About the [Cosmic Princess Kaguya] ending / timeline [major spoilers ahead!]
So I watched the *Cosmic Princess Kaguya* movie last night, it was one of my best experiences watching any anime movie, and if you haven’t, I highly suggest you watch it first before reading this post because of obvious spoilers.
I want to talk about the ending and the timeline as a whole, because it confused me at first, but after a double and triple take, I think I have the grasp of it. **This post is here to explain my interpretation, discuss about it, and what I could have had wrong.**
Before all else, let state that **there are multiple timelines** (because of Yachiyo stating that *“Iroha’s Kaguya”* has been sent 8000 years in the past), I will call the movie’s one “**timeline N”**, and refers the Kaguya and Iroha we saw in the first part of the movie as **Kaguya\[N\]** and **Iroha\[N\]**. **Timeline N-1 will then refer to the one 8000 years before timeline N, timeline N+1 8000 years after, and so on**
For clarity I will display the order of events in timeline N, **using Iroha\[N\] PoV as reference** and link it with key events from the movie.
* Sometimes in 2030 Princess **Kaguya\[N\]** got bored and escaped the moon, and meets **Iroha\[N\].**
* The events of the story unfold, both in Tsukuyomi and real life, where **Kaguya \[N\]** and **Iroha\[N\]** bonded and had a huge streaming career. **Yachiyo, who is Kaguya\[N-1\]**, was coexisting at the same time, being a top “AI idol/vtuber”
* The population of the moon came to take **Kaguya\[N\]** back from Tsukuyomi, taking both her and **her companion InuDOGE\[N\]**.
* **Iroha\[N\]** spirals into depression and took a break from Tsukuyomi
* Fake credits roll, then **Iroha\[N\]** decides to complete the song left by her deceased father, **Kaguya\[N\]** hears it from the moon at a **distant future** and decides to go back to Earth, using moon technology to **reverse time** to hopefully reunites with **Iroha\[N\]**
* **Kaguya\[N\]** failed to reach destination and ends up 8000 years before *(more on that below)*
* **Iroha\[N\]** and **Kaguya\[N\]** never reunite, but **Iroha\[N\]** realizes that Yachiyo is *“Kaguya”* and hop back onto Tsukuyomi, *Fushi* **(InuDOGE\[N-1\])** lead her to where **Kaguya \[N-1\]** in real life is located (in the bamboo shoot)
* **Kaguya \[N-1\]** (and Fushi/**InuDOGE\[N-1\]**) reveal their 8000-year story *(more on that below)* to **Iroha \[N\],** feels bad because **it wasn’t the happy ending she wanted to give her.**
* **Iroha\[N\]** answers that by a heartfelt *“I can’t live without you”*, and so **Iroha\[N\]** and **Kaguya\[N-1\]** properly reunite giving them **a proper happy ending.** Iroha doesn’t care if Kaguya is from the past or not **as long as she is reunited with her**.
* 10 years passes, where **Iroha\[N\]** and **Kaguya\[N-1\]** still hang out in Tsukuyomi and in real life (**Kaguya\[N-1\]** being immaterialized). **Kaguya\[N-1\]** continues to being a top idol as “*Yachiyo”*
* **Iroha\[N\]** finally gives **Kayuga\[N-1\]** a physical body using her consciousness after these 10 years of research, where **Kaguya\[N-1\]** can enjoy crepes and pancakes at last, giving them **the true happy ending.**
Now that I have told the story from **Iroha\[N\] PoV,** what happens to **Kaguya\[N\]** after the 8000-year leap? This is the same story **Kaguya\[N-1\]** revealed to **Iroha\[N\]**, so **Kaguya\[N\]** experiences the same thing as **Kaguya\[N-1\]** and as any Kaguya in any timeline. So here is **Kaguya\[N\] PoV** (and **Kaguya\[N-1\] PoV** if you change the N by N-1) :
* After the crash only **InuDOGE\[N\] her companion** could materialize, as a sea larvae called *“Fushi”*, **Kaguya\[N\]** consciousness was stuck in the bamboo shoot for 8000 years
* **Kaguya\[N\]** could still communicate with **InuDOGE\[N\]**, who told the story of **Kaguya\[N\]** and **Iroha\[N\]** over and over throughout the years
* **Kaguya\[N\]** learned many things through **InuDOGE\[N\]** experience, like how to keep smiling no matter what. On side note, Iroha comment “*That’s why Yachiyo always smiled all the time”* could either refer to that **or also to Kaguya\[N-1\] being truly the same as Kaguya\[N\]**
* Around when technology was booming 8000 years later, **InuDOGE\[N\]** with the help of **Kaguya\[N\]** created Tsukuyomi, where **Kaguya\[N\]** could fully transfer her consciousness and finally communicate with others as “*Yachiyo”*. On a side note, **I don’t believe that Yachiyo is AI** (contrary to other beliefs), **I believe that Tsukuyomi allowed Kaguya’s consciousness to be completely transferred as computer data.** I think that the line between consciousness of people from the moon and Tsukuyomi computer data is really blurry, like how they could access to Tsukuyomi when they took back Kaguya. After all Kaguya was the one who coded Tsukuyomi.
* **Kaguya \[N\]** and Tsukuyomi became very famous; she then met **Iroha\[N+1\]** here, and then **Kaguya\[N+1\]** after she crashed in the RGB pole.
* After that the story told in the beginning of the post unfolds. In the end **Kaguya\[N\]** reunites with **Iroha\[N+1\]** just like how **Kaguya\[N-1\]** reunites with **Iroha\[N\].**
Last thing I wanna tackle, we see in the end that **Kaguya, Iroha and Yachiyo all performed a concert together.** **I believe that Kaguya could split her consciousness into multiple entities** (like how there are many little Yachiyo in Tsukuyomi). So if we take for example **Iroha\[N\]** PoV, the three persons performing are **Iroha\[N\], Kaguya\[N-1\] in a physical body, and Kaguya\[N-1\] as a Yachiyo hologram** (we can see her floating and shining). As I told before Yachiyo is still a top idol (she’s literally irl Hatsune Miku) and it makes sense for her to perform in the Kaguya comeback.
**TLDR ;**
**The movie involves OG Iroha, OG Kaguya, and Kaguya from the past (Yachiyo). No matter the timeline Iroha will always reunite with a past version of Kaguya in the end, while OG Kaguya will eventually reunite with a future Iroha. In the end them reuniting and staying together no matter what makes it a true heartfelt happy ending**
Thank you for reading all of this and feel free to comment, mind that while English is not my first language I hope I made myself clear.
I want to talk about the ending and the timeline as a whole, because it confused me at first, but after a double and triple take, I think I have the grasp of it. **This post is here to explain my interpretation, discuss about it, and what I could have had wrong.**
Before all else, let state that **there are multiple timelines** (because of Yachiyo stating that *“Iroha’s Kaguya”* has been sent 8000 years in the past), I will call the movie’s one “**timeline N”**, and refers the Kaguya and Iroha we saw in the first part of the movie as **Kaguya\[N\]** and **Iroha\[N\]**. **Timeline N-1 will then refer to the one 8000 years before timeline N, timeline N+1 8000 years after, and so on**
For clarity I will display the order of events in timeline N, **using Iroha\[N\] PoV as reference** and link it with key events from the movie.
* Sometimes in 2030 Princess **Kaguya\[N\]** got bored and escaped the moon, and meets **Iroha\[N\].**
* The events of the story unfold, both in Tsukuyomi and real life, where **Kaguya \[N\]** and **Iroha\[N\]** bonded and had a huge streaming career. **Yachiyo, who is Kaguya\[N-1\]**, was coexisting at the same time, being a top “AI idol/vtuber”
* The population of the moon came to take **Kaguya\[N\]** back from Tsukuyomi, taking both her and **her companion InuDOGE\[N\]**.
* **Iroha\[N\]** spirals into depression and took a break from Tsukuyomi
* Fake credits roll, then **Iroha\[N\]** decides to complete the song left by her deceased father, **Kaguya\[N\]** hears it from the moon at a **distant future** and decides to go back to Earth, using moon technology to **reverse time** to hopefully reunites with **Iroha\[N\]**
* **Kaguya\[N\]** failed to reach destination and ends up 8000 years before *(more on that below)*
* **Iroha\[N\]** and **Kaguya\[N\]** never reunite, but **Iroha\[N\]** realizes that Yachiyo is *“Kaguya”* and hop back onto Tsukuyomi, *Fushi* **(InuDOGE\[N-1\])** lead her to where **Kaguya \[N-1\]** in real life is located (in the bamboo shoot)
* **Kaguya \[N-1\]** (and Fushi/**InuDOGE\[N-1\]**) reveal their 8000-year story *(more on that below)* to **Iroha \[N\],** feels bad because **it wasn’t the happy ending she wanted to give her.**
* **Iroha\[N\]** answers that by a heartfelt *“I can’t live without you”*, and so **Iroha\[N\]** and **Kaguya\[N-1\]** properly reunite giving them **a proper happy ending.** Iroha doesn’t care if Kaguya is from the past or not **as long as she is reunited with her**.
