Anime and Manga
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: In Chapter 82.5 (a collection of Fractured Fairy Tales), Naddy plays Kaguya, but decides to go to America instead of the Moon and has to be forcibly dragged to the Moon by the messengers.
- Ayakashi Triangle: When Matsuri was a child, reading the story made him paranoid Suzu would be taken away to the moon just like Kaguya was. When spirits from the moon visit years later, Matsuri believes they're moon people who came to do just that, but they only look that way because of Matsuri's fear. They actually just came to eat Suzu's offering of food and otherwise look like a flock of Moon Rabbits.
- Crayon Shin-chan had a Fractured Fairy Tale spoof set in the Edo period based on this legend. Shin-Chan plays one of the three peasants attempting to woo Princess Kaguya, only to find out he's the princess' kid brother.
- Doraemon: One episode of the anime has Doraemon accidentally receiving a misplaced "instant human seed" in the mail, and intends to return it only for Nobita to use it without Doraemon's permission, as usual. Said seed can generate life after being implanted in vegetation, and when Nobita plants it into a bamboo tree it then takes the form of a young girl. The myth of Princess Kaguya is name-dropped a few times in the episode, including the final scene.
- Fly Me to the Moon has many references to the story. Female lead Tsukasa Tsukoyomi is vaguely implied to be Kaguya, although this is cast into doubt when a character named Kaguya Gekkou is introduced. It turns out that Tsukasa is not Kaguya, but the daughter of the emperor's subordinate Iwakasa. Iwakasa gave Tsukasa the elixir when she was dying of an illness, instead of burning it as the emperor ordered.
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War has numerous references to the story, especially since Kaguya Shinomiya, the female lead, is named after Princess Kaguya. In one chapter, male lead Miyuki Shirogane says Princess Kaguya's lover was a fool to burn the elixir of immortality, since the elixir was meant to be a way for him to see Kaguya again even if he had to wait longer than a human lifetime.
- Naruto: Kaguya Ootsuki is the mother of Hagoromo, the Sage of the Six Paths, and is supposedly the person who brought ninjutsu to the world. She is also the Greater-Scope Villain for the series, having been sealed in the moon, and uses Madara Uchiha to arrange for her resurrection.
- Otaku Elf: Koito recites the tale to explain Mt. Fuji's cultural significance to Elda.
- In Pita-Ten, the main characters' class puts on a school play based on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter with Kotaro playing Kaguya.
- Pretty Cure:
- Smile PreCure!: As part of the fairytale fashion show in Episode 34, Reika dresses as Princess Kaguya.
- Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure: Madoka Kaguya's family name, along with her overall moon motif, references Princess Kaguya (though Madoka's family name is written with the kanji for "fragrance", "eternity" and "arrow" while Princess Kaguya's name is typically written in hiragana), and she actually plays the part of Princess Kaguya in a movie the Cures all take part in.
- Queen's Blade Grimoire: Kaguya is portrayed as a Spoiled Brat who is obsessed with collecting rare treasures, which is why she gave the challenges to her suitors. A few succeeded in their tasks, but they then have to beat her in a fight to marry her. She even gave a challenge to a woman. Despite the Medieval fantasy setting, some of her treasures are advanced technology, including a Laser Blade.
- Queen Millennia: The plot of the manga and anime uses The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter as the jumping-off point. The title in the original Japanese is even The New Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
- Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove it: At one point, the cast starts retelling fairy tales with a scientific twist. In their version of this story, Kaguya challenges her suitors to solve Fermat's Last Theorem. One suitor gives up, one tries to solve it by himself, and another realizes Kaguya doesn't plan on marrying any of them.
Comic Books
- Katmandu offers a very bizarre twist of the tale done in a side-story named The Girls Who Loved the Moon: Hesta, one of the female characters of the story, tells basically a Fractured Fairy Tale version of the Japanese tale, mixed with the one from the Tanabata, to Liska's daughters Thea and Mela. The bizarre part comes with the fact that both versions of those respective tales are basically alien, Native American-like versions of those Japanese tales, and mixing elements from such stories. This is quite justified since, while the side-story was written by an American, Carole Curtis, the art was done by a Japanese artist, Hitoshi "Dr. COMET" Natsume.
