I think my partner and I called this wholesome at least seven times over the course of the film. It was so good! I love Kiki; I love Jiji; I love the cast of characters whom are all universally warm and kind-hearted. I love flying as a motif, and even though the true arc of the movie (Kiki’s self-assuredness) came to a natural end I could have spent an entire series watching Kiki bop around this lovely world.

It’s tempting to compare this to My Neighbor Totoro, given that I watched it for the first time so recently as well. Totoro definitely hit me harder, and I think the purity and moral at the center of it is more potent; but unlike, say, the Pixar canon, it’s not that Kiki was a slightly lesser version — it had a completely different ambition and message.

★★★★★