* 10 years passes, where **Iroha\[N\]** and **Kaguya\[N-1\]** still hang out in Tsukuyomi and in real life (**Kaguya\[N-1\]** being immaterialized). **Kaguya\[N-1\]** continues to being a top idol as “*Yachiyo”*
* **Iroha\[N\]** finally gives **Kayuga\[N-1\]** a physical body using her consciousness after these 10 years of research, where **Kaguya\[N-1\]** can enjoy crepes and pancakes at last, giving them **the true happy ending.**
Now that I have told the story from **Iroha\[N\] PoV,** what happens to **Kaguya\[N\]** after the 8000-year leap? This is the same story **Kaguya\[N-1\]** revealed to **Iroha\[N\]**, so **Kaguya\[N\]** experiences the same thing as **Kaguya\[N-1\]** and as any Kaguya in any timeline. So here is **Kaguya\[N\] PoV** (and **Kaguya\[N-1\] PoV** if you change the N by N-1) :
* After the crash only **InuDOGE\[N\] her companion** could materialize, as a sea larvae called *“Fushi”*, **Kaguya\[N\]** consciousness was stuck in the bamboo shoot for 8000 years
* **Kaguya\[N\]** could still communicate with **InuDOGE\[N\]**, who told the story of **Kaguya\[N\]** and **Iroha\[N\]** over and over throughout the years
* **Kaguya\[N\]** learned many things through **InuDOGE\[N\]** experience, like how to keep smiling no matter what. On side note, Iroha comment “*That’s why Yachiyo always smiled all the time”* could either refer to that **or also to Kaguya\[N-1\] being truly the same as Kaguya\[N\]**
* Around when technology was booming 8000 years later, **InuDOGE\[N\]** with the help of **Kaguya\[N\]** created Tsukuyomi, where **Kaguya\[N\]** could fully transfer her consciousness and finally communicate with others as “*Yachiyo”*. On a side note, **I don’t believe that Yachiyo is AI** (contrary to other beliefs), **I believe that Tsukuyomi allowed Kaguya’s consciousness to be completely transferred as computer data.** I think that the line between consciousness of people from the moon and Tsukuyomi computer data is really blurry, like how they could access to Tsukuyomi when they took back Kaguya. After all Kaguya was the one who coded Tsukuyomi.
* **Kaguya \[N\]** and Tsukuyomi became very famous; she then met **Iroha\[N+1\]** here, and then **Kaguya\[N+1\]** after she crashed in the RGB pole.
* After that the story told in the beginning of the post unfolds. In the end **Kaguya\[N\]** reunites with **Iroha\[N+1\]** just like how **Kaguya\[N-1\]** reunites with **Iroha\[N\].**
Last thing I wanna tackle, we see in the end that **Kaguya, Iroha and Yachiyo all performed a concert together.** **I believe that Kaguya could split her consciousness into multiple entities** (like how there are many little Yachiyo in Tsukuyomi). So if we take for example **Iroha\[N\]** PoV, the three persons performing are **Iroha\[N\], Kaguya\[N-1\] in a physical body, and Kaguya\[N-1\] as a Yachiyo hologram** (we can see her floating and shining). As I told before Yachiyo is still a top idol (she’s literally irl Hatsune Miku) and it makes sense for her to perform in the Kaguya comeback.
**TLDR ;**
**The movie involves OG Iroha, OG Kaguya, and Kaguya from the past (Yachiyo). No matter the timeline Iroha will always reunite with a past version of Kaguya in the end, while OG Kaguya will eventually reunite with a future Iroha. In the end them reuniting and staying together no matter what makes it a true heartfelt happy ending**
Thank you for reading all of this and feel free to comment, mind that while English is not my first language I hope I made myself clear.
Commentaires
I don't think it's even as complicated as this. When Yachiyo is revealing to Iroha what happened, she describes the internet itself as just "resembling the world of the moon" and "for the first time, giving her a way to interact with the world even as a disembodied soul".
Then they flash through a few scenes that show her (already using Yachiyo/Yachi8000 as a screename) in 2005, decades before Tsukuyomi, [running a fan art blog](https://imgur.com/a/QBO2Rdb) and [flaming people on 2ch](https://imgur.com/a/QOFx6E6) lol.
Although u and op are basically saying the same thing, just with more or less detail.
Today, we relay on electronic signals to communicate with the world. We cannot see those signals with bare eyes but they had been part of our lives.
