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Studio Ghibli Fans Get to See Kiki’s Delivery Service All Grown Up!

Fans of Studio Ghibli have much to be happy about at the moment, after some dark times. Following the sad announcement last year that the studio was closing doors for ‘restructuring’, there have been some big silver linings to a dark cloud. One of which is a great short animation which shows the main cast of the classic Studio Ghibli film, Kiki’s Delivery Service, all grown up.

I love Studio Ghibli

Yes, major nerd alert. I am, however, unashamedly, a massive fan of the animation Studio. From my first encounter with My Neighbour Totoro back in circa 1992, I’ve been hooked since.

I was saddened, but not surprised when the studio re-tooling was announced a couple of years ago. The films in recent years had been a little bit hit and miss. A lot of the magic was missing from the earliest projects and they were clearly struggling to find direction under younger directors.

There has been some great news since! Hayao Miyasaki, again, has stepped out of retirement to create a new film.

In addition, Studio Ponoc, a heavily Ghibli influenced company, launched in 2015 and is set to feature their first cinematic feature ‘Mary and the Witches Flower’ next month in Japan.

Well, while this is not quite news on that same level, it is pretty amazing none the less!

Kiki’s delivery service has all grown up!

Yes, we are given a look into the future of Kiki’s Delivery Service. We get to see Kiki, Osono and even her cat Jiji again!

While it is great to see them again, the context is a little bizarre. It’s all part of a noodle advert.

While Kiki’s Delivery Service may not necessarily be my favourite Studio Ghibli film, I can give you some useless Trivia!

In the Western version, Kiki is able to talk to the cat again at the end of the film. In the Japanese version she can not. This is to symbolise her ‘growing up’.
In the Western release Jiji the cat is voiced by Phil Hartman. You may remember him from such roles as Troy McClure from the Simpsons. This was sadly the last voice work he did before his tragic death.
The Zeppelin accident in the film uses the line “Oh the humanity”. This is popularised through the real life Hindenberg disaster.
Jiji the cat was originally female, however, a pre-Disney English dub (not uncommon before the official distribution deal) used a male voice. Disney liked it so much they stuck with it for their official dub.