Kiki's Delivery Service

Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便) is an anime feature film, produced by Miyazaki Hayao in 1989.

This movie was made based on Eiko Kadono's original story, Majo no Takkyubin (Published by Fukuinkan Shoten Publisher Inc.)

This animation depicts the gulf that exists between independence and self-reliance in the hopes and spirit of common Japanese teenage girls.

Kiki is a 13 years old witch in training. By tradition, it is now time for Kiki to leave her home to spend a year alone in a new town to establish herself as a full witch. Kiki sets herself on her mother's broom with her closest companion, Jiji, the black cat. She flies off to a new life.

Kiki settles in the beautiful (fictional) seaside city of Korico, and starts a flying delivery service to take advantage of her ability to fly. Kiki experiences several setbacks such as slow business, misplaced merchandise, and rude customers. She also has to deal with her loneliness, worries, and homesickness. One day, she even loses her magic. Eventually Kiki overcomes such obstacles by her independence, self-reliance, and help from others.

Trivia

The crows featured in this movie seem to be Collared Crows (Corvus torquatus), which live in China.

The architecture of Korico seems to be an amalgamation of various north European styles. Parts of the city resemble Scandinavian, Russian or German cities.

The technology is mid-20th century, including black and white television, trams and airships. The cars mainly have 1940s designs.

"Kiki" is the nickname of actress Kirsten Dunst, who voiced the character in the 1998 English language dub.

External links

• Kiki's Delivery Service page at Nausicaa.net (http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/kiki/)
• Review at THEM Anime (http://www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=158)

de:Majo no Takyuubin fr:Kiki la petite sorcière ja:魔女の宅急便