Kiki’s Delivery ServiceTime to read: 5 minutes

June’s theme revolves around a coming of age story that is very dear to my heart. I’ll admit that I haven’t read the actual novel by Eiko Kadono, but I’ve watched the Studio Ghibli animated film that was based on it multiple times.

Kiki is a 13-year-old witch who leaves home for a year to learn how to balance her independence with her responsibilities. Her magical talent is flying on a broomstick and after learning to control it well, she starts a delivery service in a seaside town. This charming story is about growing up, staying true to yourself, and trying new things.

For this month’s post I chose to take photos of my journal rather than to scan it, which saves me a lot of time and effort. I always have to colour correct a lot after scanning and the result usually still isn’t great. I would love to read your preference in the comments below!

I hand-painted almost all of the illustrations in this theme, with the exception of the landscape that is included on the exercise tracker page. A lot of the illustrations were inspired by or copied from the artbook The Art Of Kiki’s Delivery Service and all of them are painted with watercolour paint.

The silver stars and golden frame around Kiki’s portrait add a little shimmer to these pages. I love how it shows up in the photo!

Just follow your heart, and keep smiling.
^{– Kokiri}

I relate a lot to this quote by Kiki’s mother, spoken to her shortly before letting her go. Optimism, tenacity and kindness can take you very far in life, and a little bit of positivity can support you through gritted teeth and stubborn endurance.

I’d like to point out the key for this mood tracker, because I think it’s pretty clever. Golden bread is best bread, light or dark baked is fine(ish), undercooked is meh, but burnt is worst. May our days be filled with golden bread this month!

Shoutout also to the font I used, called Amatic. While my handwriting has improved quite a bit over the past few months, thanks to rigorous practice, I opted to print the page titles on sticker paper. It’s quick, easy and consistent.

There were some controversies surrounding the film adaptations of Kiki’s story. Hayao Miyazaki‘s screenplay deviated from the original story, which allegedly upset the book’s author. She later narrated the 2014 live action film, starring Fuka Koshiba as Kiki.

Almost ten years after its initial release in Japan, Disney bought the rights to distribute the film in the United States. Despite their contractual agreement not to make substantial changes, they added music, sound effects, and dialogue that greatly changed the tone and context of the movie and its characters. The film was re-released in 2010 with an updated English dub that removed the earlier dub’s deviations from the Japanese version, but I still recommend watching the film in Japanese, with subtitles.

I cannot in good conscience reference a Studio Ghibli film without an honorary mention of composer Joe Hisaishi. He has scored all but one of Hayao Miyazaki’s films, and has won countless awards for his achievements in composition and film scoring. I regularly listen to his music, including the Kiki’s Delivery Service OST, which never fails to evoke nostalgic feelings in me. Even if you’re not into anime or Studio Ghibli, I still cannot recommend Hisaishi’s soundtracks more, as he is one of our time’s greatest musicians in my opinion.

Throughout this theme I chose to honour some of the main characters of the film. Aside from Kiki and Jiji, I included her parents, her friend Tombo, and the pregnant baker Osono and her husband Fukuo. Of course my favourite, artist Ursula, is also included. She tickles my gaydar and I relate to her personality, but the way she helps Kiki to regain confidence makes my heart sing!

I’m pleased with how this theme turned out. Please let me know in a comment how you feel about it, as well as what you think about the difference between using photographs and scans in these posts. I’m pretty clear on my own preference, but I write for an audience and your opinion matters to me. Thanks for letting me know which you like most!