Majo no Takkyuubin

Very rarely does an anime truly deserve a perfect 10. And yet, for the classic works of Hayao Miyazaki, the opposite is true. A 10 simply doesn't do them justice. It seems almost pointless to review an old Studio Ghibli film from Miyazakis prime, because it seems like the movie should need no introduction. It's from Miyazaki. It's from 1980-2000. Does anything really need to be said here? Yes, it does, because after reading many of the reviews I feel too many don't give Kiki the respect her movie deserves. The truth is, Miyazaki doesn't create anime. Miyazaki creates...films by Hayao Miyazaki. His own style,his own way, and it stands in a league of its own above all the rest. This is the kind of legendary talent that only appears once per generation, that most of us can only look up to and dream of. His method can be summed up in one word: "Love." Love for every detail. Love for the characters. Love for the world. Love for the soul. Miyazaki pours his unmatched spiritual tenacity into every single frame, which gave him a reputation in the anime industry of being one of the hardest directors to work with as his standards are sky high. What an ordinary director would consider amazing, Miyazaki considers as "Still not good enough!". But the pain and sweat that goes on in Studio Ghibli pays off. The result of their hard work is a show that is not just "good", but one that legitimately places the viewer into a world that feels alive. Watching Kiki fly through the air, the animation is so pristine and the details so perfect, you will feel as though you are actually there with her. Flying by her side. Washed away into an amazing parallel world where magic is real and anything is possible. Miyazaki then uses this mastery of animation to take the audience on a journey through a story that is actually quite basic: Coming out of our shell and finding our place in the world. It's such a simple idea, and yet Majo no Takkyuubin does it in a way that is so well done that anyone can watch it and feel as though the story was made just for them. Kiki may be a witch, and most of us at least are not. And yet it's easy to see yourself in her shoes, because what she goes through is something we have all been through. Life is never as easy as we think it is, and making your mark in the world is tough. Reality doesn't always meet our expectations, and yet here we all are. Still alive and moving forward. Majo no Takkyuubin is one of Miyazakis best works. Brilliant and profound, it deserves its place as an animation classic in an era that birthed animation as a viable story telling medium. Thousands of years into the future when children are learning about art history they will open their holographic textbooks and may very well just see Kikis smile glancing back at them. That's how important this movie is to the anime industry.

For my second Hayao Miyazaki movie, I’d say it was pretty good. I liked the plot of Spirited Away much, much better though. Spirited Away had a more complex and interesting plot, while Kiki’s story was simpler. I guess the advantage of that is it’s easy to understand. As much as I like stories about witches living amongst normal humans, Kiki didn’t really act or live like a witch. She was more of a human who can fly and happens to own a cat that talks. Since I brought up the subject of the talking cat, I’m glad I picked the English dub over the originalJapanese dub. I fell in love with the cast when I saw their interviews, so I decided to go with the Disney dub.Sure it became more Disney-ish, but it was actually pretty good. I like how they made Jiji talk more – I realized that in the Japanese dub Jiji wasn’t as talkative. Also, Phil Hartman made Jiji way funnier. As expected of Hayao Miyazaki, the animation was fantastic – even if it was a 1989 movie. Since it’s from 1989, I’m assuming everything is hand drawn. The backgrounds were very detail, but it wasn’t overwhelming. It’s kind of looking at a fine, intricate watercolor painting that moves. I did notice a lot of fan service throughout the movie. I know that seems weird, but there were numerous panty flashes from Kiki herself. I was beginning to think if that was intentional. Disney edited the music, for sure. There were poppy, contemporary songs (both by Sydney Forest) during the beginning and the ending scenes of the movie. I can’t say I like the songs that much, but they were pretty catchy. I also noticed that a lot of the original BGM was omitted – I don’t know why that is. For the BGM I heard, I thought those tracks were very nice. They were easy to listen to and made the scenes especially peaceful and serene. I’m probably gonna watch it again. It’s the kind of thing that you can watch any time and you’ll never get tired of it.

