Hacker Cinema
Kiki's Delivery Service
魔女の宅急便
1989 · Film · 103 min
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.
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23 comments on Hacker News
I watched Kiki's Delivery Service recently with my sisters and niece. I'm always amazed by the artistic vision when I watch a new (to me) Ghibli film. As a grown man, you'd be hard-pressed to get me to watch a cartoon about a young witch if it were made by any other studio. But Ghibli has the magic that makes it delightful for everyone.
The comparison in the article between Kiki drawn with "standard" colors and the final version is really telling. Even though the standard version is more saturated, which in my naive mind should make it more vibrant, it actually looks more bland when you put it side by side with the desaturated colors of the actual drawing. It goes to show how much these little choices influence the final product.
A movie theater in my city (northern europe) shown both Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle. It was just pure joy to watch them in big screen.
I wish they were remastered in 4K, though.
Your friends might be overselling it. Even as an anime fan myself, most anime is mindless drivel with works that leave a lasting impression few and far between.
Hard to make a recommendation without knowing what genres you like but the recent "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" was a very well done story told from the perspective of a member of a fantasy-style adventuring party who outlived her fellow party members that reveals its tale through her memories of her friends and the changes their party's travels left behind on the lives of ordinary folk.
Cowboy Bebop (the 1998 anime series, not the dreadful recent live-action movie) and Trigun are considered classics in the space western genre, with a solid mix of drama and occasional humor.
As others have mentioned, the movies from Studio Ghibli are rightly regarded as classics, although I would personally limit that to their pre-2002 movies; their later movies have somewhat of a more mixed reception. To western audiences, Princess Mononoke is probably the most well known. If you want something less fantastical, Kiki's Delivery Service might be worth looking at.
In terms of rom-coms, I'd suggest the less well known His and Her Circumstances, despite its incompleteness. A lot of its humor and drama is conveyed through energetic visuals that wouldn't really be feasible when filming human actors.
Definitely. Lots of Ghibli films (and anime in general) aren't really targeting an age demographic the way the west would.
Kiki's Delivery Service, Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Arrietty, etc. are all watchable at any age.
Even the more mature films like Princess Mononoke would be unlikely to garner more than a PG rating.
It's either Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Lauputa, or Kiki's Delivery Service for me. Depending on the phase of the moon.
But yeah, there are not many directors like Miyazaki or Kubrick left.
Maybe I could count Céline Sciamma to the same company. I wish she would make a new movie soon.
Let's look at the context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngZ0K3lWKRc
Presenters: "This is a presentation of an artificial intelligence model which learned certain movements [...] It's moving by using its head. It doesn't feel any pain, and has no concept of protecting its head. It uses its head like a leg. This movement is so creepy, and could be applied to zombie video games. An artificial intelligence could present us grotesque movements which we humans can't imagine."
The screen shows some Silent Hill looking vaguely humanoid, crawling blob. As the presenters say, it's pretty creepy looking.
Miyazaki: "I am utterly disgusted [...] I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all"
IMHO saying Miyazaki outright hates AI is putting words into his mouth. All the clip shows is that a dude that doesn't make zombie horror films doesn't need a zombie horror generator thank you very much.
So yeah, he clearly rejects the product pitch. But judging from Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro I don't see why you'd pitch him that product.
I think Studio Ghibli's 'secret sauce' is the "Kishōtenketsu" or four act structure that makes Studio Ghibli special:
1. Ki (Introduction) - Sets up characters and situation.
2. Shō (Development) - Expands the characters and fleshes them out.
3. Ten (Twist) - Introduces a new element or change.
4. Ketsu (Conclusion) - Shows the outcome and connections between elements.
In contrast Western films usually follow a three act structure:
1. Setup - Introduces the hero, often stepping into the unknown, and establishes the initial conflict and sets the stage for the story.
2. Confrontation - The hero faces mounting challenges and conflicts, often involving threats to innocent people or community. Stakes are raised and the story progresses to a conclusion.
