Touches You

Powerful

Fantastic!

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

This was one of the first studio ghibli films i had seen and i was pleasantly surprised. it's a really sweet and cute movie and i believe it is suitable for all ages :>

If you haven't seen any of studio ghibil film this is the one I recommend it.it's different then other kids moive but this isn't only for kids people say that kids moive should only be for kids.buts that's not The truth kid moive is for adults to and this movie proves it.

Over the past few months, I've been catching up on Studio Ghibli's legendary catalog of anime films. For almost 30 years, they released some of the most highly acclaimed animation and with incredible consistency. They co-produced last year's The Red Turtle, and I've heard rumors that they will be coming back from their hiatus in the near future. Until then, though, I have plenty more to catch up on; my most recent experience has been with one that I have heard a whole lot about – 1989's Kiki's Delivery Service.In this film, a young witch named Kiki (Takayama/Dunst) has just turned 13, the traditional age for her to leave her family and train her magic on her own. With her black cat Jiji (Sakuma/Hartman) at her side, she sets off and ends up in a large coastal city. There, she finds work at a local baker, befriends a lively artist, and catches the attention of an energetic boy named Tombo (Yamaguchi/Lawrence). As she struggles to find her purpose, she has to learn to make something of herself in a place that doesn't seem to have much use for witches.This has got to be one of the most charming movies that I've seen in a while. Through the combination of story, music, and Kiki herself, director Hayao Miyazaki creates a tone similar to that of his childlike masterpiece My Neighbor Totoro. We see Kiki's enthusiastic personality take her from place to place, and through the score and some good visuals, we feel every bit of this with her. Kiki proves once again that Miyazaki is an absolute master of character.One aspect that I respect about this movie is that to show us Kiki's life and personal growth, it doesn't follow a standard plot structure and instead tells its story emotionally. We follow Kiki in her everyday life as she responds to different situations and learns more about herself and the world around her. I described the plot of the film in just a few sentences above; I honestly wouldn't have much more to say in terms of particular moments, but that is part of the magic of this movie. Kiki's Delivery Service is a story about Kiki herself, and the fact that the film doesn't send her along common plot points keeps the focus entirely on her.The movie is also grounded, given its mystical elements. It takes place in essentially our world, only people are used to the existence of witches – some are fascinated, and some don't care at all. In one scene, Kiki lands on a street corner and enthusiastically shares her goals to the few people standing there, who then continue with their day as usual. You are given a real sense of the size of the city and how little Kiki seems capable of at her age, despite her high ambitions.At its core, this is a very down-to-earth movie about a teenage girl figuring out her place in the world and struggling with her conflicting desires of comfort and independence. At 13 years old, she wants to do so much, but she often finds herself inhibited by other kids, by her emotions, and by the environment surrounding her.Long-time Miyazaki collaborator Joe Hisaishi wrote the score for Kiki, and this is in my opinion one of his best. Each piece uniquely contributes to the character of the film and provides an emotional backbone without smothering or controlling the viewer's experience. His scores are often . I recommend listening to "A Town With An Ocean View" online to get a sense of not only the score but for the tone of the film as a whole.Overall, Kiki's Delivery Service is a wonderful coming-of-age story about a girl finding herself in a strange place. This movie probably won't work for someone who watches anime for amazement, but it is just about perfect for lovers of people and their stories. I really wish that I had discovered Studio Ghibli's movies before they went on hiatus. In my experience so far, the quality of their films ranges from good to some of the all-time best, and this one in every way deserves its status as a classic.

