Kiki’s Delivery Service (originally “Majo no takkyûbin“) is a delightful anime movie from maestro Hayao Miyazaki about a young witch who is trying to make her way into the world. According to tradition, when a witch turns 13 they must go and start their training (who actually trains them is unclear - I think the idea is that life and they themselves do the training!). This is done by hopping onto their broomstick, flying off and landing somewhere - to become the village wtich as long as none are already in residence. Kiki’s parents certainly have their misgivings, but allow Kiki to go and start her wonderful adventure…

… which turns out not to be so wonderful at all, at least not to begin with. Not particularly skilled at anything - including potions, her mother’s speciality - Kiki is bound to struggle but by choosing a large, modern city as her new home, she ensures that she will spend a lot of time floundering. Fortunately some people are nice to her, though she is not always nice in return. By accident she discovers that she can earn a living by being a delivery girl - even in the modern age, not much is quicker than a broomstick - and so she decides to start a flying delivery service. The trouble is, of course, that this job isn’t nearly as easy as it at first seems…

Kiki is a high-spirited but naïve young girl who tends to get distracted and disillusioned quite quickly. Accompanying her and trying to guide her (usually unsuccessfully) is her black cat, Jiji. Jiji is extremely sarcastic and often - though not always - very funny. Some of Kiki’s actions and reactions make you lose sympathy for her a little, but overall she’s a sweet girl just trying to do what she thinks she should, and generally helping everyone she can. Her lack of talent can be a real problem though, and there may be times when she even wonders if she has any magical ability at all…

Kiki’s Delivery Service is very kooky and wonderfully weird. It’s not actually surreal as such, but weird it certainly is. It’s also a lot of fun - there’s a lot of humour in almost every segment of the film, and Miyazaki’s distinctive directorial style really shines through. The artwork is superb with beautiful backdrops and lively characterisation. The storyline and action sequences are often completely whacky - trying to fly a bicycle with a propeller attached to the front being one memorable example. Tehre are things that didn’t really work - the pacing was occasionally a little too slow and a few jokes didn’t work - but overall it was wonderfully entertaining and engagingly strange. The oddball musical score by Sydney Forest and Joe Hisaishi punctuated the action perfectly. It was an indefinable style but was certainly perfoect for the film.

The characters were pretty well rounded-out and likeable, while Jiji’s eternal sarcasm and cynicism provided light relief from the general niceness of most of the characters. The story was simple but nicely told, and backed up by the beautiful visuals and good voice acting it worked brilliantly. I played the movie with the English soundtrack (with Kirsten Dunst voicing Kiki - I would never have guessed it was her!) and others including Debbie Reynolds and Phil Hartman (to whom the film is dedicated) among the other voice actors. I had thought about playing it with the original soundtrack and subtitles, but to honest the translation for the subtitles wasn’t very well done. The translation for the voicing was fine though.

The DVD release (as usual the UK release is by Optimum Releasing - they seem to have an exclusive contract with Studio Ghibli) comes with several extras, though I’m not really convinced of the value of them… there’s a weird thing looking at a painting done by Ursula (one of the characters in the film) in detail, at various angles and zooming in to various points , with musical backing. Maybe I’m missing some great and profound message from this; maybe you have to be Japanese to appreciate it. I’m not sure which, or if it was something else, but it really didn’t do much for me. There are also some Studio Ghibli trailers, which was actually a good feature for me as a newcomer to the world of anime. The original Japanese trailers for Kiki’s Delivery Service were there too - again perhaps I’m missing something, but I can’t believe how boring these trailers were - I really liked the film, but the trailers would have actually put me off seeing it in the first place! There is also the complete storyboard for the film.

Overall despite a couple of niggles and uninspiring extras, Kiki’s Delivery Service is a lot of fun and you don’t need to be a fan of anime to enjoy it. I highly recommend it - though of course Spirited Away is still my favourite! (Yeah I know… this is only third anime I’ve seen, so that’s not a great claim just yet!!)

Year of release: 1989
Rating: Universal



More Anime Reviews

Spirited Away - also directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Grave of the Fireflies


See also: My Top Ten Animated Movies

One day I’ll be able to write a top ten anime list… but not for quite a while yet!!

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This movie review was an entry to my Good Movie Write Off



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD