Kiki's Delivery Service ((魔女の宅急便), and what I got out of it.

So I got a hold of a copy of every single Studio Ghibli movie. I watched 2 today: Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle. I think I understand why Miyazaki is so beloved. His detailed fantasy worlds are very believable, and are quite imaginative and immersive. Nothing much is to be said of Howl's Moving Castle. It's pretty much your standard fantasy anime. Whimsical and heartfelt at the same time. What I want to talk about is Kiki's Delivery Service.



The reason why that movie got to me was because it visited a theme that is always on my mind: The difference in the lives between the affulent people and the rest of the working class and poor people. The anime clearly demonstrates the rift between Kiki, who's very nice and well mannered, and the rich, affluent kids/folks of the ocean side town, who were portrayed as bratty. The affluent people always seemed to be preoccupied with having parties, and doing leisurely activities, while we see poor Kiki having to bust her ass to make a few dollars so she doesn't have to eat pancakes all the time. I felt... rage? Indignation? Not sure, but it didn't feel comfortable, that's for one thing.

This one particular scene got to me. It's when Kiki was delivering the Herring Pie made by the friendly grandmother. When Kiki arrived with the pie to the big ass mansion, the grandkid opened the door, and immediately you could tell she was snobby as fuck and stuck up. Good job Miyazaki for portraying it so well. I really appreciate his work after this movie. He just portrays the human emotion/nature so well in his animes. Anyway, back to that scene, I didn't think it was fair that Kiki, who was such a nice girl, had to basically fight to survive, while that stuck up bitch just talks shit about her grandma and her Herring Pie, and is enjoying the finer things in life.

But, now that I'm 23, I know that the stuck up bitch will either end up poor after she uses up all her family's money after her parents grow old and die, or she'll remain rich and remain useless if she's not able to use up the cash in her parents' bank account. Kiki, on the other hand, is offering a unique service to the community. She has no competition, so she has monopoly on the market. I am not sure if her service has an equal substitute. Maybe the deliveries could have been made by car, but the city is full of rich folk, and nothing stops them from paying top dollar to get shit sent around fast. Perhaps as Kiki gets older, she'll realize that she can expand her business model, and start offering other services to the community, and leveraging her witch powers to the max. I'm pretty damn certain she's gonna climb up the ranks and will eventually become a rich witch aristocrat of the city. Hopefully her heart will remain pure and uncorrupted by the money.