Kiki's Delivery Service.
January 13th 2008 22:45
Category: Television
Based on an original story by: Eiko Kadono.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki.
Screenplay by: Hayao Miyazaki.
Producer: Hayao Miyazaki.
English Voice Cast: Kirsten Dunst (Kiki), Phil Hartmann (Jiji), Matthew Laurence (Tombo), Tress MacNeill (Osono), Kath Soucie (Kokiri – Kiki’s mother), Jeff Bennett (Okino – Kiki’s father), Debbie Reynolds (Madame Oku-sama), Edie McClurg (Barsa).
Produced by: 1989 Studio Ghibli.
Released by: 1998 Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
Running Time: 103 minutes approx. Rating: PG.
In the world of manga and anime there are many kinds of genres to be found ranging from the fantastical to the very mundane, one such genre is that of the maho shojo (magical girl). Magical girl genre anime and manga are as popular as any involving giant transforming (or non transforming) robots, monsters and vampires and there have been several popular anime TV series made in this genre; Sailor Moon being an example of such a show that immediately springs to mind. In such shows and manga the focus is often on action and the magic, making ends meet, finding a place to live, these are not issues that concern the magical girl and her compatriots, all of this has already been taking care of. What they’re usually worried about is flirting with boys, battling strange and exotic foes from equally strange and exotic locales, saving the world and their cute fluffy or furry companions. Kiki’s Delivery Service turns these features of maho shojo completely on its head.
SBS screened this particular version of Studio Ghibli’s maho shojo anime on Thursday 3rd January as part of an ongoing Hayao Miyazaki tribute and once again I was able to get it direct from the idiot box. This particular English language dub was done in 1998 about eleven years after the making of the film and it was the last thing that Phil Hartmann worked on before his tragic death, in fact this particular version was dedicated in his honour and the dedication is in the end credits. Watching this film I wondered just briefly if all the works of Mr Miyazaki all share a common universe in much the same way as all the Star Wars and Star Trek films are set in their own unique fictional universes or if they are all separate worlds in each film? It was something that I pondered as their seemed to be a certain vibe that hints at the various films sharing a common fictional universe, as if each one is a snapshot of a particular historical period of this universe.
Kiki’s Delivery Service starts out with its young protagonist lying on her back in a grassy field near her small town home listening to her father’s transistor radio. It’s a beautiful clear day and she has turned thirteen, the age when a young witch must leave her home and go out into the world for a year and train, honing her skills as a witch in another place. So far Kiki hasn’t left to undertake this vital period of her life, she’s been waiting for the right time but as she listens to the radio the forecast is for a clear night with a full moon, it’s as soon as she hears those fateful words that this is the right time to leave. It’s a strange way to have an omen delivered yet it seems that in the world of Kiki and her companion’s magic and technology exist side by side in a fairly amicable way. Witches are not exactly as common as chicken but their existence is a given and accepted by the average person.
Telling her parents her plan Kiki packs and prepares to leave that night, her mother gives her the broom that she used to come to the town where she now lives and Kiki accepts this gift using it to carry her and her familiar Jiji off into the starlit night. At first Kiki isn’t to sure with her broom and she and Jiji bounce off a few trees before finally getting into the hang of things and soaring off towards their destiny and future. Kiki has no idea of a specific place in mind, she just knows that the time is right for her to be going and so she does, it’s a kind of the journey is the important thing not the destination shtick. On her way she meets another young witch who has completed her training and is now returning home, this young woman is a bit smug and has no real time for Kiki who shrugs her shoulders about the whole thing and continues on her own way.
After spending the night in a train amongst some friendly cows Kiki and Jiji find they are heading towards the city of Koriko, a fictional city in an equally fictional nameless nation that provides the backdrop for most of the drama that unfolds in this film. Koriko is a city that looks like it has a French Riviera feel mixed in with Venetian geography for good measure, a few times when you see Kiki flying over Koriko it almost looks like the main region of metropolitan Venice. The cars and clothes of the locals all point to a nineteen fifties feel and apparently it is meant to be a Europe in a world where the Second World War never occurred. By the time we see Kiki and Jiji arrive in this city this is where the whole maho shojo genre is turned on its head, for starters Kiki has to find herself a place to stay, then when she does that she has to find a means to keep herself and her trusty black cat familiar, Jiji, fed. All things that any other maho shojo never has any problems worrying about, purely because they’re already taken care of as part of the story. So Kiki is a magical girl who literally has to fend for herself in order to make her way in the world and achieve her objective.
The other big difference is that even though magic is a given in this particular world, it is magic of a fairly subtle kind not your big energy blast, earth shaking, splitting the sky kind of magic that would most likely fit in with a standard maho shojo affair. In fact the only fairly obvious magic you actually see in Kiki’s Delivery Service is when you see her mother mixing potions and witches flying on their broomsticks, this is fairly blatant but ever still low key kind of stuff. We don’t see Kiki running around the country side blasting evil opponents or rival witches, we don’t even see her really casting any spells all the magic that we see from her is flying – at least magic in a sort of movie tradition sense.
If you look closely there is a lot of magic going on in this film, it just isn’t obvious and it isn’t what you’d expect for a so called maho shojo style film but it is there. Kiki has a way with making friends very few people actively dislike her, though she herself does seem a bit self conscious and slightly envious of other girls but this is nothing more than what you’d expect from a young girl. She has a knack for baking and ably assists one of her clients Madame Oku-sama bake a special pie, and Oku-sama herself has a high degree of skill in the artistry of baking. Ursula, an artist friend of Kiki’s who live in a nearby forest has the magical touch with her painting and sketching whilst the motherly Osono who is Kiki’s landlady has her own knack at giving Kiki good motherly advice and helping her out in her new occupation. Thus it seems that the everyday life of those living in and around Koriko is in itself magical and wonderful, and isn’t this in the end how life really should be?