In this movie, an assumption is made that supernatural beings without physical form do exist and they interact with the world just like how we do nowadays: sending signals intangible to human senses.
Kaguya and the Moon people can intervene in cyberspaces because it is their nature to manipulate electronic signals.
In terms of world consistency, it feels about as consistent as most stories that implore time travel (which is to say, usually not at all if you try and describe the nitty-gritty mechanics of it), but in a story that has unexplained moon aliens and is clearly more focused on the characters than the worldbuilding (outside Tsukuyomi), I'm able to easily overlook it.
This post clarified it for me that it took time for Iroha's song to reach Kaguya from the moon (Iroha got old), so yeah, it really is Kaguya from the future (who travelled mistakenly to 8000 years in the past) in Iroha's (who just sang) point of view.
Kaguya[N-1] and Iroha[N] has been together for over 10 years at that point, and her having a physical body doesn't change that much in their relationship (her first reaction in her new body is "damn that's heavy", "let's eat pancakes!", if it was somehow Kaguya[N] instead of Kaguya[N-1] she would not react the same)
Kaguya\[N-1\] aka "Yachiyo" has changed after 8000 years, the proof is Iroha\[N\] asked her "where is my old Kaguya"; Iroha\[N\] does realize Yachiyo isn't the same Kaguya she met before
Yachiyoi herself also said she had became an old granny after 8000 years, she also became the person who can do everything (like how Kaguya\[N\] said right at her final concert) instead of the Kaguya who had been asking Iroha to help her nonstop (edit: I realized Kaguya had became pretty much like Iroha, Iroha herself also said "You've became a person like me"); I feel like this is the same case of Aqua Hoshino and his previous life - the doctor
So in the end, Yachiyoi splitted her conciousness (which has the Kaguya\[N\] personality) and transferred it into the robotic body
That's pretty much why the three of them can perform together (plus the huge reason OP mentioned in his post)
edit 2: sorry if the quotes are incorrect, I watched it from my mother language subs, and also sorry for my bad english
Kaguya[N-1] never had a physical body like her previous self Kaguya[N] cause her spaceship was broken, and only Fushi could materialize like she said. It just confuses me because Kaguya[N] has a body and Kaguya[N-1] is just her in the future-past.
It's the very concept-- of the spaceship's lacking power is the reason why she never manifested a body she already has-- that is weak imo. It's a gripe of mine after finishing the movie.
The whole reincarnation thing fks me up cause Kaguya's[N-1] consciousness is still there but only her body reincarnates? (She's technically still alive) Makes me wonder why her vassals never came after her [N-1] again.
Then Kaguya[N], bored in the moon, arrives on earth as a baby with no memories and regains them after one of the small white underlings were able to touch her during the live concert?
I actually thought Kaguya[N] arriving as a baby was her who just got reincarnated instead of Kaguya[N] being bored out of her mind.
Anw, I loved the movie! Made me drop everything I'm doing after the first 10 minutes lol
>Kaguya[N-1] never had a physical body like her previous self Kaguya[N]
Kaguya[N] isn't Kaguya[N-1] past self, on the contrary Kaguya[N-1] experienced everything that Kaguya[N] experienced 8000 years ago, so she did have a physical body at that time.
See it like every Kaguya go through the same thing :
1) go to earth and meet Iroha and a previous Kaguya
2) events from the movies unfold and is taken back to the moon
3) go back to earth but end up 8000 years in the past
4) after 8000 years meet a new Iroha and a new Kaguya (who then starts from 1))
5) after 10 years new Iroha give her a physical body and they live happily afterwards
>Then Kaguya[N], bored in the moon, arrives on earth as a baby with no memories
With that in mind, she does have memories at her time in the moon (she identify herself as Princess Kaguya), and it's also supposedly the 1st time she's been to earth. The baby thing is just to mirror the classical Princess Kaguya story.
>Makes me wonder why her vassals never came after her [N-1] again.
Kaguya did say before returning to earth a 2nd time that she had finished every work needed before leaving, so maybe that's why
Ohhhh, thank you. It makes the ending really bittersweet that the Kaguya\[N\] and Iroha\[N\] will actually never reunite. Damn.
But Iroha answers that she "can't live without her" either way so it doesn't matter if she isn't from her timeline.
In a way Iroha and Kayuga will always find a way to reunite to i'd consider this ending happy still. The sad part is every Kaguya having to struggle 8000 years waiting for Iroha.
Kaguya[N-1] just create new timeline when spaceship crash the meteor and crash landing 8,000 year ago. Just like you go back in time like Back to the future movie.
And why does Iroha have a feline version?