The misfortune of Hayao Miyazaki's "Kiki Delivery's Service" is its release the same year than Walt Disney's "Little Mermaid". Disney Renaissance wasn't definitely established and Miyazaki wasn't totally unknown, his "Nausicaa" and "My Neigbor Totoro" pleased both audiences and critics although their commercial success was notable at best, but there's something of a 'missed opportunity' in Kiki.Indeed, everyone praised "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away" as Miyazaki's greatest achievements but to put it simply, the 1989 offering of Stuido Ghibli is nothing short of masterful. It might not play in the same league of escapist fantasy than the story of a little mermaid who dreams to discover the world of humans, but this is a field Miyazaki isn't interested in. He doesn't explore a witch story to satisfy some enthusiastic craving for magic and special effects, his maturity flies over predictability. And what Miyazaki accomplishes is a little miracle: a witch story set in a realistic environment, with a set of rules and limitations Kiki must either obey or overcome, and fantasy as a set-up but not an excuse for plot contrivances."Kiki Delivery Service" can in fact be regarded as a reverse "Spirited Away". While the 2001 journey involved a 'normal' girl evolving in a fantasy universe, Kiki is a 13-year old trainee witch who must find her place in the real world. Her age is obviously a nod to adolescence (the most suitable life chapter for a coming-of-age story) where Kiki will fit in the tough 'normality' of the world and learn the value of hard work, independence and interactions with kids of her age, especially Tombo, a geeky little boy passionate about aviation and Kiki's flying skills. By the way, her magical broom is the only concession made to fantasy archetypes, otherwise, Kiki is as 'limited' and 'normal' than any girl.And that's precisely what makes her evolution so captivating. Kiki looks like a living archetype with the broom, the black dress she must be wearing, not to mention the black cat, a funny little sidekick named Jiji, but at the same time, she has many 'average girl' attitudes, she hates her dress and wears a big pink bow as an accessory. She's not even your typical anguish outsider, she comes from a very loving family and everyone celebrates her departure from the village to discover the world, as a ritual for every witch at the age of 13. Miyazaki intended to make Kiki the embodiment of little Tokyo girls in transitional phase, looking for emancipation.And it doesn't take a Harvard philosophy degree to see in her flying, less a magical power than a real metaphor of girls' emancipation over the burdens of tradition. It might even symbolize Miyazaki's own emancipation from the usual archetypes of animation as his story features no villain, it doesn't overplay the magical elements, Kiki doesn't go to some sorcerer's school à la Harry Potter, but she'll learn to accommodate her powers with a real place in the world by providing a delivery service for a gentle pregnant baker named Osono... and many other things. There's a mix of escapism and realism that could have been a real revolution if it wasn't for thunder-stealer Disney. Yet, the more I saw Kiki (four times in the same weekend) the more old- fashioned "Little Mermaid" appeared.Indeed, Ariel starts as a girl who wants to get off the sea, but once she (literally) sets the foot in human world, her quest turns into a romance with Prince Eric. Kiki might be younger than Ariel, but what Miyazaki offers us is all the steps between childhood and youth: finding your path, your role, your place and gaining enough self-esteem to open yourself to people. The arrival in the city contains many interesting elements such as Kiki's enthusiasm being immediately spoiled by people's carelessness and a policeman's anger. But once Tombo approaches her, she's shown as capable of rejection and their relationship will take time to build.And as usual in Miyazaki's world, like in all the anime I grew up, there are many scenes that (on a script level) shows nothing "special", scenes involving Kiki buying furniture, giving money, asking for receipt, scenes where she goes to the bathroom, scenes that have no other intent than setting the story in realistic world and highlighting the maturity of Ghibli studios over Disney, where even static moments are hypnotic. Time is also capital in the way it can affect Kiki's self-confidence and undermine her power. Miyazaki took liberties with the original story was made of little episodes and needed stronger ordeals for Kiki, and what worse for a witch than losing the ability to fly?That moment is paralleled with a similar story that happened to her friend, a young painter named Ursula, who went through an artist block, and realized it helped her to put in more discipline in her work, to find herself, her voice and style. Losing the ability to fly and communicate with her cat will cause Kiki to lose confidence, but it will also help her to overcome her own personal demons and be able to fit within the others, by staying true to herself and in the process, save Tombo during the film's climax. And in this time where female power is evoked, it's interesting to note that the heroine is a female and she's the one who ends up saving the boy, I don't know if she was meant to be feminist but she genuinely is.If there's ever a world I would associate with "Kiki Delivery Service", it's emancipation, Kiki discovering the world, overcoming her demons and Miyazaki showing that even in the most banal settings, he could draw the most beautiful and poetic stories, proving that Japan wasn't just the land of the rising sun but of a rising awareness of what animation should stand for: beautiful, mesmerizing but respecting people's intelligence, adults and kids.