'Kiki and the New Magic' - the sequel to one of my favourite books ever - and one of my favourite pop culture IPs ever - 'Kiki's Delivery Service'.
I mean, it is highly entertaining - the second chapter and "delivery" has Kiki deliver a baby hippo from a zoo to an animal hospital that culminates in her herding a runaway elephant, it certainly starts with a bang! - and even thoughtful and enlightening; each "delivery" chapter and adventure is more different than the last, yet there is the continuing thread and theme of Kiki's coming-of-age and her figuring out what she would really like to do with her life, as both a normal fourteen-year-old girl and a witch, and not just any witch, but the lone witch in her area, whose only current talent and passion is flying on her broomstick. This won't stop people from placing high expectations on the overworked young delivery witch; they put too much pressure on her, make wild, old-fashioned, inaccurate assumptions about her, stereotype her, both positively and negatively, and take her for granted.
Kiki becomes frustrated and stressed. Life's unpredictability, delivery disasters, delivery/witch postal anxieties, the cluelessness of the ordinary people closest to her, and her losing confidence in herself as a witch, all result in her magic fluctuating, and breaking. She's off-balance, in a funk, not right within herself, has a "Missing Centre Syndrome", like the baby hippo whose tail was eaten by a lion (yes, you read that correctly).
But then, through an open mind and heart, thanks to the different people around her, Kiki fixes and gains her magic - and herself - back in full... as a different kind of magic. A new magic, by her choice. The exploration and practicality of that choice is as much its own magic as the actual magic. It's sort of similar to how the second half of the Studio Ghibli film develops her character and coming-of-age growth.
Plus, how refreshing and freeing that the teenage girl would like to wear colourful, floral dresses, when traditionally witches only wear black.
However, to go back to 'Kiki and the New Magic''s... dip in quality from its first instalment:
As good as its concepts are, how the book executes them is rather messy, uneven and disjointed. The pacing is as fast as Kiki at her fastest on her broom, and just as breezy - the whole thing can be read in a day, which isn't a bad thing, notably for a children's book, but it can make it easy for details, themes and subtext to go over a reader's head in a flash, as memorable as the contents are.
Some of the ideas and writing choices are utterly bizarre, and I don't think this is solely on the English translation. Example one: has Kiki always switched around in referring to her own mother as her mum and by her name, Kokiri? Is this simply an inconsistency? And I hardly believed the two witches are related even when they are together, so bafflingly distant they are. Example two: the weird, thoughtless dialogue the characters spout sometimes - be they main, recurring or only existing in a single chapter - they will make you raise an eyebrow, even if their actions are reasonable otherwise. Example magic number three; at least a few of the chapters don't have the best, most conclusive endings, but one chapter, about hundreds of tennis shoe deliveries and a New Year's marathon race involving Kiki's entire town, and hot sweet potatoes as the reward and finishing line, ends prematurely with no conclusion whatsoever!
Why, with all the weirdness presented, and especially in showing how humans would act in a world where witches are rare but definitely exist - strangely, yet understandably and believably - 'Kiki and the New Magic' is exactly like a '90s low-budget, cosy slice-of-life fantasy anime!
Even with its flaws, its oddness - its hippos, its elephants, its magicians, its tree songs, its neglectful scientist fathers, its singing sloth-like creatures on a tiny island, its white shirt sails, its apples, its red shoes, its potatoes, its tennis shoes, its icy-cold seasons (and other seasons), its Mary Poppins-ness, and so much more - it is still 'Kiki's Delivery Service', and I love it.
I can't help it.
Kiki is still Kiki, and it is great to see her on her delivery adventures again, and the eclectic, eccentric places they take her.
Whether Eiko Kadono wrote 'The New Magic' and the rest of the 'Kiki' series to capitalise on the success of the first book and the Studio Ghibli adaptation by Hayao Miyazaki, I cannot judge, but it has lots (broom)riding on it.
There is genuine charm and whimsy to be found. My favourite chapters - "deliveries", episodic adventures - have to be: 'Kiki Delivers a Walk', where Kiki takes a mapped-out walk around town with an old man's cane on his bedridden request in a hospital - there is magic and bittersweetness, and a giant tree, a jungle gym, and a houseboat; 'Kiki Delivers Red Shoes', which is also about trips down memory lane, and helping the impaired elderly reconnect with themselves and possibly others; and 'Kiki Delivers a Window to the Forest', which is as sweet and whimsical as it sounds.
Another recurring character thread is Kiki's potential romantic feelings for her flight-obsessed friend Tombo, who is a reckless, overenthusiastic and oblivious boy, almost exactly like his Studio Ghibli counterpart. However, this relationship development doesn't lead anywhere at this point, and it seems to be forgotten about by the end.
Jiji the black cat is as snarky and funny as ever. He may indeed be Kiki's wiser, mature inner voice. He receives a romance with another cat in the book.
Medicine Herb Road is such an adorable name...
'Kiki and the New Magic' - off-kilter and helter-skelter. Disconnected, yet connected, through human feelings and experiences. And traditions. It is a bizarro magic world, but it is Kiki's cosy magic world, full of excitement, possibility, probability, and opportunity, and therefore wonder.
It's cute, funny and heartfelt. I recommend it to every fan of Kiki - the most wonderful and relatable young witch to come out of Japan!
"'Making' is mysterious. You're the one making, and yet you're not..."
My review of 'Kiki's Delivery Service'.
Final Score: 3.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment