New Stills From Studio Ghibli's The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Now that we know Hayao Miyazaki's final film, The Wind Rises, is due to open officially in the US for an Oscar qualifying run from 8th - 14th November in New York and Los Angeles only, and even though most of us have yet to see the film, we can already look forward to Studio Ghibli's next project which is also right around the corner...sort of.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya (though some websites are using the title of the book on which the film is based, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) is directed by Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbors the Yamadas) and has a Japanese release date of 23rd November, 2013. Which seems pretty far away from now, not to mention it will seem even further once we get US release dates some time in the potentially near future. But for now thanks to TwitchFilm and MTVGeek, we can share nine stills from the film, as well as a Japanese language teaser trailer.

It is evident from the artwork that this film, much like Takahata's other work, will be drastically different from most of Studio Ghibli's canon. The colours are much more subdued, and the texture of the animation feels much more organic, which is incredibly refreshing not only because it's Studio Ghibli but also because it's a lovely deviation from today's CGI colour saturated world. The story, as far as we know is based on a folk tale about a moon princess discovered as a baby growing inside the stalk of a glowing piece of bamboo.

Thoughts?