Kaguya Shinomiya, one of two central characters in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War hails from an extremely wealthy family. In terms of possessions and opulence, she has spent much of her life surrounded by luxuries on par with those enjoyed by royalty. This makes her given name all the more fitting, as the overly sheltered heir of the Shinomiya group shares one with a princess from Japanese fairy tale.
But though their character arcs have similar themes, the medieval tale is one that weighs heavily over the heroine of the modern romantic comedy due to the former's tragic ending.
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is a Japanese literary work that dates back to the 10th century. In it, a childless elderly couple are blessed by the heavens, when the husband discovers a tiny child inside a bamboo stalk. Given the name Kaguya-hime and raised by her loving adoptive parents, the child rapidly grew to become a young woman as radiant and beautiful as moonlight itself. Over the next few years, Kaguya-hime was sought after by numerous suitors, including the Emperor of Japan himself.
One day, with great sadness, Kaguya-hime revealed to her family and the Emperor that she actually came from a celestial kingdom on the moon -- one whose citizens would eventually come to retrieve her. When the people of the moon do indeed come to reclaim her, the Emperor and Kaguya-hime's parents try to protect her to no avail. She is taken from them and draped in a mantle that erases all her memories and affections for her earthly friends and family, then is escorted back to the moon never to be seen again. Though Kaguya-hime left the Emperor with an elixir of immortality, he had no desire to live forever without her and had it destroyed.
Kaguya and her crush, Miyuki Shirongane, reference The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter during their moon viewing party in Season 2, Episode 3. Due to her role as the successor to the Shinomiya group, Kaguya spent much of her young life separated from society as a result of her father's controlling policies and emotional manipulation. While she cherishes the meager freedoms of her school life, she dreads the possibility that she may one day be forced to leave her beloved friends behind -- just as Kaguya-hime was torn away from her family and companions on Earth.
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is not the only animated work to creatively utilize The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. In 2013, Studio Ghibli produced The Tale of Princess Kaguya, a feature-length film telling the story of Kaguya-hime under the direction of Isao Takahata. Additionally, Sailor Moon loosely adapts the idea of star-crossed lovers and lunar kingdom in its backstory, while Naruto bases its ultimate antagonist on a twisted version of the legendary princess.
Fans have also speculated that the American stop-motion film Kubo and the Two Strings is inspired by the folktale due to its Japanese setting and character themes. In it, the protagonist Kubo's mother originated as the coldhearted daughter of the Moon King before falling in love with a samurai warrior. The Moon King functions as the movie's primary villain, attempting steal his grandson's eyes in order to become immortal like the rest of the moonfolk and assert control over his family.
Each of these spiritual derivatives of the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter has had some sense of forlorn sadness hanging over its characters. Nevertheless, while Kaguya of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War may not share the same interstellar conundrums as these other casts, the legacy of Kaguya-hime serves as a constant specter, threatening to deprive her of freedom in her future. Even so, Shirogane promised he would be different from the Emperor of the fable, vowing that he would drink the potion of immortality and fight forever for his beloved.
Likewise, Kaguya has forged a chosen family with the student council through friends like Chika Fujiwara and Yu Ishigami, as well as her servant Ai Hayasaka. Each of these comrades has already demonstrated their willingness to fight for her when her father's iron grip tries to pull her away. Though the full moon may have once filled her heart with melancholy, Kaguya can now rest assured knowing she has people who will always fight to bring her back.
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is available to stream on Crunchyroll.