Pretty much, she was trapped in the bamboo shoot spaceship
>Isn't that white-haired version of her real?
Not "real" as in the real world, but real in the virtual one (Tsukuyomi),
>And why does Iroha have a feline version?
It's the version of her in the virtual world
Since Kaguya was trapped and then gained a new body, why did the cycle have to be repeated, creating two versions of her?
I know it's a big spoiler, but I need to know to calm down. What I mean is, why did Kaguya [N] need to go through the 8,000 years again?
In the film’s logic:
1. The present-day Kaguya is taken to the Moon.
2. Then (in her future), she tries to go back to Iroha.
3. That attempt fails because of the accident, and she ends up 8,000 years in the past.
4. By crossing eras, she becomes Yachiyo in Tsukuyomi — and that’s why Yachiyo already exists when Iroha enters Tsukuyomi.
So the present version of Kaguya need to time-travel for everything to happen.
Creating the robotic body allows Yachiyo (future/digital Kaguya) to stay with Iroha in the real world, while young Kaguya is the one who lived at the beginning and then was taken away — and that was necessary, because she would later time-travel so that this “ideal present” where the two are together can happen, closing the loop.
Did I understand the basics of this? Just tell me if I got close, please.
And why does Iroha have a feline version?
At that time, Kaguya didn’t know Yachiyo yet, or maybe she hadn’t become Yachiyo yet, right? So why would she ask Yachiyo to find her?
At the end, when Kaguya, Iroha, and Yachiyo were about to do the concert:
Kaguya said, *“It’s been a long time.”*
Iroha said, *“Like 8,000 years?”*
Yachiyo said, *“It was just last week for Yachiyo.”*
What exactly is this dialogue referring to? I don’t understand what she means by “last week.”
Also, who is in the body that Iroha created? I’m not sure if it’s Kaguya \[N\] or Yachiyo, because of how she acts.
I feel like Kaguya is more childish than Yachiyo. The way she says she wants to eat pancakes and her expressions feel more like Kaguya to me. For me, Yachiyo is calmer and more like an adult version.
Could you share your thoughts about this?
Even though I know Kaguya \[N\] couldn’t meet Iroha \[N\] again because she was trapped in a time loop… still… it’s kind of sad that she had to wait 8,000 years while looking for a happy ending.
As for the end part it also confused me as to why Yachiyo said it was just last week for her-- as OP stated the Kaguya in the new robot body was basically Kaguya\[N-1\] alongside with Iroha\[N\] since Iroha \[N\] and Kaguya \[N\] would never meet each other again. If we're going to take the theory that Yachiyo/Kaguya\[N-1\] can split her consciousness then basically it wouldn't make sense for her to say that line.
Anw for those who are still confused-- pairing should look like this
In Iroha's POV
* Iroha\[N\] + Kaguya \[N\] = somewhere year 2030 (basically their first meet)
* Iroha\[N\] + Yachiyo/Kaguya \[N-1\] = 10 years time skip/Present time
In Kaguya's POV
* Kaguya\[N+1\] + Iroha \[N\] = somewhere year 2030 (basically their first meet)
* Yachiyo/Kaguya\[N-1\] + Iroha \[N\] = 10 years time skip/Present time
edit: also, if the hologram yachiyo said it was just last week for her does it mean that she is entirely separate consciousness from the Kaguya in the robot body? or basically Kaguya\[N-1\]? If yes, then where tf did she came from HAHA.
another edit: here's a theory that I think would make sense-- let's look at the three characters in the ending part and their dialogues.
When Kaguya\[N-1\] said: *"It's been way too long!"* she probably means it emotionally and historically, meaning her conciousness was stranded in the bamboo shoot in the past 8000 years without actually living it, that whole gap matters to her identity as Kaguya so for her it's really been 8000 years for her.
and then,
When Iroha\[N\] said: *"Like 8,000 years?"* she's trying to anchor it with the timeline that she understands-- basically saying that she knows what Kaguya\[N-1\] went through all that time, showing empathy towards Kaguya\[N-1\]
and last but not the least the part where ig most of us are confused with,
When Yachiyo said: "*It was just last week for Yachiyo."* she's speaking from the perspective of the moment where she last meaningfully interacted or when she performed with Iroha\[N\] including inside Tsukuyomi.
