Oh my Kiki's Delivery Service!

I just watched Kiki's Delivery Service for like the billionth time in my life and I still love it like I was a mystified child who demands to watch the same film over and over again.  Truly, my hat's off to Miyazaki for this one--and all his films for that matter--because he managed to create a fantastic film that endures through the years in its overall quality and in its ability to relate to the human experience. Wow, just wow...  For real!

Don't you just love the artwork?!

*SPOILER ALERT!*

Kiki and Jiji on their way to their new home for the next year!

To begin with, Kiki is a great character with lots of spunk but with the right degree of realistic human characteristics.  That is, she gets sad, sick, down, and angry.  At the same time though, she is a determined young woman with the drive it takes to make her mark on an entire city.  And as a thirteen-year-old for that matter!  She never ceases to amaze me.  Then, there's Kiki's pal, Jiji, which is ironically "Kiki" with Js instead of Ks.  Let me just say, Jiji is not only one of my favorite characters in the film, but is also among my favorites of all the Ghibli characters.  Okay, I have a lot of favorites, but he is very much included among those!  ;)  Jiji is a fun cat though.  I mean, he talks, hangs out with the coolest (and, admittedly, only) witch in town, he is good with the ladies (I'm talking about Lily, of course!), he is pragmatic to the bone, which makes him a somewhat humorous addition to the movie, and he is a loyal cat!  You don't often see cats that loyal in real life, but Jiji does spend his cat time wisely when he has it.  There are certain obligations he has to fulfill as a witch's black cat, but when he's off duty...  It's totally cat time!  In these cases, he freely goes off and does his own thing--just as a real cat would.  So you get the best of both worlds--magic and the natural world--with this pragmatic cat.

Then there's Osono and her husband, who run the bakery in the town where Kiki settles down for her year of training away from home.  These two make a really interesting couple, so I had to mention them here.  :)  You see, Osono is a strong woman with the ability to effectively communicate with others and is therefore a fantastic networker for Kiki.  Osono is really the main reason why Kiki was able to plant her feet on the ground so safely in her new town and why Kiki's Delivery Service launched to see success of grand proportions.  In somewhat of a contrast to Osono, there is her husband who actually talks only one time in the entire film.  However, he still somehow develops very well as a character and shows his strength and unique talents on more than one occasion.  As well as thinking that these two were an intriguing contrast from one another, I saw their relationship as a thought-provoking portrayal of male-female relationships.  There was the strong, convivial woman who was caring yet got the job done, and then there was the man who was strong, solid, and silent yet expressive--almost like a strong stone that never breaks.  This was a really cool thing to observe throughout the film and to see how they interacted with one another and with other people.  Another thing, their roles in their relationship were equalized and often reversed.  This was a subtle point in the film, but it carries an important massage about marital equality: that it truly works!  Being equal partners is really the best way you can go in a marriage.

Even in this pic, they are a couple that reverses
roles and cares for one another!

One other thing I noted while watching the film this time was the interactions Kiki had with other girls and how she thought/talked about boys.  At the beginning of the film, Jiji tries to talk Kiki out of going on her trip away from home a month early, but Kiki retorts, saying that she should leave now because it would be great weather and there was the question of "What is I find a boy or something?" (not a direct quote).  After that, when Kiki is about to leave for her extended trip, we see her talking with other girls, saying that the trip would not be a vacation in the least, but a learning experience composed of much hard work.  Then, one of the girls responds, "tell that to the boys!" and the all the girls follow the statement with laughter.  

Kiki and Tombo finally getting to know one another. :)

Later on in the film, when Tombo attempts to talk to Kiki for the first time, she tells him that it is rude to talk to a lady without being properly introduced, which Tombo says is, "Like his grandmother."  Interesting that Kiki is compared to an old woman.  When Kiki and Tombo get to know one another more throughout the course of the film, Kiki eventually warms up to Tombo and tells him that he's "nice."  The boy responds by showing some shock at the fact that she just figured this out, which Kiki follows with a confession of her initial misjudgement of him.  All of these cases seem to connect Kiki in part with a larger community of young women, while at the same time, the film disconnects her with girls of her age group, making a statement that she is concerned first with her dignity and self-respect.  In the same breath though, Kiki is still human and lets Tombo in her life after he proves himself to be "nice."

I love this scene where Kiki sleeps in the cows' breakfast.  :)

Hello!  ;)

One other interesting thing to note is that most of Kiki's interactions with people are carried out with women and other girls.  Most of her customers and package recipients seem to be girls and the most developed characters are women.  Tombo and Kiki's father are really the only two men who have a significant amount of lines in the film.  I guess that just goes to show that Miyazaki is a feminist through and through, as he used Kiki's Delivery Service to portray powerful women and girls and only included as many men as were included in Kiki's inner circle of friends and family.  So it's really a movie from a girl's point of view.  Pretty cool if you ask me!

Wow, what else can I say about this film, but that it is one of the best out there!  It may be considered a kid's movie, but is geared towards any age group, with its magnificent art, brilliant characters, and complex ideas.  If you have not seen the film, please do so--it would be a shame to miss out on it.  

Thanks, Pragmus fans!  That's all I've got for now.  Keep rockin' our socks!

Corey Cherrington
(Pragmus Sigma)
Blog and Social Media Administrator

Thanks, Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli!  :D