Kiki’s Delivery Service isn’t my usual kind of anime fair, I have to admit I am more of a fan of hyperactive ninja, giant robots (transforming or otherwise) wise cracking bikers and cyborgs than maho shojo but it has to be said I did enjoy this particular film. Its story and subject matter were fairly interesting but it was also a fairly wholesome movie in a down to earth non cheesy way. Once again Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki demonstrate their consummate skill when it comes to producing top notch anime.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki.
Screenplay by: Hayao Miyazaki.
Producer: Hayao Miyazaki.
English Voice Cast: Kirsten Dunst (Kiki), Phil Hartmann (Jiji), Matthew Laurence (Tombo), Tress MacNeill (Osono), Kath Soucie (Kokiri – Kiki’s mother), Jeff Bennett (Okino – Kiki’s father), Debbie Reynolds (Madame Oku-sama), Edie McClurg (Barsa).
Produced by: 1989 Studio Ghibli.
Released by: 1998 Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
Running Time: 103 minutes approx. Rating: PG.
In the world of manga and anime there are many kinds of genres to be found ranging from the fantastical to the very mundane, one such genre is that of the maho shojo (magical girl). Magical girl genre anime and manga are as popular as any involving giant transforming (or non transforming) robots, monsters and vampires and there have been several popular anime TV series made in this genre; Sailor Moon being an example of such a show that immediately springs to mind. In such shows and manga the focus is often on action and the magic, making ends meet, finding a place to live, these are not issues that concern the magical girl and her compatriots, all of this has already been taking care of. What they’re usually worried about is flirting with boys, battling strange and exotic foes from equally strange and exotic locales, saving the world and their cute fluffy or furry companions. Kiki’s Delivery Service turns these features of maho shojo completely on its head.
Telling her parents her plan Kiki packs and prepares to leave that night, her mother gives her the broom that she used to come to the town where she now lives and Kiki accepts this gift using it to carry her and her familiar Jiji off into the starlit night. At first Kiki isn’t to sure with her broom and she and Jiji bounce off a few trees before finally getting into the hang of things and soaring off towards their destiny and future. Kiki has no idea of a specific place in mind, she just knows that the time is right for her to be going and so she does, it’s a kind of the journey is the important thing not the destination shtick. On her way she meets another young witch who has completed her training and is now returning home, this young woman is a bit smug and has no real time for Kiki who shrugs her shoulders about the whole thing and continues on her own way.
After spending the night in a train amongst some friendly cows Kiki and Jiji find they are heading towards the city of Koriko, a fictional city in an equally fictional nameless nation that provides the backdrop for most of the drama that unfolds in this film. Koriko is a city that looks like it has a French Riviera feel mixed in with Venetian geography for good measure, a few times when you see Kiki flying over Koriko it almost looks like the main region of metropolitan Venice. The cars and clothes of the locals all point to a nineteen fifties feel and apparently it is meant to be a Europe in a world where the Second World War never occurred. By the time we see Kiki and Jiji arrive in this city this is where the whole maho shojo genre is turned on its head, for starters Kiki has to find herself a place to stay, then when she does that she has to find a means to keep herself and her trusty black cat familiar, Jiji, fed. All things that any other maho shojo never has any problems worrying about, purely because they’re already taken care of as part of the story. So Kiki is a magical girl who literally has to fend for herself in order to make her way in the world and achieve her objective.
The other big difference is that even though magic is a given in this particular world, it is magic of a fairly subtle kind not your big energy blast, earth shaking, splitting the sky kind of magic that would most likely fit in with a standard maho shojo affair. In fact the only fairly obvious magic you actually see in Kiki’s Delivery Service is when you see her mother mixing potions and witches flying on their broomsticks, this is fairly blatant but ever still low key kind of stuff. We don’t see Kiki running around the country side blasting evil opponents or rival witches, we don’t even see her really casting any spells all the magic that we see from her is flying – at least magic in a sort of movie tradition sense.
If you look closely there is a lot of magic going on in this film, it just isn’t obvious and it isn’t what you’d expect for a so called maho shojo style film but it is there. Kiki has a way with making friends very few people actively dislike her, though she herself does seem a bit self conscious and slightly envious of other girls but this is nothing more than what you’d expect from a young girl. She has a knack for baking and ably assists one of her clients Madame Oku-sama bake a special pie, and Oku-sama herself has a high degree of skill in the artistry of baking. Ursula, an artist friend of Kiki’s who live in a nearby forest has the magical touch with her painting and sketching whilst the motherly Osono who is Kiki’s landlady has her own knack at giving Kiki good motherly advice and helping her out in her new occupation. Thus it seems that the everyday life of those living in and around Koriko is in itself magical and wonderful, and isn’t this in the end how life really should be?
Kiki’s Delivery Service isn’t my usual kind of anime fair, I have to admit I am more of a fan of hyperactive ninja, giant robots (transforming or otherwise) wise cracking bikers and cyborgs than maho shojo but it has to be said I did enjoy this particular film. Its story and subject matter were fairly interesting but it was also a fairly wholesome movie in a down to earth non cheesy way. Once again Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki demonstrate their consummate skill when it comes to producing top notch anime.
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