Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Kiki's Delivery Service is a 1989 Japanese animated film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on Eiko Kadono's 1985 novel. The film follows 13-year-old Kiki, a witch-in-training who, following tradition, must leave home for a year to live independently in a new town and develop her skills. With only her ability to fly on a broomstick and her talking cat Jiji, Kiki settles in a seaside European-inspired city and starts a delivery service, navigating the challenges of self-sufficiency, loneliness, and the creative block that temporarily strips her of her flying ability.

Kiki's Delivery Service was Miyazaki at his most gently empathetic, creating a coming-of-age story about the ordinary anxieties of growing up — finding work, making friends, dealing with self-doubt — without a villain, without a great evil, and without dramatic stakes beyond one girl's struggle to believe in herself. The seaside city, inspired by Stockholm, Lisbon, and various Mediterranean towns, was one of Studio Ghibli's most inviting environments.