Japanese Folklore Series! - Farewell, Princess Kaguya

Japanese Folklore Series! - Farewell, Princess Kaguya
Ultraman Leo, episode 32
Information
Airdate	November 15, 1974
Directed by	Nobuo Nakagawa
Written by	Toshiro Ishido
Special Effects Directed by	Nobuo Yajima
Viewer Ratings	8.8%
Continuity
Previous	Japanese Folklore Series! - The White Flower That Protects the Earth
Next	The Leo Brothers vs the Space Demon Alien

Japanese Folklore Series! - Farewell, Princess Kaguya is the thirty-second episode of Ultraman Leo. It is the seventh and final of the seven episode story arc, in the Japanese Folklore Series story arc.

Synopsis

Yayoi has been having strange dreams recently. She is the Moon Goddess and she can hear the voice of a messenger who comes during a full moon. This is because Moonlight Monster Kirara is communicating with her deep consciousness. Yayoi's foster parents and MAC try to protect her.

Plot

A skilled gymnast woman named Yayoi is seen depressed and staring at the moon. Gen, Momoko and Takeshi worry about her, and go to look for her. He asks her family about it, but they tell her it's nothing to worry about. Then he gets a message that there is an emergency on the moon and deploys.

The family Yayoi is living in has a member her age who wishes to marry her. After Gen leaves, he shouts to the moon that he won't let it have her. While Gen is driving, he comes upon Yayoi standing alone on the road. He offers to take her home, but she runs from him, to a place where she can see the moon.

She (and Gen) hear a voice tell her it is coming for her, calling her princess, on the next day, because the enemies who wanted to kill her had been defeated. She tells it she knows nothing about this, as she was born on earth. The voice explains she was brought to earth soon after she was born. She is told she is the princess of the moon people, who live under the earth.

Dan confronts her and tells her it is her imagination; that there is no life on the moon. Then he goes to MAC and reports the date. Just then, there is a volcanic eruption on the moon, and Kirara heads towards earth. They realize it will reach Yayoi's place at the moon's zenith.

When Gen gets to the panicked family's house, the old couple reveal they found her fifteen years ago in a place where lightning had struck the earth. Thinking the girl a gift from heaven, they had raised her, and kept the moon pendant from the location.

As the moon rises, soldiers take up positions around the house. Then Kirara arrives. MAC attacks, but the kaiju is not fazed. From its stomach it emits a green light, and suddenly Yayoi is in traditional Japanese royal clothes. Silently and regally she descends from the house, onto a red carpet which appears below her. Then she floats up towards the alien who is calling to her, calling to take her back home.

Just as Princess Kaguya is about to leave with the alien, Gen transforms and attacks. The princess calls for them to stop fighting. Turning to her shocked family and MAC, she declares that she will go to the moon. Leo is defeated, and the alien points out the girl said she would go back to the moon. As he hears this, Leo has a burst of strength and beats the alien back.

Kirara then drops to the ground and begs for the princess. Leo is about to destroy him, when the Princess calls up for him to stop. He helps the alien up, and it fires a shot which breaks the moon pendant around Yayoi's neck. She collapses, but soon gets up, and dances before returning to the moon on the moonbeam.

Cast

• Gen Otori : Ryu Manatsu
• Momoko Yamaguchi : Kaori Okano
• Takeshi Nomura : Yukio Ito
• Junko Shirakawa : Mieko Mita
• Daisuke Sato : Shigeo Tezuka
• Jun Shirato : Masaharu Matsusaka
• Ippei Kajita : Takashi Asakura
• Dan Moroboshi : Kohji Moritsugu

Guest Actors

• Yayoi Nakajima : Hizuru Ono
• Yayoi's Parents
  • Masahiko Arima
  • Chigusa Tsuyuhara
• Taro : Kaoru Fukuda

Voice Actors

• Kirara : Takeshi Watanabe
• Narrator : Tetsuro Sagawa

Suit Actors

• Ultraman Leo : Tatsumi Nikamoto
• Toru Kawai

Appearances

Ultras

• Ultraman Leo

Kaiju

• Princess Kaguya
• Kirara

Home Media

• Ultraman Leo Volume 8 features episodes 29-32.

2006 release

2011 release

Trivia

• This episode is adapted from the Japan Masterpiece Folklore The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
• This episode was directed by Nobuo Nakagawa, who is best known for his Japanese horror films influenced by folk tales, particularly those created in the 1950s and 1960s.
  • It is believed that the production of this episode was driven by producer Ken Kumagai, who was eager to fulfill Eiji Tsuburaya's dream of having a story about "Princess Kaguya" directed by Nakagawa. In order to make this dream a reality, Kumagai persistently convinced Nakagawa to take on the project, ultimately succeeding in having Nakagawa direct the work.
  • As a token of appreciation, director Nakagawa personally created a piece of lacquer ware, a decorated plate, using lacquer techniques, and gifted it to Kumagai as a gesture of gratitude for the opportunity.
• According to Ryu Manatsu in a 2018 interview, he had a fever of 40°C during the filming of this episode and felt dizzy just walking. Later, a fan told him, "At the end, when Princess Kaguya leaves Earth, Gen's eyes were filled with tears. That detail was really moving." In reality, however, it was likely just because Manatsu was delirious from the high fever.