STORY STUDY (GHIBLI MONTH) - MEDIUM: FILM - “Kiki’s Delivery Service”

Studio Ghibli Month continues with a Kiki’s Delivery Service, my first and absolute favorite film from the studio.

Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and based on the novel of the same name by Eiko Kadono, the film is about Kiki, a young witch who has just turned thirteen, which tradition dictates that she must travel and live on her own in another town from her family.

Along with her cat, Jiji, whom only she can talk to, they fly (on her broom) and settle down in the port city Koriko.

After helping out a bakery owner named Osono, she allows Kiki to stay in a room behind her and her husband’s bakery.

To earn money, Kiki opens a delivery service, where she is hired out by clients to deliver items around the city.

During her stay, she encounters other characters, like Tombo, a boy fascinated with aviation, and Ursula, a painter living in the woods.

Like with My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki doesn’t have a plot; it’s simply a coming-of-age story of this young witch. However, Kiki does go through some conflict and it stems from her fear of not fitting in. It’s never really stated, but it’s what I interpreted when Kiki feels uncomfortable around Tombo’s friends. To be clear, there is no discrimination towards witches by normal people; it’s just Kiki being upset around kids her age. In fact, it took a while for her to warm up to Tombo when they first met (and by “a while,” I mean, it was resolved in Tombo’s second scene with Kiki.)

After her encounter with Tombo’s friends, and her mood changing, she discovers at home that she can’t understand Jiji anymore, and her flying ability is diminishing.

Kiki’s maturation is the story of this film.

I will admit, the climax, while fitting with Kiki’s maturation in re-gaining her ability, is kind of out of nowhere. Now, it was foreshadowed somewhere earlier in the film with the presence of a dirigible, but the tone suddenly becomes inconsistent when it flies out of control, and one person is hanging on a rope for his life outside of it. I’ll give you one guess who that person was.

That’s about it, really.

I was aware of this film’s existence when I saw its trailer on some Disney movie I owned on VHS. It wasn’t until years later when it was on the Disney channel did I finally see the whole thing. Once DVDs existed, I was finally able to listen to the original Japanese language track.

There is something I have to stress about the film in regards to the two language tracks. As I stated before, Kiki lost her ability to understand Jiji. This is related to a scene near the end of the film… and it plays out a little differently. While the imagery is still the same, the English dub implies that Kiki regained her ability to understand Jiji. They do this by having an extra line for Jiji to have. In the Japanese track, however, there is no indication. Like, not even close.

Miyazaki stated that Jiji represented the immature side of Kiki, so of course she would still not understand him by the end of the film.

I point this out because for anyone who wants to watch this film for the first time, they should understand this moment, and how it suddenly means something different in the English dub.

There are also moments of serene silence that happens in the Japanese track. For example, there’s a moment where Kiki’s dad wants her to show off her black dress by giving a twirl. She does so, and it’s cute. However, in the English track, as she turns, she says “ta da.” It’s a little change, and it's still cute, but the impact has now changed.

Overall, for me, Kiki’s Delivery Service came out during a time when I slowly discovered I was in love with anime, and I hope it has that same effect for future generations. It’s cute, it’s sad, it’s beautiful to look at, and there are just numerous scenes that showcase how good the animation team is.