#we each need to find our own inspiration kiki

[keithtreason]

Kiki's Delivery Service - Sleep On The Floor MEP part

[dailyflicks]

We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it's not easy. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) dir. Hayao Miyazaki

[elbovari]

We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it's not easy.

Kiki's Delivery Service, Hayao Miyazaki (1989)

[poppletonink]

FILM REVIEW: Kiki's Delivery Service

★★★★☆ - 4 stars

"We each need to find our own inspiration. Sometimes it's not easy."

Based on the novel of the same name by Eiko Kadono, Kiki's Delivery Service is a heartwarming film that revels in the everpresent sublime beauty of the Ghibli universe. It tells the tale of a thirteen-year-old witch in training, Kiki, who leaves her family and moves to a strange city, with her cat Jiji, in an attempt to become more independent. Here, she gets a job at a delivery service, allowing her to grow through interacting with different people.

Centering around the importance of friendship and the problems of growing up, such as loneliness and an inability to adapt to change, the film is an experience of a palette of emotions, from love to sorrow. Notably, the film can be seen as undeniably relatable, as viewers can see the Kiki's desire for independence within themselves and the fear of change that accompanies the act of getting older.

The charm of Ghibli films is present in this wonderfully witchy piece, in its outstanding animation, romanticising landscapes, food and the trials and tribulations of daily life, such as work and cleaning. As with all Ghibli films, Kiki's Delivery Service creates wonder and admiration for the simple elements that make up life's anatomy.

Charming. Comforting. Calming. Kiki's Delivery Service is a visually stunning film with an adorable story and relatable themes. A must-watch for children and adults alike; this film will warm your heart and touch your soul.

[heyitsjooooanne]

265

One room.

Two hundred and sixty-five packages.

A young man decides that he's had enough…

Author's Note: Inspired by a Korean musician with questionable behavior concerning his package deliveries.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  =  =

My friend Holden liked to collect packages.

Actually wait, no.

I'm sorry.

He liked to hoard packages.

Ah.

See?

That’s much better.

But back to what I was saying.

This dumbass liked to hoard his own packages.

Let me show you what I mean.

It was a cold, January day, the birds were migrating, couples were cuddling, casseroles were baking, and—

Okay, I'll just cut the bullshit and get right to it.

See, Holden and I (my name is irrelevant), were part of a small group of rich online influencers.

Now, don't go throwing that rotten fruit at us just yet.

Yes, we posted videos on social media, but we treated the gig like actual jobs, which they were.

 And not to brag, but those videos gave us both a hefty sum of money.

Read: I am currently a millionaire at the time of writing this.

Anyway, Holden and I lived together as platonic roommates while we both did god-knows-what outside of the apartment we lived in. Which was fine by me.

So fast-forward to sometime in early 2017 when we were both 24.

It was damn cold, our heater was broken, and there I was, minding my own business (I was playing a video game in my bedroom) when this stupid son of a bitch walked in and said...

"Here's your birthday gift."

One: My birthday was in November.

Two: He bought that birthday gift for me the previous year for the previous year's birthday!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“You’re kidding, right?”

“What?”

And if you're wondering how that could've happened, I'll tell you how.

He hoarded packages and never opened them, so naturally when he ordered something for me online, he tossed it aside and never bothered opening it.

Sigh.

Yes, I needed to actually write that out.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Two years later, I had finally gotten enough money for my own place, so I moved into another room a few floors down from our old room, which was now Holden’s.

But I would occasionally go over to his room to hang out and film videos for our individual channels.

There was a time when I had to watch my two-year-old nephew (read: his cat) for a few days while he was visiting his family.

The problem?

I was bored out of my mind.

Because I had already used up all of my data.

And it wouldn’t be renewed until the next day due to a “system error.”

Also, the WiFi didn’t work.

Now, I love Coco.

He’s like a real-life version of the cat from “Kiki’s Delivery Service.’

But all he does is sleep, cuddle, and look absolutely adorable.

Great for relaxing, but not so great when you’re itching to do something.

So I decided to count all the unopened packages in Holden’s "delivery room."

He called it that, not me.

Ignoring his poor taste in naming rooms, I counted every single package in that room, and it all led to just one number.

