hikaru Ijūin, Ryudo Uzaki, Nakamura Shichinosuke, Isao Hashizume, Yukiji Asaoka, and Tatsuya Nakadai. (Source)

I'm looking forward to seeing a hand-drawn "picture book comes to life" approach to a fairy tale/folktale again. It's been far too long since seeing that kind of magic.