The first time I heard of this movie was when one of my friends mentioned it as one of the movies on his "to watch" list. I remember looking over the synopses and cover of the movie and wondering what the heck had gotten into him. It's a cartoon, for heaven's sake, how good could it be? Just a few weeks ago I came down with a cold. It was no ordinary spring cold, but the great granddaddy of all spring colds. I was stuck in bed for around 3 days, during which time I re-acquainted myself with my inner child.In other words, I watched Kiki's Delivery Service. Then something happened. While I had begun the movie with very low expectations, and a "childish" mentality, I found myself wholly captured by the movie. Story: The plot is simple. Super simple. So simple, in fact, that an overtired anime newbie with a head cold can understand it. It begins when Kiki, a 13 year old witch makes the traditional journey away from home to begin her training in a new city for one year. Within the city, Kiki finds an occupation, along with many new friends who help her find place in the world. It is a cheerful and optimistic plot which is both uncommon and appreciated. Animation: Like the storyline, the animation is simple. Since it was made in 1989, I wasn't expecting anything fantastic, but I was pleased to find that both the simplicity and the colors matched the tone of the story and the characters. Sound: I think this is what really hooked me. The music isn't absolutely fantastic, but it fits right into the scenes where you'd want it to be. It is comfortable, and fun. The voices were also impressed me (I watched the English dub). Perhaps that is because I started the movie with such low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the voices matched up with their characters quite nicely. Characters: Ah, here is where the fun part begins. Kiki is truly the heroine in the story, and while she isn't saccharin sweet, she has a definitive moral standard. She has the added complexity of being a tween, and having to deal with new feelings of insecurity and affection. Her cautious and decidedly unadventurous cat, Jiji, is perhaps my favorite character, and his snide remarks had me laughing out loud every time. The rest of the characters are distinctive, and memorable (though maybe that is because this was my first anime movie. . .). Overall: I thought it was a sweet, cheerful, "breath of fresh air" movie that I will probably watch more than once. It isn't on my list of top favorite movies (not that I have one...), but then again, it doesn't need to be. It is entertaining and sweet, and just the right thing to watch when you're feeling down - or when you've caught the great granddaddy of spring colds.

Kiki is a witch only because she hallucinates talking to her cat and flying 11,300 meters in altitude; in other words, she gets high. Her mother appears to be more of a self-taught pharmaceutical scientist who is probably also an anti-vaxxer as well as someone who believes in free-range parenting, rather than a witch. We are told about so-called “training” that Kiki will undergo, but we get nothing of the sort. The first nice boy she meets in an unfamiliar city, she decides to hate for unknown reasons. Perhaps it was her insecurity stemming from the lack of interaction with boys, or otherwise (more likely)not having enough magic mushrooms at that particular moment to keep her mellowed and grounded while kickstarting her witch alter ego. She thinks the lady that took her in is exceedingly kind and pure; but we all know that she, blinded by capitalism, was ultimately plotting to expand her business and revamp her brand image because who wouldn’t love a cute 13-year-old happy-go-lucky witch and her tiny black cat? She saw a ripe opportunity to exploit her for child labour and she took it, managing to implement quick strategic thinking while pregnant no less! What a strong, independent woman. This was probably one of the millions of beautiful hidden meanings buried within this ghibli film. A bit later into this, we are basically told (indirectly) that Kiki’s flying on her broom is comparable to art, yep, art. Nothing Kiki has ever done in this movie can be interpreted as artistic. Ursula, the painter, was the only remotely interesting character, and I’m just a little biassed towards her because I like birds and the idea of producing artwork of them, but that didn’t get much screen time. In the end, the protagonist barely goes through proper hardships or development. So it's not among the best coming-of-age stories out there. This will either be really boring or relaxing depending on what kind of person you are and the mood you happen to be in. However, by no means would I call this forgettable, clichéd slog inspiring.

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