265.

He ordered two hundred and sixty-five damn things, and he didn't open a single one of them, other than him randomly finding a package and going "oh! I forgot I ordered this for you ‘X’ number of years ago."

In case, you’re wondering, yes, Coco is still alive to this day.

I know.

It’s a shock to me that someone like him could keep a living creature alive for that long too.

But don't worry.

This ended up biting him in the ass later on.

Because remember when I said he and I were part of a group of rich online influencers?

Well...

Actually, it hasn't been that long, so this is still a sore spot for me to think about.

But I'll push through it.

.

.

.

.

Jesus, how many "birthing" references can I make in a single post?

Meh.

I'll just get on with it.

So this group was made up of ten people, myself and Holden included.

Seven guys and three girls.

And we were all super close with each other.

I'd even go so far as to say we were all friends.

In 2020, one person from our group got sick.

Her name was Emily.

We had dated a few years before then, but we eventually broke up because we each wanted different things.

She wanted kids.

I didn’t.

But we ended up being pretty good friends after our breakup.

Anyway, I probably don't have to tell you what she got.

The point is, she got it.

My last image of Emily was her laughing at a stupid joke that her boyfriend made as they both got into an Uber to go back to their hotel.

We had all been partying at a club that night.

#richpeoplethingsssss

And then six weeks later, I received a call from her boyfriend telling me that she had died.

Shot down like a fly.

Just like that.

After that, they all started falling down like dominoes.

One after another.

Trust me when I say that a virtual funeral is not any better than a real one.

And when you're forced to "attend" nine of them (a relative of mine also died) in the span of a year, it really does something to you.

"Forced" might not be the right word to use here since I attended them all voluntarily, but...

Now, you can believe in whatever conspiracy you want, but the point is that people we knew died.

And if you're wondering why Holden and I didn't get sick...

Honestly, this is a little embarrassing to write down, but...

Holden and I got a great opportunity to try out this new game before things got crazy, and...

We spent two weeks in our own rooms playing it.

Then we had to stay in quarantine.

Then we had to wear masks everywhere.

Combine that with the fear mongering news anchors, my hypochondria, and you've got two dudes ready to wear hazmat suits outside.

Or at least, I was.

I didn't though.

(I couldn't find a legit one online.)

It's easy for me to laugh at the ridiculousness of this now, but at the time, it was a Hellscape.

Finally, in 2022, I just snapped.

I don't know what it was.

Could it have been that it was May 14th and that was the day that Emily had died two years earlier?

Maybe.

All I remember is going into Holden's “delivery room” because a damn fly had flown in there and I was trying to kill it.

I swatted with the fly swatter and missed, which caused a package on top of a pile (yes, he had piles) to drop down to my feet.

I picked it up and shook it, and it sounded like a bag of chips.

I was already angry with the fly for getting in through the vent, so I was already pissed off by this point.

So, not caring that I was committing a literal crime, I opened the package in frustration.

It was a bag of cookies made exclusively in Japan.

A favorite of one of the friends who had passed away in 2020.

His name was Kareem.

After that, I just saw red.

I'd realized then that I'd had enough of Holden and his complacent bullshit.

I barged into his bedroom without knocking and threw the bag of cookies in his face.

I think he was live streaming.

Maybe a game or something.

After that, it was a blur of us yelling at each other and Holden getting upset at me for interrupting his stream and opening up one of his packages.

No, shit, dude. Someone had to.

After it was over, I rushed back to my own room, fuming.

The next day, I invited my boyfriend (#birepresent!) to stay at my place for a while.

Holden would eventually knock on my door a week later.

I was still angry, so I told my boyfriend to ignore him.

The next morning, my boyfriend told me he had to go out and do something, so I stayed in my  room alone.

But the fight between Holden and I kept nagging at me.

I knew I couldn’t let that be our last interaction with each other.

So I went over to his room.

I knocked, but there was no answer.

Feeling a sense of urgency, I put in the pin number for his door lock and in an unsurprising twist, it worked.

It was his birthday.

>_<

After I was in, I immediately went over to the "delivery room” and found Holden sitting cross-legged on the floor gliding a sharp kitchen knife across the taped end of a package that was actually a box.