- In the Albedo: Erma Felna EDF / Katmandu / Ace Combat Crossover fic Liberi Fatalis: The Theriantrope Chronicles
, there's a Original Character named Kaguya Hoshino, who is the daughter of one of the most powerful and wealthiest men of the Earth. There's a twist on this Kaguya, through: The Kaguya of this story is a very foul-mouthed, rude girl, and with a very haughty personality to boot.
Films — Animated
- Doraemon: Nobita's Chronicles of the Moon Exploration: The movie revolves around the gang visiting the Moon, which has been colonialized by various alien folks. In the aliens' native tongue, the moon is called Planet Kaguya, a reference to Princess Kaguya from the myth.
- Inuyasha The Movie The Castle Beyond The Looking Glass: The main villainess is a demon impersonating Princess Kaguya, who needs the five items from the original story to be free from her prison.
- Sailor Moon S: The Movie: The astronomer Kakeru Ohzora is completely obsessed with the story and his greatest dream is to meet Princess Kaguya, leading to him clashing with his girlfriend, Himeko Nayotake (whose name is written with the kanji for "princess" and "bamboo" to further reference the story), who is annoyed that he is obsessed with a fictional character. Kakeru mistakes the unnamed villainess for Kaguya and she decides to name herself Princess Kaguya. Later, Luna temporarily takes human form and Kakeru becomes convinced that she is Princess Kaguya. Himeko sees Luna as well and starts to believe the story is true.
Literature
- Tsuki No Sango: The story is partially inspired by the tale, as it features a moon princess, a clone of an original girl from the moon, who is uninterested in her suitors.
Live-Action TV
- Ultraman Leo has a short arc, the Japan Masterpiece Folklore Series where each and every episode is a Whole-Plot Reference to Japanese Mythology, one which revolves around the Bamboo Cutter myth. In said episode, a young girl named Yayoi turns out to be an alien child who landed on earth fifteen years ago and adopted by an elderly couple, and there's a kaiju from the moon named Kirara coming to collect her.
Video Games
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons: The Bamboo Doll item resembles a thick bamboo stalk, and when the player interacts with it, the baby Kaguya pops out like a jack-in-the-box.
- Mary Skelter: One of the fairy tale-themed heroines is based on Kaguya, with the Temple area of the Jail being based on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. In Nightmares, her Marchen blood forces her to constantly think about having to leave the rest of the party behind, in reference to Princess Kaguya returning to the moon. In Mary Skelter 2, she instead insists that everyone else finds her treasures.
- Ōkami has Kaguya as a central character, as Mr. Bamboo's amnesiac daughter who was locked in prison by the Emperor while he was possessed. She's implied to be a member of the Moon Tribe sent to Nippon to protect her from the tribe's destruction at the hand of Yami.
- Persona 4 Golden has Kaguya as the ultimate Persona of the Aeon Arcana, which can only be fused if the player is a very high level and has completed Marie's Social Link.
- The central mystery of Shiren the Wanderer 3 is revealed to be the "basis" for the Tale, which involved an actual Kaguya and Taketori.
- Pokémon: Celesteela (introduced in Pokémon Sun and Moon) is an Ultra Beast based on Princess Kaguya. Its Japanese name is "Tekkaguya", it has rockets as limbs that resemble cut bamboos (mirroring how Kaguya was first discovered inside a cut bamboo), its body overall resembles space shuttles and it came from Ultra Space (alluding to Kaguya herself belonging to a race of Moon people), and it's exclusive to Pokémon Moon and Ultra Moon.
- Touhou Eiyashou ~ Imperishable Night: The True Final Boss of the game is Kaguya Houraisan, a Lunarian princess who drunk the elixir of immortality and got exiled to Earth as punishment, but after she was forgiven went into hiding. She enjoyed her life as an adopted daughter of a woodcutter and had suitors seek after artifacts she already has.
