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Anime is regarded by fans as a more serious art form than its American equivalents. Hence the more mature images and themes in anime. ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’
delivers anime for kidsThis is why most anime, even ones geared for Japanese kids, don't strike a chord with the majority of U.S. cartoon-watchers, and as a whole it is difficult to find anime deemed suitable for the American youth population.
But if you have been searching, then "Kiki's Delivery Service" from writer-director Hayao Miyazaki is a good one to start with.
Kiki is a witch in training, and, according to tradition, she must leave her family at the age of 13 to spend a year by herself in another town as part of her apprenticeship.
Using her mother's trusty broomstick, Kiki sets off with her talking cat, Jiji, and arrives at the port town of Korico. Her flying abilities soon come in handy when she delivers a small but important parcel that a woman leaves behind at a bakery.
Kiki befriends the bakery owner and, with her help, sets up a delivery service to make use of the only magic she really knows: flying a broomstick.
Kiki's growing pains are alternately touching and hilarious. Her first delivery goes awry, and poor Jiji has to temporarily play the role of a stuffed toy cat in a family with a very energetic child and a very big dog.
Although this is a kid-friendly movie in that it lacks mature or violent scenes, the movie's approach remains an adult-oriented one.
"Kiki" was distributed in America by Buena Vista, a division of Disney. But unlike other Disney movies that have a clear-cut "good vs. evil" story line and that sometimes create a "bad" guy where there was none in the original tale (such as "Beauty and the Beast"), the anime does not have a signature plot that kids are quick to pick up.
Instead, Kiki's struggles in Korico subtly explore the themes of growing up, responsibility, friendship and perseverance.
As with Miyazaki's more well-known film "Princess Mononoke," "Kiki" has no real resolution, leaving viewers with a tender but vaguely incomplete feeling.
And at the anime's heart, Kiki's loss and rediscovery of her flying ability is symbolic of all adolescents' identity crises.
Her unflagging energy and courage are reminders to children at that uncertain age that it takes patience to find your niche in the world.
The anime was based on the first of a series of Japanese novels titled "Majo no Takkyubin" (Witch's Express Delivery).
English-dubbed and subtitled versions of "Kiki's Delivery Service," which included English versions of the opening and ending songs, were released in America on video in 1998. Look for it in the familiar clamshell case. Sorry, no U.S. DVD plans as of yet.
Wilma Jandoc covers the universe
of video games and anime for the
Star-Bulletin. She can be emailed at
wjandoc@starbulletin.com
