The rest of the story is about Kiki’s adventures in the town as she lives there (on her own!) for a whole year. And luckily, she finds one! The town of Koriko (lots of ‘K’ words in this book!) is a big seaside town with no witch living there yet. All Kiki wants is to see the sea for the very first time, so she looks for a town close to the ocean. So, Kiki and Jiji fly off to find a new town to live in. How amazing would it be to talk to cats and have them talk to you? I want to be a witch now! The wonderful thing is that Jiji can talk…but only to Kiki! Everyone else just hears meows. Kiki and Jiji grew up together and are constant companions.

While she flies and does her magic, Kiki is accompanied by her little black cat Jiji. Instead, Kiki has one magical skill that she truly loves: flying on her broomstick. And while Kokiri tried to teach Kiki how to make magical medicine, the young girl hates it. For example, Kiki’s mother Kokiri can make magical medicine (like her famous sneeze potion!), but she’s actually the last witch left in the world who knows how to do this properly. So now there are very few magical skills left. Over the years, witches have lost their knowledge of certain skills and spells. To be a proper witch, she needs to have a ‘coming-of-age day’: a tradition where 13-year-old witches go and live in a different town for a year and survive on their own magic. The story starts with Kiki, a witch just about to turn 13. After all, the book deserves to be read and enjoyed for its own niceness, not because it happened to inspire a nice movie! So, I will try to talk about the book first – only the book. Comparing the book to the film is fun, but it can be a little unfair.

Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono