To set expectations correctly, this review is being written under a subjective lens and mainly enjoyment. If you come to expect opinions from a very critical sense, wrong place. A lot of people online come to expect reviews as such, this review ain’t gonna be like that. I just like to talk about anime I enjoy. And so this review is about such things. Sorry if this ain't what you're looking for.

I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum!

Majo no Takkyuubin or Kiki’s Delivery Service is a movie produced by Studio Ghibli with the movie being directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Released in the Summer of 1989. Now I’m watching this movie 31 years later, lol.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. Gonna give it a 8/10.

This movie is its own standalone film without a lot of typical anime tropes and japanese tropes. With a setting based outside of Japan with barely any connection to Japan, it is a rarity of me to see such a story told in anime. There is always that awkward push of japanese connection with the main character being related to Japan or the culture is very Japanese or some sort of awkward connection that makes the world feel not believably outside Japan. But no, instead this story is about Kiki and her world. To me, this is a plus. It’s a focus on doing its own thing and it does it well. It decides to build its own world and with Ghibli at the helm being masters at it, you can expect a really great setting and world they built.

It’s not an action-packed story. It was never meant to be like that. It’s described as a coming of age story and it’s a goddamn enjoyable one. But I don’t think it should just be described as a coming of age story, it should be described as a slice of life with coming of age elements. Maybe they’re the same thing, lol. I just found that there were nice slices of life moments in the movie and nice character moments. Plot does not have a lot of focus but that’s not the main point, it’s more about the journey of the characters. While preceding events do build-up to thematic messages, it is best to take this movie with its own pace. Never felt like it dragged for me and every moment always mattered to me. Well, except certain points.

You know how Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki have their own story tropes? Like I mentioned how they’re great at world-building. They’re also sometimes more conservative with technology or certain behaviours for technologies. There’s also always that huge climax. For a slice of movie like this, this can be sometimes seen as unnecessary. Though, I just laughed at certain moments saying Hey, Hayao Miyazaki. Sometimes this can be negative for some people, but it’s a Ghibli movie, you should sort of expect some of it haha. Regardless, the thematic movies are quite profound for coming of age and topnotch. Well-done to Hayao Miyazaki for presenting the multiple threads.

Even with such things, it’s still an enjoyable film to pick up in this life we call quarantine. Seeing the bustling streets and people without the fear of going out nowadays is refreshing. It’s honestly a nice pick-me-up movie considering the current situation we’re in. And even if we aren’t in lockdown, the movie does a great job of just being wholesome with its people while also showing the realities of such things… if that makes sense. It never feels dull or feels empty with its presentation.

With Kiki being an adorable protagonist with her cat, the dialogue is funny, endearing, sad, and wholesome. A character with good depth and growth. Hell, a lot of the characters felt unique and their own. Though, if you’ve seen a lot of 80s/90s anime, maybe you disagree lol. I have never been one to watch many 80s/90s anime that much hence my comment on that.

Special note - I watched this movie in English Dub first. This was a great English dub for me. Props to the English ADR - Jack Fletcher! The voice actors really killed it and I can tell they really got into these characters. I’m confident that if I watched it again in subtitles, I would have an enjoyable experience too. The English dub never felt phoned in, I laughed at the comedic moments in the English dub which really showed how expressive these voice actors put into their lines. So subs or dubs can work. If you want original intention - subs as always. Still, put this on English dub if you want to test the waters, I hope you can enjoy it as much as I did.

The animation is everything you can expect from Ghibli. Stellar with great character movements and expressions. You can come to expect good animation from how meticulously detailed Hayao Miyazaki is towards how people move and its world.

Music is again top-notch from Joe Hayashi. A classic of songs that I’ve always heard while trying to study for schooling. Apparently they switched in the Opening song in English, it felt weird initially but it wasn’t that bad. Regardless, music choices were always great.

And I believe I covered most of it on what I thought about the movie.

A little bit of spoilers below.

Favourite characters go to Kiki and Jiji. Favourite scene goes to Osono taking in Kiki. That was quite an endearing moment.

That’s all, thanks for reading my review. If you liked the soundtrack, listen to the orchestra version from Joe Hisaishi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4LrW5f4dyc