The Characters of Kiki's Delivery Service

There are many great characters in Kik's Delivery Service that have a lot of personality and just overall great characters to know and love. Let me start with Kiki, our heroine and main female character!

Kiki is a young teenage witch who just turned thirteen and has to go off for a year on her own to train to become a full-fledged witch! Though her parents - particularly her mother, also a witch - isn't thrilled with the idea of Kiki going off on her own, she knows that Kiki has to do it in order to become a full-fledged witch. From the very beginning you get a sense that Kiki is a very outgoing, outspoken girl. She's not afraid to go out into the world and do whatever she needs to to become a great witch.

As soon as Kiki takes off from home on her mom's broom, she has trouble flying, runs into a mean girl, and gets stuck in a rainstorm. She has to sleep on hay on a train in order to get away safely from the storm. She ends up getting to the ocean with Jiji complaining all the way. When she notices everyone staring at her as she flies over their heads, she tells Jiji to smile because they're being watched. She then almost causes a traffic accident and almost hurts herself in the process.

This is around the time when she meets Tombo, and doesn't like him much. She then meets Osono and her husband and helps to deliver a pacifier to a woman who forgot it at the bakery. This goes to show that Kiki isn't afraid to help a stranger in times of need, either. Kiki is a very brave girl, and even though she loses faith in herself after some very rude people and a storm during one of her deliveries, she still manages to find that spark in her that drives her to become a full-fledged witch after all!

Next up: Jiji

Jiji is Kiki's cat companion who isn't afraid to voice his opinions to her. He is very skeptical and very cautious when it comes to their safety, but he also isn't afraid to insult someone when they're being rude to either him or Kiki.

At one point Jiji has to take the place of a stuffed cat being given to a child as a present during one of Kiki's deliveries, and a dog lives at the house. Naturally, Jiji panics, but he quickly makes friends with the dog and is rescued by Kiki after all.

When Kiki loses her magic, Jiji doesn't talk to her anymore and ignores her. She can't understand what she says, and I'm assuming since the magic left her, Jiji no longer feels drawn to her to stick around. Plus he meets a fluffy white lady kitty whom he becomes very sweet on.

Jiji is still a very loveable character and provides some comic relief in the movie.

Next: Tombo

Tombo is a very curious teenage boy who loves to invent. He has some friends that are very stuck up that aren't very likeable, but Tombo himself tries his best to becomes Kiki's friend (and possibly boyfriend!) when she first arrives to town to make her feel welcome. Plus he's just very interested in flying that he can't help be drawn to her to find out just how flying works.

Tombo is very friendly, too, and knows how to clean up when he can. Though he gets himself into a bit of trouble at one point, Kiki comes to his rescue and it seems to be the starting point of their great friendship.

Next: Ursula

Ursula is a woman who happens to meet Kiki when Kiki is attacked by some black birds and the toy cat that she had to deliver to a young boy's house falls down to Ursula's cabin. She offers Kiki to fix up the toy as long as Kiki does a few chores around Ursula's cabin. It works out because then Kiki also gets to become a model for Usula's next painting. She's a great painter and seems to hold a big sister wisdom when it comes to talking to Kiki. She's a fun character, and even though she doesn't stick around long, you still can't help but like her.

Last, but certainly not least, Osono and her husband:

Osono is pregnant through the majority of the movie, and so she asks Kiki and her husband to do a lot of the deliveries and baking, but she still is very useful when around the shop. She's also like another mother figure to Kiki. She loves to laugh and has a very maternal attitude toward things.

Her husband talks maybe once in the whole movie, but just his expressions and gestures make him a great comical point in the movie. He tries showing off to Jiji and acts like a worried father when Kiki is out on a delivery. He seems like a great guy, though.

All in all, there are no "villainous" characters in this movie, but the conflict Kiki has with her magic ends up making her very vulnerable and cranky. So in a way, she's the villain. But still, all the characters are fun and hilarious and the movie itself is great. If you want to see just what these characters are like, you'll have to watch the movie yourself! It's a great one to see, for sure. It might just become one of your top three favorite Studio Ghibli films like it did for me.