This film comes from the Takahata side of Studio Ghibli. The two founders, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata have very different approaches to character, world building, theme and storytelling (and I am decidedly in the Miyazaki camp). This was to be the last project that Takahata did for Studio Ghibli and to do so he returned to a story that had long held his attention, "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter". He began by abandoning the realistic animation style, for which Ghibli had become famous, for for a style he created and named "sketch animation". He wanted His audience to "imagine or recall the reality deep within the drawings", rather than be distracted by a realistic art style. He wanted to have people "recollect the realities of this life by sketching ordinary human qualities with simple props". So, he depended on Osamu Tanabe to provide the "sketch" character designs and used Kazuo Oga's beautiful watercolor backgrounds. I have to confess it took a moment for me to release the one animation style in favour of the other, but the innate freedom of form and the beautiful palette soon won me over. Much of the story is told from the perspective of the Princess or Little Bamboo, as the village children had called her, and her wit and cleverness save her from the plans of others for her life. Although we are well aware of the "otherness" of Little Bamboo, the ending was too abstract for me and it lessened the resolve of the story. As is common to Takahata's films, the simplicity of nature supersedes the false promise of the city and we are left with a longing for Little Bamboo's former existence. For the beauty of the film, the flowing music, the winsome characters and the fully embodied character of the Princess, I give this film a 9 (superb) out of 10. [Animated Feature]