Film

Kiki's Delivery Service

Name: Kiki's Delivery Service
Genre: Animation, Family, Fantasy
Released: 1989
Cast: Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi, Keiko Toda, Mieko Nobusawa

Miyazaki's gentlest film is essentially a workplace comedy starring a thirteen-year-old witch. Kiki flies to a seaside city, opens a courier business, and discovers that independence is quieter and scarier than the storybooks promised. There's barely a plot — just weather, bread, and the slow ache of a creative block. Warm, unhurried, and one of the most honest films ever made about self-doubt.

TMDb rating

7.8

If you liked this

Spirited Away2001

Same director, same knack for turning a girl's disorientation into wonder — richer, stranger, and more purely magical, with one of animation's great villains-that-isn't.

But Darker and more surreal than Kiki; the dream logic can baffle younger viewers.

My Neighbor Totoro1988

Miyazaki at his most tender, about sisters adjusting to a new home and a sick mother, with forest spirits standing in for hope. Pure comfort.

But Almost no conflict — if you need plot momentum, this will feel like watching clouds.

Whisper of the Heart1995

Written by Miyazaki, directed by his protégé, this is Kiki's creative-block plot turned inside out — a teenage writer wondering if her talent is real.

But No magic at all; it's a quiet romance about ambition, which some find slow going.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Craft1996

Same premise — teenage girls, witchcraft, the terror of not knowing your own power — pushed into 90s teen horror instead of gentle fantasy.

If Kiki's self-doubt secretly terrifies you, here's the nightmare version: four outcast girls get real power and it goes wrong fast, in full black-lipstick 90s style.

But Genuinely dark and occasionally nasty — bullying, self-harm, and a finale with real menace, nothing like Kiki's cosiness.

Howl's Moving Castle2004

Another young woman transformed and displaced, learning who she is away from home, but wrapped in war, curses, and a walking castle full of doors.

But Plottier and more chaotic than Kiki, with a late-film tonal shift some find jarring.

Ponyo2008

Miyazaki's softest, strangest film — a fish-girl falling in love with a small boy, all watercolour seas and lullaby pacing. Pure childhood wonder.

But Even less plot than Kiki; adults looking for stakes may find it too slight.

Arrietty2010

Studio Ghibli's take on The Borrowers — tiny people living by their wits in a human house, with the same tender attention to smallness and self-reliance.

But Gentler still, with a wistful ending that trades warmth for melancholy.

When Marnie Was There2014

Ghibli's last film before its hiatus, about a lonely girl's friendship at a seaside town — moodier and sadder, with a mystery underneath.

But Emotionally heavier than Kiki, dealing with isolation and grief more directly.

Wolf Children2012

Mamoru Hosoda's story of a mother raising half-wolf children alone is Kiki's independence theme grown up and given real teeth — literally.

But A different, sadder register entirely; expect tears, not the cosy glow of Kiki.

Little Witch Academia2017

A cheerful anime series about a witch-in-training who's bad at magic — Kiki's confidence wobble stretched into a whole school of them.

But Broader and sillier, aimed squarely at kids; the charm wears thinner over a full series.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi2011

Swap the broomstick for a knife — this documentary is about the same quiet terror Kiki has: is my craft actually good, and who am I without it?

A real octogenarian sushi master's lifelong pursuit of perfection, filmed with the same patient, sensory attention to work as ritual that Kiki gives to baking and flying.

But No fantasy, no plot to speak of — just a man obsessing over rice, which some will find mesmerising and others glacial.

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs1960no page yet

Decades earlier, in black-and-white Tokyo, a woman running her own business faces the exact question Kiki faces in miniature: can I survive alone on my own work?

Mikio Naruse's masterpiece follows a hostess trying to keep her independence and dignity in a world built to grind her down — Kiki's anxieties, but adult and unflinching.

But A somber, slow, subtitled melodrama with none of Kiki's warmth — this is what growing up costs, not how gently it can go.