Princess Kaguya Preview Looks Like An Animated Picture Scroll. Also, Amazing.

I've seen quite a bit of excited reaction to the newly released preview of The Tale of Princess Kaguya today!

If you're a regular reader here, you'll know that this is Studio Ghibli's next fairy tale and a very important one, being the oldest recorded folktale for Japan (we're talking REALLY old, like 10th Century!).

I love the juxtaposition of the music against the images here, not to mention the raw feeling the images convey.

Take a look:

Although the publicity to date has been on the quiet side, perhaps with people wondering if the director, Isao Takahata, could pull off a fairy tale as beautifully as Miyazaki does (since Takahata is known more for using an off-beat and gritty approach than for pretty tales), fears and doubts are being put to rest with this preview.

I'm sensing very excited stirrings in the animation community too.

Takahata is using a very different technical approach as well, which no doubt will add much to the charm of the (re)telling of this tale, apart from being a different form of storytelling for big screen animation. The technique is called emakimono, which is a horizontal illustrated narrative (aka a picture scroll). Some believe emakimono to be the earliest form of Manga, as in, from the 11th century (!) which adds another layer of interest to the project. (Bet you never knew how far back Manga went! I certainly didn't.)

You can also see a little from behind-the-scenes, or "making of" in the video on this page HERE. If you're interested in animation or the tale it's worth taking a peek, as short as it is.

Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya) is set to open in Japanese theaters on November 23rd, 2013. No word yet on when it will be distributed it in the US, though Disney have picked up the contract to do so. Hopefully we'll see it in time for the Xmas holiday period.

PS Aren't the horizontal layout posters beautiful? I had to include them all...

UPDATE ADDED 9:30pm WEDNESDAY 10/23:

Oh look! I didn't even realize iO9 is raving all about this today!

Heh. Told you people were excited now. ;)

Check the happy-dancing at iO9 HERE.

* News Source: Crunchyroll