Disclosure: Spoilers ahead, and I‘m only focusing on one scene from the movie here. Kaguya is a bit messy in other parts, this is only about one scene however. https://imgur.com/a/tS4enV8

I recently re-watched the Ghibli classic "The Tale of Princess Kaguya", one of my favorites. One particular scene that stuck out to me was the one, where Kaguya had to listen to the tales of her four suitors and select one of them. All were horrible, but one, or so I thought…

Her fourth suitor is Ishitsukuri, a young handsome looking man. Kaguya is already in a terrible state because she knows she has to choose and marry a man she doesn‘t love. Ishitsukuri uses this fact against her and tries to separate himself from the other suitors. Instead of trying to brag about riches or brave deeds, he starts waxing poetic. And I remember the first time I watched the movie I actually thought oh wow, maybe he is the one for her…

Wrong, WRONG! Ishitsukuri sells himself as some kind of free spirit wanting to live among the bees and birds and describes Kaguya as a wild flower, which is exactly her blindspot. She wants to be free of all confines of the court and live with a man who truly values her for her and genuinely loves her.

Not being able to wait any longer, he breaks protocol (🚩) and slides closer to open the blinds between the two of them. He just has to take a close look at her and take in her beauty. (🙄) Well, instead of meeting Kaguya eye to eye, he finds his wife sitting behind the veil. Turns out he is a cheat who takes advantage of young aristocratic girls, destroying their reputation and leaving their lives in shambles.

I really liked this scene because it shows how some men work in terms of being LVM. They can get what they want by figuring out and (seemingly) giving you exactly what you need. By being kind, building castles in the sky, putting flowers in your hair, reading you poems or sending you love notes, until they get what they want that is. It also says a lot about not revealing or constantly broadcasting our weaknesses. And about using time to draw out someones true intentions.

Unlike the other suitors, Kaguya is especially upset about Ishitsukuri, because of how cunning his deception is. The others lied about how much wealth they had or how many battles they fought. But he was going to use her unhappiness and true desire for love and someone who appreciates her, to trick and eventually harm her.

I also liked what it says about how romance is sold to us in movies and stories. He is so gentle and soft-spoken, how can he be harmful? The minute he starts talking you kind of can‘t help, but root for them, especially knowing how unhappy Kaguya is. Well thankfully the creators break our rose-tinted glasses right there and then instead of selling us some faux-romance.

So, romantics, guard your heart for someone who actually deserves it. 💌💘

Also, ever since I found FDS I watch movies differently, and most movies out there do not even expose these sweet-talkers. Any other movies, TV shows etc you can think of that contain toxic romance?