Hope this makes sense lol
Kaguya\[N-1\] as *Kaguya* first state that "*It's been way too long!"* simply as in it's been way too long she performed as *Kaguya*
Iroha\[N\] answers *"Like 8,000 years?"* because Kaguya\[N-1\] never got to perform as *Kaguya* indeed for 8000 years or so. The last time she did was during the graduation concert which was over 8000 years ago for her
Then Kaguya\[N-1\] as *Yachiyo* says "*It was just last week for Yachiyo."* which is also true as Kaguya\[N-1\] keeps on regularly performing as *Yachiyo* for over 10 years
So yeah basically Kaguya\[N-1\] is just reminiscing the last time she performed as *Kaguya*
One question I had ,
so Kaguya N-1 still had the same memories with Iroha N like we saw in the movie? (even though Kaguya (N-1) might have changed a bit because she experienced 8000 years of history)
Again, thank you for taking the time to make the post!
The time travel part confuses me though. And I don't want to go through a rabbit hole again like with Steins Gate or Attack on Titan. But to put it simply, y would she time travel back? She would have to redo all her responsibilities again and the moon would grab her ass again if she left early. And pops up another question, y didnt the moon grab her again if she ran away again during that 8000years? She still has her obligations and duty. I think she was doomed either way when the moon brought her back. Time traveling doesn't already guarantee meeting her iroha since that's another version of her in another timeline.
And to me, Kaguya seems a bit too optimistic for witnessing 8000 years of civilization. Heck fieren was already in her stoic phase already when she didn't even hit 1000 years yet iirc.
It is stated in the movie, that by the time Kaguya was ready to go back Iroha was already much older. She wanted to land right after she originally left Earth, but failed and got sent 8000 years back.
>She would have to redo all her responsibilities again and the moon would grab her ass again if she left early.
My guess is that because two Kaguyas are existing in the same timeline, while Kaguya is on Earth the other one is doing moon duties.
Yeah ik, i mentioned that first thing. "She mentioned that "Eath Time passes by quick" and we see a depiction of her Iroha being old by the she finished her responsibilities and passing it on to the new person"
My guess is the same as yours. Avengers Endgame time travel. But ig she failed to realize that wasn't her Iroha anymore and that timeline was for the "one is doing moon duties". regardless, the moment she went back to the moon it was generally over for her. She could've just warned her past self and escape again lol.
It also pretty clearly states that when Kaguya crash-lands in the past, there was only enough power in the bamboo shoot pod to give *InuDOGE* a body and (communicating) through him is how Kaguya’s consciousness experienced the passage of those 8000 years. That’s a much cleaner explanation than a merging and splitting consciousnesses. InuDOGE seems to definitively be his own entity.
The avatar/robot version at the very end are both the same person - it’s just two copies of Yachiyo like you see her do early in the film, but it allows her to be with an older Iroha in *both* the digital and real worlds. The fact that they’re both present for the final performance before credits roll is just that, a performance. As far as most of their fans know, Kaguya and Yachiyo are two different people.
Iroha and Kaguya live in a present where Kaguya returns to the moon. Kaguya decides to return to Iroha, but it's too late and Iroha is old; so she needs to go back in time to when she was young. By manipulating time and colliding with the asteroid, however, she goes back 8,000 years. I don't think there are multiple universes; Kaguya simply goes back in time, inevitably changing the future. Thus, she becomes Yachiyo and creates a place where the future self and Iroha can live in contact with her. What I don't understand is how Iroha got Kaguya back; because from the ending it seems like the Kaguya we experienced and Yachiyo coexist.
I also think that kaguya and yachiyo in the "10 years later" is the same (i hope so bc i want only 1 kaguya exists).ab they coexisting, I think i can only explain like ts post's author or maybe kaguya just creates a copy of her as AI for the future Yachiyo or whatever.
Afterall i still want this anime to have 1 single timeline with only 1 kaguya. Well i think all we can do is overlooking that and "lunar-tech" solved everything.
Btw i dunno what would happened with the moon lmao kaguya is stuck on earth and theres no kaguya there arghh
This indicates that while Fushi might have spent 8000 years disseminating the original legend of Kaguya (where the RGB light pole became misinterpreted as a bamboo) and manipulating history to allow for the spaceship to be retrieved and hooked up to the internet, in fact for Kaguya only a short period of time actually occurred (be it on the moon or in her spaceship). So the comment during the final concert about it being 8000 years but only a few weeks for Yachiyo might have been true - her body is experiencing only a short wait within the spaceship due to the time dilation effect.
It also means that when Iroha extracts the personality from the Kaguya in the spaceship into the robot, that person is essentially the Kaguya she knew 10 years ago, plus the time spent on the moon working and the week or so spent in the spaceship waiting out the 8000 earth years.
