When I was a little girl, one of my favorite movies was Studio Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service. It was one of the films I watched on repeat, to the point where I could quote the lines from it even years later.
For those of you not familiar with this somewhat lesser-known Miyazaki treasure, Kiki’s Delivery Service is about a thirteen-year-old witch named Kiki. As part of her witch training, she must travel to another city and practice her craft for a year. Kiki takes off on her broomstick (along with her talking black cat, Jiji) and leaves her family’s cottage to search for a city with an ocean view. What she finds is a beautiful city and a small bakery that will let her live in the loft apartment in exchange for her helping around the store. Kiki soon realizes that while she isn’t very good at many witch things, she can help out people in the city by making fast deliveries on her broomstick. She zips around the city, meeting interesting people and learning about herself and her motivations for being a witch.
That’s it. While Kiki’s Delivery Service is undoubtedly a fantasy film, there’s no epic quest, no big battle, no villain to overcome. If you were to take away the flying broomstick and the talking cat, Kiki’s story would resemble an everyday coming-of-age tale. And that’s one of the reasons I love it.
To this day, I watch Kiki’s Delivery Service whenever I’m sick or in need of some comfort and nostalgia. I love the beautiful animation of the city, the people in it, and of course, the delicious food. (I’ve never tried herring pie before, but if I’m presented with one that looks like the one Kiki helps make, I will absolutely eat it). I love the soundtrack and regularly listen to it while I’m working. And I’m a sucker for talking animals and flying broomsticks.
Most of all, I love the world that Miyazaki created. In this world, life is quieter, safer. While Kiki’s parents are worried about her setting off on her own, there’s never any concern that she’ll be assaulted by a stranger or live on the street. This is a world where people are kind and there’s plenty of food to go around. It’s a world that never saw the horrors of the holocaust, WWII, and the atomic bomb. It’s a world where people live close to nature and respect it. It’s a world where you can escape everything that’s wrong with our world for a few minutes.
This isn’t to say that there isn’t conflict and growth, the hallmarks of good storytelling. Even though the fate of the world doesn’t rest on Kiki’s shoulders, she still has problems she has to grapple with. After all, she’s a young teenager in an unfamiliar city trying to find her way in the world. She gets lonely, and eventually, she has trouble summoning her witch powers because she doubts herself and her journey. But in the end, with the help of her new friends, she finds her way.
During the past few months, I’ve been desperate to find more of the beautiful, comforting charm that Kiki’s Delivery Service holds. Most fantasy shows and movies these days lean toward the grimdark aesthetic. Then I found Katie O’Neill’s art.
Katie O’Neill is a writer and illustrator from New Zealand who publishes her comics online and in books. Her works are known for their inclusiveness and positivity. Her characters are racially diverse, and many are LGBTQ+. Some of them have physical or mental disabilities, and they are treated with the same respect and love that the non-disabled characters are. Nature plays a substantial role in the characters’ lives. Her biggest claim to fame is The Tea Dragon Society. This beautiful webcomic-turned-picture book tells the story of a young goblin girl who learns how to raise tea dragons (tiny, adorable dragons who grow different types of tea and herbs on their backs).
Now, O’Neill has begun a new webcomic entitled How to Date Your Dragon. It’s a slice-of-life story about a young couple who just moved in together. One is a young elf man trying to continue his research through the Department of Historical Objects at the local university. The other is an anthropomorphized dragon who takes frequent cat naps. The comic is drawn in black and white and framed more as quick glances into these young men’s lives rather than a traditional narrative arc. O’Neill lets her drawings linger on flowers and coffee cups, moments of cuddling and help with tying a tie. While the reader is left in suspense at the end of the first episode over whether the researcher will get his next grant, there’s an overall sense of serenity and love. I am reminded intensely of the comforting beauty of Kiki’s Delivery Service.
We must be aware of the issues facing our world and our communities. We cannot turn a blind eye to injustice, corruption, and the damage we are doing to the earth. I also believe, though, that to create a better world, it can be helpful for us to have a guiding vision. A vision where love, acceptance, and safety exist for every person. And when the world becomes overwhelming in its bleakness, it can be restorative to make a cup of tea or coffee, cuddle up in a fuzzy blanket, and indulge in that vision for a little while.
