Kiki's Delivery Service (A Puffin Book)

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While each chapter in Kiki’s Delivery Service is relatively self-contained, there is a continuity that unfolds, and a delightful world that is built. Kiki’s journey passes through all four seasons, and she learns more about her new home’s history, geography, and residents as she goes. By the end, both she and the reader truly feel at home in Koriko. Kiki’s Delivery Service is refreshingly light and breezy in an era where many middle-grade fantasies have become elaborate operations. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that (and, indeed, some readers more used to that type of fare may find the minimal worldbuilding in Kiki a bit disappointing), but there is definitely something to be said for the gentleness of this book in a year that has seen surprisingly little of it. While the protagonist is 13, the reading level of this story is probably more appropriate for younger readers and would also make a great read-aloud, even for those who aren’t reading on their own quite yet. While it would be possible for this story to leave a sour taste — a witch, heavily judged and shunned, must prove to the locals that she is not, in fact, evil — instead the theme reads a little differently: local people learn from Kiki to be kind and accepting of others, especially those who are unusual.

The profound loneliness of Kiki’s Delivery Service - Polygon The profound loneliness of Kiki’s Delivery Service - Polygon

This difference is really only a matter of perspective, but it is important to be read that way. And Balistrieri’s translation makes that very clear by not vilifying the locals too much and, instead, endearing us to them as much as to Kiki. But in the context of exploring loneliness, Jiji represents more than just Kiki’s childish side. He represents her childhood, the bonds she had with her family in her youth, a comfort she can always return to when things get particularly difficult. Time and time again through the movie, she turns to Jiji when she’s otherwise alone. But when that bond is severed — when she’s thrust out of the comforts she once knew — she faces a loneliness she’s never experienced before. It’s part of growing up, but it’s still painful and scary. A practical girl who wakes up some days with bright ideas and hope, and others with doubt and reservations. Kiki is a three-dimensional character who follows a formulaic children’s story that avoids ever feeling tired or predictable by Kiki’s own merit. Goro Miyazaki on making Studio Ghibli’s first CG movie: ‘I spent a lot of nights not being able to sleep’ That big pond is a town called Koriko, where, when she first arrives, Kiki is made to feel unwelcome and looked on with suspicion. She has a year here before she can return home to her parents and tell them what she has achieved.She doesn’t come from loneliness — she comes from a place of love and connection. She’s excited for the journey ahead, for a chance to grow up. It’s a classic coming-of-age fantasy setup. And unlike the above films, where a journey starts with loss, Kiki’s Delivery Service starts while Kiki still has something left to lose. While reading this scene I remember thinking, “You’d better not mess this up, Kiki! What if these two could have ended up together forever, living happily ever after, and you ruin all of that before it begins!” So invested was I in Kiki, Jiji, and their escapades. Kiki’s sadness affects her magic so she can no longer fly, but the separation with Jiji comes from something else entirely. Kiki is eventually able to regain her magical powers, after taking a break from work, hanging out with Ursula, and swooping in to save Tombo at the movie’s end. But she never repairs the bond she once had with Jiji. While the 1997 English dub has a throwaway line at the end implying that they’re able to talk again (Jiji jumping on her shoulder and asking, “Kiki, can you hear me?”), the original Japanese script does not. Miyazaki himself has said in the art book for the film that Jiji represents an immature side of Kiki, and by the end of the film, she no longer needs him. Studio Ghibli’s fourth feature-length film follows a young witch named Kiki who, per witch tradition, leaves home at age 13 to complete her training. Armed with her mother’s broom and her familiar, Jiji, Kiki lands in a new city full of new people and establishes herself as the resident witch.

