The transition from childhood to adulthood also known as adolescents (shonen for boys, shojo for females) is heavily shown within the realm of anime. Studio Ghibli is also known as one of the major producers of adolescent films with the help of Hayao Miyazaki, a director, and producer of films such as ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’, ‘Spirited Away’, ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’, etc. In both ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ and ‘Spirited Away’, the female protagonists go through a maturation process that involves loss and is that loss necessary for them to grow and mature? Yes, because our protagonist within these two films is shojo and their films follow their struggles with the anxieties of aging, family, and identity.
Childhoods how long do they last? How do we find ourselves as we grow up? Do we ever let it go? As we mature through regular aging and non-mature themes, we wish we can revisit and relive the childhood we once had the carefree and wonder of imagination, but that’s not always the case. Some childhoods don’t last very long because of outside factors like people and our surroundings. We have to learn to adapt to what is around us because we want to create a version of ourselves that is perfect for that environment. The dramatic imposition of adolescence upon a once untroubled child’s body is overwhelming, and the accompanying physical and psychological changes are surrounded by anxious uncertainty.
‘Spirited Away’ is a 2001 animated movie written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. We follow the story of a young ten-year-old girl named Chihiro Ogino moving to a new home with both her parents but to only lose them both after crossing over to the spirit realm with them turning into pigs. Later known as Sen after having to trade her name for work at the spirit bathhouse owned by the witch Yubaba. Only after Chihiro can overcome challenging tasks such as cleaning the polluted river spirit and defeating the corrupted no face, to have a chance to rescue her transformed parents and return to the mortal.
Now, what is it that Chihiro loses during her time in the spirit world? Initially a small detail within the first scene she loses her friend with only a card and a bouquet of roses to remember her, Chihiro is seen holding the flowers close to her symbolizing that she refuses to let go of her past and the childhood she shares. After reminiscing about her friend and her father recklessly going through the forest into the abandoned amusement park, this is when Chihiro refuses to eat with her parents who are gorging themselves upon piles of food made for the spirits who are turned into pigs to represent what they are and kept within the pig stables, her parents are the next thing she loses now alone she must have help to guide her through this unknown realm with help from Haku.
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Haku is shown as a young adolescent male but is a river spirit with no memory of his name and was trapped to be Yubaba’s underling for life. Haku was able to help Chihiro by getting her to the bathhouse and to work for Yubaba, although Chihiro did gain work it came at the cost of her name, only to keep the first half of her name she is known as Sen for the duration of the film. This is her third and the biggest loss in this film only had her name to be reduced into memory and no longer a part of identity is gone.
Taking a look before Chihiro starts her journey into adulthood back in the car scene she is a pouty young girl not wanting to leave and as well easily fermented by just being alone. However, ‘Spirited Away’ sends her heroic journey to secure her empowered, adolescent self. Taking her second loss for example she loses her parent’s every action she does is her personal choice and those choices are going to affect how she behaves and acts. This independent growth is necessary for her because she is surrounded by unknown and paranormal entities, she needs to become someone who can be strong and independent, but also be reliable and capable of relying on others for help.
Next is ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ 1989 film written by Hayao Miyazaki. A coming-of-age tale of girlhood, it follows a young, initially inept witch who flies on her broom away from her home to try to find herself in a completely unfamiliar city for a year—as all witches must at the age of 13. Her outfit is of a traditional witch attire, a long dark-colored robe but with a modern twist of a bright red bow and red flat shoes to match. As soon as Kiki arrives in Koriko city she discovers the hardships that come along with growing up and becoming independent. She must be able to find a job. Shortly after arriving in Koriko city Kiki encounters a group of ‘normal’ girls who ostracize her for being different, and she lets them get to her on a mental level which affects the story later on. However, she does make a friend named Tombo a boy obsessed with aviation and the wonders of flight. Kiki meets with Osono a local baker and her husband Fukuo who are looking for a delivery person in which Kiki accepts the offer on the condition she can live in the room behind the bakery. Becoming more popular around the locals for being known as the girl who rides her magical broom for deliveries the bakery rides upon countless orders. Although Osono and Fukuo are Kiki’s new parental figures they are also her boss, meaning that they will love and care for Kiki but will not allow anything else but honest hard work.
‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ is a story of self-acceptance rather than a search for inauthentic popularity. It’s about learning what it means to find yourself when a part of you—in this case, Kiki’s magic—has disappeared. Although how does Kiki lose her magic? It was caused by her self-doubt created by the alienation of magic, she can’t be a normal girl because of this responsibility, but she is also not a strong witch because she only knows how to fly on a broom and becomes distraught only knowing a basic skill for a witch when compared to her mother who also has a skill for brewing potions. This is when she begins to lose it, she doesn’t know who she is anymore how she can call herself a witch when she lost her magic. Burden for not keeping her word true to the bakers and not doing deliveries upon her broom but still using the available room to stay in she feels only worse to reduce being a cashier and phone manager. Kiki is invited by Ursula an artist who knows what Kiki is going through because she lost her way. Through a night of talking of the power of art and how it’s similar to magic, Ursula inspired once again finishes her unfinished piece and the beauty of it also ignites the inspiration in Kiki. Kiki discovers that she shouldn’t strive to be like someone else if she can be as unique in her way. This growth and maturity Kiki learns is at a perfect time because Tombo is hanging by a rope attached to a blimp that is on a course to crash. With no one being able to reach his altitude Kiki can overcome her shortcomings by using an ordinary broom to fly and save her friend from an impending fall.
As analyzed the loses both Chihiro and Kiki are important to their growth others will argue against because there never was a loss. Within ‘Spirited Away’ at the end of the film, Chihiro was to forget her time in the spirit realm meaning that her development was irrelevant because she could just go back as she was in the beginning. Then Kiki only leaves her family for one year and is able to come back home as well she created a second family in the city, her powers never really left her because she was discouraged which is similar to the placebo effect where if you believe it's true then your body will also believe it’s true. Although those are true in Chihiro’s case Yubaba does mention that yes, she will most likely forget about the spirit realm as she leaves, but she has also gone to say that she could remember the events in the future and at the end of the original film on the car ride back she is asked if she feels ready for school, but she only leaves a silence implying that she is deep in thought and wondering how she will adapt to her new life. Then for Kiki’s defense yes, she can return home after one year of training but it's because she is out training, she can grow as a person without her parents. Her powers are also a metaphor for you don’t know how much you’ll miss something until it's gone. Her not having powers give her time to reflect as a young girl and as a witch and how she can be herself and be a witch without having to meet the highest expectations but to enjoy what she loves.
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