The Innocence and Complexity of Kiki’s Delivery Service
In my experience so far, I’ve discovered that there’s more to growing up than one might think. It’s never as simple as going from 13 to 18 and 18 to 21 and onward. There’s so much that happens between those numbers. In Hayao Miyazaki’s classic film Kiki’s Delivery Service, the main character deals with one of the most difficult aspects of growing up- feeling like you’re losing your spark. Kiki, a 13 year old witch, embarks on her journey into adulthood on one full moon night. It’s an old witch tradition in this universe to leave home and train your witch's powers in a new city for a year at age 13. With her sarcastic yet endearing black cat Jiji by her side and a rough take off on her broom, Kiki begins her adventure.
In this year of training, Kiki is supposed to find her speciality. On her way to her new home, she makes a run in with another young witch who boasts a power and speciality in fortune telling. Besides her snobbishness (noted by Jiji), Kiki becomes aware of her own power level. She doesn’t specialize in anything just yet, and her only true power she had developed was the power to fly. One could call her a late bloomer, like so many of us were at her age.
Being 13 comes with judgment- both from yourself and your fellow 13 year old peers. You become completely aware of yourself amongst the rest of the crowd, and this realization causes some big changes. As soon as she moves into town, Kiki is aware of how different she is from the other children. This causes her to isolate herself from any potential friendships- especially with Tombo, a boy who takes a liking to her. Her avoidance of Tombo seems to be a way for her to hold onto her child-like vulnerability. She’s curious about things like boyfriends and girlfriends, but is hesitant to begin that process.
Kiki’s delivery service starts out well, and along the way she makes friends with a painter who lives in the woods named Ursula, who becomes like a big sister to her. Things quickly take a turn though. Kiki discovers that she is unable to fly on her broom like she used to and she can no longer understand Jiji. She doesn’t know how to get her powers back since it’s something she’s never had to think about before.
Kiki becomes depressed and has to stop her deliveries for a while. The feeling of failure overwhelms her. After spending some time with Ursula however, Kiki is able to see her loss of powers from an artist’s perspective. Ursula compares it to finding her inspiration to paint. When she was a child, she would paint all the time but as she grew up she didn’t do it as much. She tells Kiki, “I just felt like I’d lost my ability. You see, I just hadn’t found out what or why I wanted to paint. I had to discover my own style.”
One of the biggest and hardest parts of growing up is figuring out who you are. As a child, your authenticity fuels your actions. You don’t have to think about doing the things you love to do. Kiki was at the part of her life where she had to figure out who she was and what inspired her to fly.
Kiki eventually gets her powers back when she saves Tombo from a terrible blimp accident. She has to fly on her broom in order to save him. In the end, Kiki discovers that her “witch speciality” is flying and what inspires her to fly is her friendships and relationships with others. She loves making people happy by delivering their goods to them and being kind.
Kiki’s Delivery Service tells a sweet and unique story about figuring out who you are and what drives you. On the surface, it seems to be simple, lighthearted and fantastical but it’s so much more than that. It reminds its viewer that your spark is never truly lost. You just need to know how to find it yourself as you grow up.