3. Resolution - The story culminates in a climatic confrontation between the hero and the villain. Some sacrifice is usually paid, the hero triumphs, justice is served and order returns to the community.
I grew up on Disney and the three act structure, so when I experienced Studio Ghibli for the first time with Princess Mononoke it felt very different, fresh and more mature. While I don't necessarily love all of Studio Ghibli's catalogue, I do treasure Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Porco Rosso.
In the case of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, I highly recommend reading the manga over watching the Studio Ghibli anime.
I asked a frAInd what famous actors dubbed miyzazki movies:
"Spirited Away" (2001) - Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, and Susan Egan.
"Princess Mononoke" (1997) - Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, and Billy Bob Thornton.
"My Neighbor Totoro" (1988) - Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning.
"Howl's Moving Castle" (2004) - Christian Bale, Emily Mortimer, Jean Simmons, and Billy Crystal.
"Ponyo" (2008) - Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, and Liam Neeson.
"The Wind Rises" (2013) - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci.
"Porco Rosso" (1992) - Michael Keaton and Cary Elwes.
"Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989) - Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, and Janeane Garofalo.
Ghibli movies I've found are more like entering a state of mind or emotion than following a plot. I'm not sure if that's a Ghibli thing or a Japanese thing (I haven't watched much other Japanese content). We introduced Totoro when my kid was 3.5 and it was too soon (she'd cry at the end because the cat bus was going away), but that movie along with Kiki's Delivery Service, The Secret World of Arrietty, and Ponyo have since become staples in our home.
As a parent to a daughter, I do really like the strong female leads that most of their movies have.
A couple are quasi-picaresque, nearly plotless. I'm thinking of Kiki's Delivery Service. It feels cozy and injects little in the way of tension, compared to most animated family movies (that I've seen). Seems like an underrated approach but probably hard to pull off. In contrast, Princess Mononoke (admittedly, not for kids) has more going on and doesn't lack drama.
yes, spirited away is hands down the best ghibli film, for that ability to grab your spirit and transform it alongside chihiro's (the young protagonist). it's probably one of my top 5 or top 10 films of all time.
i liked mononoke, but it felt heavy-handed in comparison, so it doesn't rate as highly in my book. it would have rated way worse had disney gotten its way with it.
edit: totoro would be #2, kaguya and grave of the fireflies would be tied for #3/4, then howl's moving castle at #5, then ponyo, mononoke, and kiki's delivery service would be among the remaining top 10 spots for me.
I've seen every Ghibli film except the Earthsea film, and I'd say the best are Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Princess Kaguya, and Totoro.
That said, I've liked pretty much every film they've made except Kiki's Delivery Service (I found it a bit dull) and Howl's Moving Castle (it just didn't work for me). They're pretty much all worth watching at least once.
Howl's Moving Castle really falls apart at the end, and it's a shame.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Castle in the Sky are the most similar in feeling to Princess Mononoke. High fantasy, adventure, against all odds. (This is my favorite batch of Ghibli / Miyazaki / Takahata films.)
Spirited Away is an otherworldly coming of age treasure that cannot be missed. Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service feel similar. Whisper of the Heart is this too, just aimed a little older. (And if you like that, check out Your Name by Shinkai or Wolf Children by Hosoda - not Ghibli films, but very deserving of a watch if you like this sort of film.)
Grave of the Fireflies is a very poignant anti-war film.
FWIW, I bought the old Miramax domain name for Princess Mononoke and kept the website online [1]. It's one of my favorite films. I wish Miyazaki made more films like Mononoke and Nausicaa - they're sublime.
[1] http://princess-mononoke.com
Porco Rosso, The Wind Rises, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service. The Ghibli films keep me coming back.
Yes! We started with these two as well. My girls are currently 3 and 5, and my wife and I had been eager to introduce them to some of our favorite movies from our own childhoods. We started watching the Lion King once without putting much thought into it, and then ended up shutting it off after the opening scene once we thought ahead to what was coming and realizing they weren't ready for that.
