Since its creation, Studio Colorido has been one of the rare anime studios almost entirely focused on standalone films, putting out a run of pleasant, visually impressive pictures that largely fail to coalesce into anything particularly lasting. After adapting author Tomihiko Morimi’s Penguin Highway (probably their best film thus far), the animation house delivered a run of originals distributed on Netflix, including A Whisker Away, Drifting Home, and My Oni Girl. The studio’s latest effort for the streamer is Cosmic Princess Kaguya!, a music-focused film that mixes one of the oldest Japanese folktales—The Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter, about a princess who comes from the moon—with the contemporary, VTuber-fueled, cute-anime-girl industrial complex.
It’s a strange combo, delivered in an all-out charm offensive. Ultimately, it makes for an agreeable watch that’s bolstered by fluid character animation, fantastic vocal performances, and a likable group of characters, but it also falls victim to Studio Colorido’s persistent problem: It lacks the dramatic propulsion required to fully crack through the stratosphere. The by-the-numbers opening of Cosmic Princess Kaguya! gives way to a bonkers second half that’s missing a critical piece of romantic clarity, coming so close to something otherworldly that it winds up being more frustrating than if it simply exploded on the launch pad.
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! centers on chronically overscheduled high schooler Iroha Sakayori (Anna Nagase), a straight-A honor roll student who excels at everything she does. She’s popular, gets great grades, and is a skilled musician. But despite her outward composure, she’s just barely keeping it all together. She’s estranged from her mother and living alone, meaning that, on top of her studies, she works a part-time job to pay rent and save for college. Things get even more complicated when a cosmic baby suddenly materializes inside a bamboo shoot-like telephone pole (a reference to the original folktale). Iroha begrudgingly takes care of the kid, who grows up so fast that she doesn’t even have time to file a police report, and names the alien Kaguya (Yuko Natsuyoshi) after that fable’s lunar princess.
Much like her namesake, Kaguya escaped the moon to live a more eventful life on Earth. Obsessed with getting the “good” ending that the original princess never had—in her story, the lunar denizens descend, defeat the humans, and take her back to the moon—the chaotic Kaguya tries to live every day to the fullest. Eventually, she teams up with Iroha to win a streamer competition that will allow both of them to play in a concert alongside the AI idol Yachiyo Runami (Saori Hayami), whom Iroha hopelessly crushes on.
Despite the implicit tragedy at the heart of the source material, Cosmic Princess Kaguya! begins in a largely bubbly mood as its central pair attempt to become the biggest VTubers around (sapphic undertones and all). That high energy starts with the music, and the soundtrack of this film about e-idol culture is largely up to snuff. Smooth dance choreography and earworm melodies sell a sparkly atmosphere filled with aesthetic razzle-dazzle that will have otaku waving glowsticks for their oshi. A series of buoyant pop jams don’t quite appear often enough to call this a musical, but they’re still a worthy payoff for all the hype behind these in-universe artists, each performance further sold by impressive character animation.
Kaguya is relentlessly energetic, so happy to have escaped from her birdcage that she’s all rhythmically swinging limbs and gesticulations. Meanwhile, Iroha is much more reserved, her tension and stress expressed in baggy eyes and furrowed glances at her extraterrestrial tormentor, confirming her status as a teen who probably somehow has a stomach ulcer. It’s rare for a scene to pass without at least a few impressive bits of ostentatious character animation, often in ways that skew comedic, making for plenty of moment-to-moment amusement. Meanwhile, the characters glide between the real world and a virtual one—a sort of neon fantasy feudal Japan—that, while not quite as off-the-wall and transhumanist as what’s seen in Belle or other works about cyberspace, still allows the musical sequences to have some flying space whales and the like, which is certainly a plus.
Just as the animation matches these messy budding musicians, this impressive lineup of voice actors gives their all. The biggest name is Saori Hayami (Yor in Spy X Family, Shinobu in Demon Slayer) and she plays into her reputation of having the most soothing voice in the universe by capturing the almost uncannily perfect stage presence of a virtual celebrity. However, she also gets at the strange sense of depth behind Yachiyo, a whimsy that eventually gives way to melancholy (but don’t worry, fellow AI haters, all is not as it seems). Meanwhile, Nagase deftly plays Iroha as the straight man to Kaguya’s chaos, and Natsuyoshi’s sprightly vocals prove a constant delight.
The interplay between these latter performers is particularly important, as the relationship between their characters is the bedrock supporting the film’s occasional flimsiness. This rapport guides the story through a largely stakeless initial half towards a more compelling denouement that addresses Iroha’s lingering issues with her parents and tendency to make overly safe choices, as well as Kaguya’s intense desire to escape a tedious past and future. Watching these roommates become “roommates” (in the historical sense) takes on a surprising weight given the film’s initial commitment to levity, as exemplified by a particularly tactile fireworks date that’s all longing backwards glances and clasped hands. Meanwhile, the seemingly inevitable ending of The Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter hangs over these moments of joy, the gravitational pull towards tragedy seeping into the fabric of the picture.
But this momentum is undercut by a few inert final scenes. While the plot goes in a wilder and more intertextual direction than one would expect, an underlying emotional placidity robs the climax of the starlike sparkle it’s going for. This sense of reserve partially comes from a lack of dramatic urgency during the film’s belabored 143-minute runtime, as a general tendency towards comedic reactions and cutesy posturing fails to set the stage for weightier subject matter. However, the biggest issue is much more straightforward and romantically cowardly.
There’s a missing sentiment at the climax that would have overcome the uneven plotting, tonal inconsistencies, and occasional meandering, paying off the many disparate scenes that implied a very particular conclusion. Cosmic Princess Kaguya! is blessed with talent—manifesting as impressive animation and a lovely rapport between its leads—but its rocky landing denies it a chance at true stardom.
Director: Shingo Yamashita
Writers: Saeri Natsuo, Shingo Yamashita
Starring: Saori Hayami, Anna Nagase, Yuko Natsuyoshi
Release Date: January 22, 2026 (Netflix)
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