I looked to my left and saw several packages opened up with their contents discarded in a pile next to them.

It was so surreal, I couldn't believe my eyes.

Was my friend Holden actually opening these packages????

I bit my tongue to avoid saying something snarky and settled on...

"Need some help?"

We spent the rest of the day opening the packages.

We even shed a few tears because it seemed like every package was an old gift that Holden had forgotten to give to one of our dearly departed friends.

Finally, at around 11:45 PM (I had my phone with me), we finished opening up every single package that he had neglected over the years.

It was like a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders.

And even though he didn't say it, I could tell that Holden was relieved too.

The next morning, while we were both enjoying a bowl of oatmeal at his dining table, I asked him why he had taken so long to open the packages.

"Don't tell me you really forgot."

"Well it's just that..."

He sighed.

Then he ate another spoonful of oatmeal.

"You're gonna give me shit for saying it."

"We've been friends for over ten years. I've already seen your shit. Literally."

A tiny laugh from him.

"Come on, man. Now's not the time to be a passive shithead."

"Alright. Fine."

He put his spoon back in his bowl.

"I was thinking about it last night, and I realized that the reason I never gave our friends their gifts was because... I never appreciated the time I had with them. I mean, getting opportunities to travel to other countries. Speaking at Cons all the time. I don't know..."

He looked down at his bowl.

"I guess I always assumed that since we were rich that there would always be enough time. Like we could buy more time if we needed to."

"That's stupid."

"I know. But it's what I thought."

I leaned back in my chair.

"So what do you want to do now?"

Holden leaned forward.

"Maybe I should send all the packages for our friends who have passed on to their families?"

"That could work."

Holden and I spent the next couple of days calling everyone, but no one wanted the gifts. They were all items that could be ordered in the exact same way online, so there was nothing really special about them.

Nothing personalized or unique.

Three days later, by sheer luck, I overheard these college students talking about a donation drive on their campus.

I immediately ran home (well, I ran to the subway) and told Holden all about it.

He agreed to it.

I really should've recorded the looks on the students' faces when they saw Holden dropping a big-ass box of miscellaneous shit into their donation box.

And that wasn't even half of it!

The school didn't want anyone else to miss out on an opportunity to donate something, so they cut him off at about twenty items.

But that was just the beginning.

A professor told us the phone numbers of places where Holden and I could donate his box of thingsTM, and we spent the rest of the day going to every single one of them until finally we were down to a box of thirteen items.

Unfortunately, we had already gone to all the donation centers in the city.

Not knowing what to do next, we decided to call Uber again and head back home.

The next morning (take a shot of water every time I say this), I was scrolling through social media when I saw a clip of someone announcing a giveaway that they were hosting.

And it hit me.

Like, literally hit me because Holden accidentally bumped into me while trying to get to the kitchen to make breakfast for himself.

"Sorry, dude."

"You should host a giveaway on your channel!" I blurted without thinking.

Holden turned around quickly.

"Huh?"

I got up from my seat at the dining room table.

"A giveaway! That's how we're gonna get rid of those thirteen items."

Holden crossed his arms and raised one eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Got any ideas?"

"Hmm..."

Two weeks later, I went with Holden to the post office and watched him hand a box that contained a really fancy black jacket worth eight hundred dollars that was going to a very lucky winner in Oregon, to an employee behind the desk.

And that was that.

Two hundred and sixty five packages, finally gone.

I glanced over at Holden and noticed that his eyes were getting shiny.

But I didn't say anything.

Instead, I put an arm around his shoulder reassuringly.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  =  =

Author's Note: I actually think this would make a very good short film. Maybe something for the holiday season or whatever. Also, 265 is supposed to be Seventeen’s debut date scrambled up (May 26th, 526 = 265).

[sumxerchild]

We each need to find our own inspiration. Sometimes it's not easy - "Kiki's Delivery Service"

[jonimelonii]

“We each need to find our own inspiration. Sometimes it’s not easy.”