They wanted to be witches for Halloween last year and so we watched Kiki's Delivery Service in October and it has been a staple in our house ever since.
> The alternate ending changes the tenor of the entire film with just one line of dialogue.
This also happens with Kiki's Delivery Service. It makes the English dub much, much better than the Japanese original.
I chose "idyllic", expecting titles like Kiki's Delivery Service, but all the recommendations were either fighting or sports-related movies (Raging Bull, Southpaw, Rocky, etc). Sometimes there's also an issue where the same page loads inside the video frame.
Good idea, just needs a little more polish.
(minor spoilers for Deepness follow)
When I read Deepness I actually imagined in my head a Studio Ghibli like aesthetic for the spider world chapters. I thought if it were ever adapted into film or TV, it would be essential to display the spider world as the humans listening to their radio broadcasts imagined it, as a playful, colorful, animated world populated by anthropomorphized cartoon spiders. Given the level of technology and political environment, it would feel very similar to the city backdrops of Kiki's Delivery Service or Howl's Moving Castle.
It would also make the reveal at the end when the spiders and humans finally meet all the much more dramatic, as humans land on the planet to find not the cute lovable anime world we'd been watching, but the primordially scary reality of spiders with human-level intelligence.
I am discovering Studio Ghibli with the release of their movies on Netflix (better late than never) and it is an amazing feeling to watch something making you feel so much while being so different compared to western animation. Kiki's Delivery Service is from 1989 yet the animation, the music, and the topic (a girl becoming a woman via her first job: delivering packages with her cat and flying broom in a city that looks like La Rochelle) could have been made this year.
Really happy that I can now listen to Totoro 's soundtrack on Spotify, the joy of feeling in the Japanese countryside on a hot summer day while being in a rainy European city is priceless.
> It'd be nice if the author gave examples of significant plots using the structure, like a novel or a film.
Indeed; I found a lot of pages talking about this concept, but almost none mentioning any examples of its implementation. In fact, the only long-form story (not a four panel comic strip or poem) I saw brought up as an example of it was Kiki's Delivery Service, which has plenty of conflict.
It seems more like something that people theoretically like the idea of. It's also interesting the way it's presented as an Eastern vs. Western dichotomy, with Westerners supposedly viewing conflict as central to a story and Easterners not viewing it as essential. I don't see any indication that Eastern stories are less conflict driven than Western ones (most of the major ones I'm familiar with, such as the Four Great Classical Chinese Novels, have plenty of conflict).
Porco Rosso, Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, and Princess Mononoke are good. In fact, they're arguably some of his best.
But my favorites will always be Kiki's Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky, and Whisper of the Heart. They may not be Miyzaki at his best, but they were the films that I loved the most.
The Wind Rises may also join the latter category. Either way, it's a really good film.
Finally, it should be noted that Kaze Ni Naru from The Cat Returns is possibly one of my favorite songs from any anime, ever. And I watch a lot of anime.
Suffice to say it's up on the list with A Cruel Angel's Thesis, and Tank. For you anime fans who know what that means, yes, it's that good, IMHO. YMMV.
I was essentially raised on Miyazaki. Some kids grew up with Toy Story and Finding Nemo, I grew up with Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, and The Cat Returns. I mean, I watched other films to (a lot of other films), but Miyazaki had a huge influence me: without him, I would have likely never gotten into anime. To this day, his films are still some of my favorites.
Whoever made this tribute, you have my salute: The 3D CG, while quite obvious, blends very well with the rotoscoped animation, something that doesn't always happen (just look at some of Cowboy Bebop). It also captures the feel of Ghibli's animation amazingly well.
I salute the animator, and I also, of course, salute Hayao Miyazaki: Farewell, and may your legacy live on.
They complain near the end that Disney dubs all the Ghibli films. This is an odd complaint since all the DVDs have the choice of sub/dub, and Disney does a good job with the dubs. Kiki's Delivery Service, for example, is one of the best dubs I've ever seen.