Kiki's Delivery Service

Name: Kiki's Delivery Service Anime Review
Item: Kiki's Delivery Service
Rating: 91
Author: photek

ARCHIVIST: photek

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LOGGED: 2002-06-30

91%

Editorial Score

Consensus Grade: Aged Like Wine 🍷

📊 Production Parameter Matrix Scale 1.0 – 10.0

S [STR] Story & Narrative Direction 9 / 10

S [AGI] Animation & Cel Craftsmanship 9 / 10

S [INT] Character Dynamics & Cast 9 / 10

S+ [SYN] Voice Acting & Soundtrack 10 / 10

Consensus: Aged Like Wine 🍷

CLASSIFICATION S-TIER

[+] Strengths & Highlights

One of the main reasons I enjoy Miyazaki's work is because the strong female characters. I object to a lot of anime because of the absurd stupity of the women. Look at sailor moon and the central women of tenchi muyo. They're completely incorrectly portrayed: too girly most of the time, so when they get serious, it contrived. But in miyazaki stuff, the women are strong without forfeitting their feminity. He creates believable role models.<BR> Miyazaki also creates some of the best cinematography in anime. He makes incredible bucolic scenes of japanese life. Watching his movies are mute are almost as good as watching them with sound.

Kiki's Delivery Service Remastered Poster

⤢ Fullscreen • Hover 2001

Aged Like Wine 🍷

Modern Consensus: The 2001 reviewer's high praise for Kiki's Delivery Service's visual craftsmanship and narrative impact aligns perfectly with modern classic status.

📖 Overview

I'm a big fan of that crazy Miyazaki guy and his work with studio ghibli. I heard that disney has bought the rights to his complete catalog are in the process of bringing it to the united states. I'm not really all that idealistic, so I think it's great that his work will have the opportunity to be shown to large audiences in this country, who would be otherwise remain ignorant to serious animated cinema.

🎬 Storyline & Narrative

Kiki's Delivery Service is about the coming-of-age of a witch named Kiki. A few months after Kiki's 13th birthday, she leaves home with her cat, gigi, to make her way in a city. Upon arriving in the city she is supposed to learn a magical trade and become the "resident witch". This is the duty of all witches. Kiki flies around, gets licked by cows, rides on a train, and some other stuff happens, but evenutally she arrives in a city that hasn't had a resident witch in a very long time. Consequently, the towns' people are very surprised to see a young girl flying around a broom. This incredilous reaction causes a traffic accident and Kiki has a run in with the police. She is vindicated from punishment when a young boy who is facinated with flight and Kiki's girlish figure distracts the police. The boy tries to forge a relationship but Kiki's rebukes her. It seems Kiki is an outcast in her new home, but it seems self-inflicted. Kiki meets a baker and his wife and she volunteers to deliver their baked goods if she can have a place to stay. Thus Kiki's witch-skill is created and so is "Kiki's Delivery Service".

👥 Characters & Dynamics

Kiki: witch
Tombo: boy
Gigi: cat
They actually have a lot attributes and there's more characters, but I don't want to go into great detail. I have to leave soon and go to work.

🎨 Animation & Visual Direction

Since this anime predominantly in an urban setting, one doesn't get to fully experience Miyazaki's talent for rendering nature with a pencil. But he is equally adept at creating a ~1950s cityscape and the animation is enjoyable.

🎵 Voice Acting & Soundtrack

The dubbing is good. It has Jeanne Galrafalo, Kirstin Dunst, and Phil Hartman.

🟢 What We Liked: One of the main reasons I enjoy Miyazaki's work is because the strong female characters. I object to a lot of anime because of the absurd stupity of the women. Look at sailor moon and the central women of tenchi muyo. They're completely incorrectly portrayed: too girly most of the time, so when they get serious, it contrived. But in miyazaki stuff, the women are strong without forfeitting their feminity. He creates believable role models.<BR> Miyazaki also creates some of the best cinematography in anime. He makes incredible bucolic scenes of japanese life. Watching his movies are mute are almost as good as watching them with sound.

💬 Early-2000s Fandom Pulse Community Rating: ★ 4.4/5 (5 historical responses)

• Community Praise: I've been waiting for so long to read another review from this erudite auteur and finally it's here. I'm having conniptions of rapture! • Great review photek, keep them coming.

• Contentious Points: Kiki's job at the bakery is to sit at the counter and take care of the customers *not* to make deliveries. The deliveries come later and are Kiki's own business which, while being run from inside the bakery, is not affiliated with the baker and his wife. Kiki does not deliver just baked goods but any product people ask her to.

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