Kiki’s Delivery System – Majo no takkyûbin (1989)

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki | 103 minutes | animation, adventure | Original voice cast: Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi, Keiko Toda, Mieko Nobusawa, Kôichi Miura, Haruko Katô, Hiroko Seki, Yuriko Fuchizaki, Kôichi Yamadera, Kikuko Inoue, Yûko Kobayashi, Mika Doi, Takaya Hashi

Kiki is a 13 year old witch. As is well known, this is the age at which witches climb on their broomsticks and leave the parental home. So is Kiki. Together with her cat Jiji, she goes in search of a city to complete her training as a witch. Finding a city turns out to be no problem, but how do you as a young witch earn a living in such a city? Easy. You start working as an assistant in a bakery and you start your own courier service. With your flying broom as a unique selling point.

In the animation film ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ we follow the experiences of our young air courier. We see the strange packages she has to transport, the friendship she makes with a young painter, the love-hate relationship she develops with her bespectacled peer Tombo. We follow Kiki’s first step towards adulthood and the help she receives from her environment.

‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ is an early production of Hayao Miyazaki, a film that has all the hallmarks of his later work. For starters, our good-natured heroine. In the history of cinema there has never been a cuter witch than our Kiki. With her shapeless old woman’s dress, her huge red bow and way too big broomstick. With her cheerful disposition and her refusal to complain, no matter how hard it is sometimes.

The environment is also typical Miyazaki. The town is a bit like Prague in the 50s, but a Prague with a beach and a sea. An atmospheric town with old-fashioned craftsmen, ascending trams, an old castle and picturesque houses. A sweet town too, where everyone helps everyone. This lack of antagonism, which is disastrous for dramas, works perfectly in this feel-good film. The fact that the town can hardly be placed in time gives ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ a timeless character.

The animations – colorful, flowing but not slick – are also completely Miyazaki, and so is the wonderfully subtle humor. It is never about jokes with a punch line or puns, but the humor can always be found in the visuals. If you want to blame the film, it might be a lack of plot. But there is so much atmosphere, humor, originality, cheerfulness, emotion and beauty that you don’t miss that plot for a second.