As for Yachiyo, it's shown she has knowledge of the intervening 8000 years and also refers to herself as a granny, so it's likely she has actually lived through that time alongside or maybe inside Fushi. She also has knowledge of the original timeline since it's only with the advent of the internet that she realises she is to become Yachiyo. Under this framework, Yachiyo can only be explained as a split off personality from Kaguya.
I think though that Kaguya experienced Earth time as normal (the full 8000 years). The distinction is that she could now perform in person vs in the virtual world. Thus the line, "It's been a long time".
Yachiyo is being a jokester saying, "why I had a performance last week" (in Tsukuyomi).
I do think that there are now 2 Kaguyas: one whose consciousness was uploaded into the robot body. And one that stays in the virtual world.
[https://imgur.com/AZCUGIw](https://imgur.com/AZCUGIw)
Reflecting the virtual Kaguya's wish to eat pancakes again (maybe specifically Iroha's pancakes ;))
She is unable to taste anything while confined to the virtual world.
And that all has to do with the fact that this was, and always will be a love story.
Let it be known that Iroha and Kaguya fell in love with each other in the story. (Or at least Kaguya was head over heels).
While Kaguya spent 8000 years experiencing *japan history*. We see a bunch of flashbacks of encouraging messages about "there's someone you're waiting to see right?", "that sucks, but when times are tough you should smile", "our memories get better with time". It was when Kaguya finally realized she would become Yachiyo, that she would keep a constant smile.
Yachiyo (the vtuber) would always keep smiling because she knew she would be reunited in the future with Iroha, her love at first sight.
And Iroha herself would realize **she** was the reason why Yachiyo would always keep smiling.
It truly is a touching story ;-;
Talk about truly earning the “Pining Queen” award of all time!
Iroha and Kaguya meet and the story unfolds with Kaguya (and InuDOGE, the dog thing) being taken back to the moon. Not long after, Iroha plays the song she made with her father (this actually turns out to be Yachiyo’s debut song), and Kaguya somehow heard it from the moon along with her companion. This made her want to go back but she had a job to do. After finishing her work, she realizes it is too late for her to go back, so she instead plans to travel back in time to reunite with Iroha.
I believe that the pod she uses to go to earth dematerializes her body and when she lands she turns into a baby. This part isn’t explained, so this is more or less a theory based off the events.
On her way back to earth while time traveling, she hits an astroid causing her to land on earth 8,000 years in the past. Her body never materializes, but her companion did. She uses Fushi (InuDOGE) to survive the next 8,000 years by communicating through alien telepathy or whatever (another educated guess). Fast forward 8,000 years, and Kaguya makes Tsukuyomi where she is then able to upload her consciousness into, becoming Yachiyo.
Throughout all of this Fushi is the main body behind everything that happened the last 8,000 years, but Kaguya was the mind behind it all. But with Kaguya now becoming Yachiyo, she eventually meets her past self and Iroha as Yachiyo. The events of the movie play out, which leads to the final 30 minutes where the time traveling and stuff gets introduced. Iroha and Yachiyo are reunited but it isn’t enough, so Iroha makes an android resembling Kaguya’s original body so Kaguya/Yachiyo can upload her consciousness into it, thus ending the movie.
I know that you explained it in your post, but this was more for me and anyone else not fully understanding it. I think this movie was one of the best anime movies I have ever watched. I saw a meme of it on IG and got curious. Was very surprised when I found out it came out no more than a week ago, and was even more surprised by how good it was. The visuals, story, and characters were all super fun and detailed. Would love to see a series made up of the different streams they were in
Thank you for the explanation. Very clear and easy to understand :D
if so;
So in one 2030 Kaguya lands on Earth > meets Iroha and bonds with her and they make music together? > the moon people bring her back > Iroha sings that tune and Kaguya hears it > time travels back to earth but the meteor collision causes Kaguya to go back 8000 years > She communicates via Fushi as her real body is stuck in the spaceship ?) > 8000 years passes, iroha exists now, Kaguya as Fushi creates the tsukuyomi > takes the form of Yachiyo > makes the song that iroha sang to her back then in the hopes that it would reach iroha >
Then the movie plot occurs; (?)
In the 2nd 2030 Kaguya lands on Earth > meets Iroha > Tsukuyomi exists in this timeline as well as kaguya’s future self as yachiyo (?) > however like before moon people bring Kaguya back > Kaguya hears the song > time travels back to earth but due to meteor collision goes back 8000 years > however this time Iroha finds out the truth about yachiyo and kaguya being the same consciousness just of different timelines > Iroha creates the tech that can transfer future Kaguya’s Yachiyo conciousness into a robot body that has senses like a human but Kaguya as a virtual conciousness in the form of Yachiyo also exists
But in that case the kaguya of every single timeline will never meet *her* Iroha. Damn that’s sad
It's a bootstrap paradox spanning 8000 years. The plot of the "present" needs to happen so that future!Kaguya will travel back in time, become Yachiyo, and set up the conditions in the "past" for the "present" plot to happen (so that present!Kaguya will travel back in time, become Yachiyo, set up the conditions, etc).
Or in other words, Kaguya *will* eventually meet *her* Iroha. It will just take 8000 years of waiting as Yachiyo to happen.
I also agree that Yachiyo isn’t a normal AI. She feels more like Kaguya’s consciousness digitized through Tsukuyomi, which explains why the Moon people can interact with Tsukuyomi tech and why Yachiyo’s emotions feel real rather than simulated.
Overall, I think the “happy ending” isn’t about OG Kaguya reuniting with OG Iroha, but about the idea that their bond always survives time, even if the versions don’t line up. That’s what makes the ending hit so hard.
Now I get why when Iroha[N] and Kaguya[N] visited Tsukuyomi during the first concert, Yachiyo mentioned something about like welcome back or “thanks for watching me Iroha[N]”. The first time I watched the movie I thought Yachiyo always see Iroha[N] during her concerts.
Now, how am I going to explain all of this to my friends who just watched lol 😅
The key thing is Kaguya's spaceship and her soul.
Her spaceship is heavily damaged during the time travel and hit the meteor (maybe the one that killed every dinosaur)
And the spaceship have the function to create actually physical living body (like when Kaguya born from a baby) but the energy was very low after the hit so it only have enough energy to create INUDOGE physical body to interact outside, Kaguya give Inudoge's physical body her conscious to protect her spaceship (as it is working like her soul so if it is gone then she is dead for sure)
Doing this keep Kaguya alive, then, 8000 years later, in the internet era, she find out that HER soul can work like an invisible energy can interact directly with the internet, which later created Tsukuyomi and the story in the anime.
So the key thing here is her soul works like some kind of database holding her memory (AI), which can be extracted to create Kaguya (Before 8000 years) memory like data and also can clone Yachiyo for livestream.
Which led to the last scene when Iroha created a physical body for Kaguya, she installed the memory of the Kaguya who just hit the earth 8000 years ago. So here we have the true Kaguya, who was with Iroha at the beginning of the series, but u can also see that Kaguya is only 1 WEEK old (mentioned in anime). So basically, Yachiyo most likely created Kaguya 8000 years ago by extracting memory, and that Kaguya will only be 1 week old, which she can later put Kaguya's memory into the physical body
And that just explains why we have both Kaguya and Yachiyo. They are not the same but different person because of the timeline difference. (This is my theory because Kaguya seem doesn't know about her 8000-year journey, and also with this theory we achieve the greatest ending)
While all these happened, u can see that only memory was transferred, so the time loop in the story will keep happend, the Kaguya heard Iroha song -> Kaguya travels backin time and hits the meteor and begins the 8000 years journey -> Kaguya becomes Yachiyo -> Iroha finds out Yachiyo is Kaguya -> Yachiyo extracts her memory (Memory after she hit earth 8000 years early) to create Kaguya -> Iroha, Kaguya, Yachiyo, and them 3 happy ending
During today's youtube MV explained more, we can see Yachiyo on Kaguya's phone when she climb mountain with Iroha and seem to bury the bamboo, this mean that Kaguya soul is now free and completely tranfered to her new body. Also Kaguya and Yachiyo exist like 2 different person here make me quite confident with my theory!
(Sorry for the bad English, I genuinely wanna get answers since I'm thinking way too much over this instead of our school report.)
[https://postimg.cc/nMBzQZsp](https://postimg.cc/nMBzQZsp)
She goons and games for 14 hours a day.
She ends up meeting a minor and grooms her throughout her entire life.
When the girl eventually leaves to fulfill her role as an adult,
the gooner weeb Iroha falls into depression.
She then chooses to lock herself back inside her delusional prison, where she finds comfort in her parasocial virtual idol.
She goes on to study and work in IT and robotics to build her own gooner robot—one with no free will and no ability to leave her—made to look exactly like the same underage girl who abandoned her before.
I think things would have been clearer if the movie had actually shown Kaguya returning to Earth for the second time and meeting old lady Iroha, and \*then\* taking the decision to travel to the past. But either way, I'd watch the whole thing again anyway. This movie is definitely slept on, and I hope it will gain the popularity it deserves over time.