- Ursula, 'Kiki's Delivery Service' (1989)

[glouchyouchy]

There have been exactly three literary / audio-visual works that have influenced me and my worldview greatly ( because they came to me at a pivotal times in my life ) : The encyclopedia we’ve had in our house since I was a little boy, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, and Kiki’s Delivery Service by Studio Ghibli under the direction of Hayao Miyazaki. For that last one in particular, the most important character - or rather, messenger - for me, outside of Kiki, has always been Ursula.

True, Osono and her husband gave Kiki stability and a demonstration of the value of hard work, patience, dedication, consistency, and passion for one’s calling in life; however, Ursula is there to give Kiki the guidance she needs when she encounters something that I think all of us encounter at some point in our lives :

Being LOST. Feeling like the things you do, and everything around you seems POINTLESS. Struggling to find MEANING in one’s existence.

Ursula’s answer to Kiki’s question?

Find your inspiration. Find your WHY.

“Trusting your spirit! Yes, yes! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. That same spirit is what makes me paint and makes your friend bake. But we each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it’s not easy.”

All I can say is, THIS has been - and will always be - a tremendous lesson. What a blessing this film has been to me and countless others. :)

thinking about this absolute queen yet again

[moondust-magic]

"We each need to find our own inspiration. Sometimes it's not easy." -Kiki's Delivery Service

[alexstewart]

We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it’s not easy.

[frodo-sam]

We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it's not easy.

KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE ‘魔女の宅急便’ (1989) dir. Hayao Miyazaki

[hayden-christensen]

We each need to find our own inspiration Kiki, sometimes it's not easy.

KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE (1989) dir. Hayao Miyazaki | Studio Ghibli marathon

[princess-pathetic-112898]

We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it’s not so easy.

[miphasdream]

We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it's not easy.

[xmelfunctioning]

Being the Main Character of your Life.

Hey! Welcome to my first post.

Sadly, we can't star in a real Ghibli movie, however, we can live our lives like one. Here are a few ways you can live your life like a Ghibli movie.

1. Listen to music! It is scientifically proven that music makes you happier. Think of the music as the background music to your story.

2. Develop a hobby. Most Ghibli characters have some sort of hobby to occupy them in their free time, for instance, Shizuku has a great passion/hobby for writing in the film, Whisper of The Heart. Your hobby can be something like art, playing a musical instrument - whatever your heart desires.

3. Go outside. Many Ghibli movies have their theme set around nature and how important it is (i.e. Pom Poko, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind). Try to spend as much time outside as possible (even if it is only in your backyard).

4. Go on picnics/tea parties. Picnics and tea parties are wonderful ways to be in and enjoy nature. Of course, you can always have a picnic or tea party indoors. All you need is a blanket or mat (or not), food, and tea! That's all, it's pretty simple!

5. Keep plants. Keeping plants near your workspace or around you is a great way to bring a bit of greenery and nature into that space. Many studies have shown that keeping plants around you can make you feel calmer!

6. Don't compare your life with others. It's always tempting to look at the seemingly perfect lives of others and guilt yourself by comparing your life to theirs. However, this puts you in a very negative frame of mind and can lead to bigger mental health issues. Unless you are going to use their story or life as inspiration to where you want to be, it's better not to do this. It's also important to remember that, most of the time, you are only seeing the best little snippets of a person's life.

Some quotes (from Ghibli Films)

“Try laughing. Then whatever scares you will go away.”

- Tatsuo Kusakabe, 'My Neighbor Totoro'.

“Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear.”

- The Baron, 'The Cat Returns'.

“It’s not really important what color your dress is. What matters is the heart inside.”

- Kokiri, 'Kiki's Delivery Service'.

“Just follow your heart and keep smiling.”

- 'Kiki's Delivery Service'

“We each need to find our own inspiration. Sometimes it’s not easy.”

- Ursula, 'Kiki's Delivery Service'.

“They say the best blaze burns brightest, when circumstances are at their worst.”

- Sophie Hatter, 'Howl’s Moving Castle'.

"It’s funny how you wake up each day and never really know if it’ll be one that will change your life forever.”

- Sho, 'The Secret World Of Arrietty'.

[kendalroys]

We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it’s not easy.

Kiki’s Delivery Service/魔女の宅急便 (1989) dir. Hayao Miyazaki