Kiki's Delivery Service (Japanese Audio)

About Kiki's Delivery Service (Japanese Audio)

"Kiki's Delivery Service" (Japanese title: 魔女の宅急便) is a 1989 Japanese anime film produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The movie is about a young witch, Kiki, who moves to a new town and starts her own delivery service using her broom as the primary mode of transport. Over time, she increasingly begins to lose her ability to fly, a narrative metaphor for the confusion and insecurities faced by every young adult.

Making / Production

The film was produced by Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki as the director. It is known to be Miyazaki's first effort at making a film that chiefly features the ordinary trials and tribulations of human life.

Actors

• Minami Takayama as Kiki / Ursula. Takayama portrays the young and energetic Kiki.
• Rei Sakuma as Jiji. Sakuma effectively plays the sardonic and supportive talking cat of Kiki.
• Keiko Toda as Osono. Toda plays the kindhearted and heavily pregnant bakery owner who gives Kiki a place to live.
• Kappei Yamaguchi as Tombo. Yamaguchi gives life to the character Tombo, who has a fascination for aviation and later forms a close bond with Kiki.

Trivia / Interesting Facts

• Unlike many other Studio Ghibli films, "Kiki's Delivery Service" does not involve a great evil or major conflict to be overcome.
• The bakery in the movie is modeled after a real bakery in Stockholm, Sweden.
• The movie was the highest-grossing film in Japan in 1989.

Awards

"Kiki's Delivery Service" won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1989.

Quotes

• "Without even thinking about it, I used to be able to fly. Now I'm trying to look inside myself and find out how I did it." - Kiki
• "Stop trying. Take long walks. Look at scenery. Doze off at noon. Don't even think about flying. Then pretty soon, you'll be flying again." - Ursula

Music and Soundtrack

• "Rouge no Dengon" and "Yasashisa ni Tsutsumareta Nara", both performed by Yumi Arai, serve as the film's opening and closing themes respectively.