Review: Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono | Books and Bao Review: Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono | Books and Bao

In other words, Kiki is a girl who learns from her mistakes, from her leaps of faith, and from her yeses and her nos. Her story is not unlike that of a Pokémon trainer: at age ten a young witch must begin to decide how to spend her life. She’s a girl with a good moral compass. Her tenacity and her curiosity go hand-in-hand, leading her over and again into and out of trouble, with Jiji sometimes serving as her conscience and sometimes being entirely voiceless and useless — as all our consciences often are. Hayao Miyazaki’s 1989 animated feature Kiki’s Delivery Service masterfully handles a lot of traditional topics around growing up and finding a path in the world. But it also touches on a facet of growing up that society tends to overlook: It’s a lonely process. Finding your way is lonely. Separating from a close family unit and making your way in a new place is lonely. Her approach to the situations she comes across are consistently surprising – sometimes mistakes are made; other times ingenious solutions are found.The titular Kiki, daughter of a witch and a folklorist (a man fascinated with witch history), is a wide-eyed girl with her head in the clouds and her feet on the ground. This is what sets her apart from a lot of children protagonists: she’s very all-encompassing. Overall this book was very fun and light-hearted. This book was read similar to a diary of Kiki’s and there were lots of fun adventures she encountered. There was not a lot of character or plot developments throughout the novel. The book did not have any crazy plot twists but had a bunch of mini-adventures that were simple and fun to read. The pictures were also nice and complemented the stories well. The translation to English was also good and easily understood. There were a few parts that were a bit choppy and oddly written, but only messed up the flow, never the understanding of the story. This book also taught many lessons about growing up and experiencing things on your own for the first time. Being independent can sound fun and exciting as it was at first to Kiki, however, this independence comes with responsibility. There were times where Kiki had to solve problems and do things for herself. This book certainly covers themes of growing up but also tells the stories in a funny and charismatic way.

Book Review: “Kiki’s Delivery Service” by Eiko Kadono Book Review: “Kiki’s Delivery Service” by Eiko Kadono

But while the novel of Howl’s Moving Castle was written by a beloved Welsh author, Kiki began her life in Japan, created and written by Eiko Kadono in 1985. Loneliness is threaded through many Ghibli films, many of which feature protagonists who set off on a journey not because they particularly want to, but because they’re forced to. Kiki leaves home because of witch tradition, but unlike other Ghibli heroes, she jumps at the idea — even skipping a planned camping trip with her father because she’s so excited. But in Spirited Away, Chihiro is forcibly separated from her parents, and winds up in a strange spirit world. In Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie is cursed by a witch and leaves her hat shop to trek to the Wastes. In Princess Mononoke, Ashitaka ventures out from his village to seek a solution for the terrible curse consuming him. And on a less fantastical note, in Whisper of the Heart, Shizuku navigates the doldrums of adolescence. I confess to not having read the original English translation (by Lynne E. Riggs) nor to having seen the film in around five or six years, but I’m glad for that.Studio Ghibli films often interrogate the notion of loneliness and emotional connection, centering on heroes that reluctantly strike out on their own, such as Sophie in Howl’s Moving Castle and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. But in Kiki’s Delivery Service, loneliness isn’t explicitly in the forefront; it slowly folds itself into Kiki’s life as the story stretches out. Even when she’s surrounded by friendly people, she’s ultimately alone. It’s doubly important to get this theme across given that this is a children’s story, where clarity of themes is vital. Another thing that’s vital is the tone and language of the book. Kiki’s eyes got big and hopeful when she arrived at her new, massive city along the coast. When she first came, many people treated her a bit differently. They treated her as an other and were afraid to get to know her. Just when she was at her lowest and felt a bit hopeless about being on her own in this city, she came up with the idea to do odd tasks and deliver things to people on her broom because she is able to get around so efficiently. Coinciding with the release of the film in the West, an English translation of the novel hit shelves in 2003. Now, however, we have a fresh new translation for 2020 by Emily Balistrieri. Sending characters off on solo journeys isn’t a particularly innovative storytelling choice, especially for coming-of-age films, which are often about learning self-reliance and independence. But Ghibli films linger on the lonely portions of these journeys. The heroes start out isolated from others, and their separation from the world persists throughout their films, lingering even when they do find company.