Kiki’s Delivery Service is a Ghibli Studio movie that revolves around the life of a 13-year-old named Kiki, who is being trained to become a witch. In order to finish her training, she must leave everything and everyone behind to live in a far-away town.
This slice of life anime focuses on the coming of age of young Kiki, who learns a lot about life, its struggles and lives a life of independence after she opens her own delivery service. For fans who enjoyed this Ghibli movie and are looking to binge on other anime (including non-Ghibli ones), here are 10 fantastic recommendations.
10 Flying Witch
15-year-old Makoto Kowata is a practicing witch who leaves her home to spend more time in the witch heavy region, Aomori. With her feline familiar Chito by her side, she stays with her cousins at their home and decides to go to their school as well.
However, her life is far from peaceful as she keeps on stumbling across one supernatural creature after the other. Is she up for such daunting challenges?
9 Little Witch Academia
Always wanting to be a witch, Atsuko Kagari studies at the prestigious Luna Nova Magical Academy so that she can graduate as an exemplary witch. But things aren’t as easy as she thought they would be. Not only is she bad at studies, but she’s also often ridiculed for idolizing the now fallen witch Shiny Chariot.
Things take a turn for the worse when a dragon suddenly attacks her academy, burning everything that crosses its path. Atsuko sees the silver lining and decides to be a star witch by tackling the dragon by herself!
8 A Letter to Momo
Preteen Momo Miyaura and her mother move to a remote island after the death of Momo’s father. City girl Momo has a tough time adjusting to her unexpectedly rustic surroundings. Her only solace is an unfinished letter by her dad, which only reads “Dear Momo.”
One day by sheer accident, in her attic she finds a mysterious-looking book on youkai (spirits). Unknown to little Momo, reading that book resulted in many strange happenings in her sleepy little town.
7 Mary And The Witch's Flower
One day, Mary Smith stumbles across a magical cat that was able to change its color every time she saw it! She decides to follow the cat, which leads her to a dark and mysterious forest. The cat eventually leads her to the favorite flower of witches - Fly-by-Night.
After a misadventure occurs near those flowers, a magical broomstick flies her to the Endor College for Witches. Welcomed as a new student, Mary decides to play along and become an excellent witch.
6 Spirited Away
10-year-old Chihiro is a child who is angry because her parents decided to move to another city. En route, they decide to explore an abandoned amusement park. However, they get a lot more than they had bargained for when Chihiro soon realizes her parents have disappeared, and she’s the only human around.
Surrounded by ghosts, apparitions, and supernatural creatures, the little girl must work hard (and smart) to find her parents and escape.
5 Big Fish & Begonia
This Chinese show revolves around the life of Chun. The young girl must undergo her coming of age rite, where she must spend time in the human world to experience it for herself. Due to a certain set of events, she has her life saved by a young boy who ends up dying.
She requests the Soul Keeper to bring back the boy, and the price paid is part of her life span. What she doesn’t know is how this one small decision of hers might eventually ruin both the worlds.
4 Whisper Of The Heart
One day, Shizuku meets a unique cat on the train she’s traveling. She follows it to a mysterious looking shop. To her surprise, there she finds a boy she had been searching for long - Seiji Amasawa. The more the two talk, the more they realize their shared dreams, except one.
Seiji knows what he wants from life, but Shizuku doesn’t. Emboldened by her new company, she decides to carve out a future for herself. Thus begins her journey of self-discovery.
3 Heidi: Girl of the Alps
This anime is a delight for those who enjoy watching older anime. The show came out in the 70s, and it’s a slice-of-life story about a recently orphaned girl Heidi, and her now guardian, her grandfather. E young girl is told he only took her in because she had nowhere else to go.
Determined to please him with her kindness, Heidi takes the help of the new friends, namely Clara and the shepherd Peter.
2 The Cat Returns
One day after Haru Yoshioka saves Prince Lune of the Cat Kingdom from an accident, she finds herself as his bride (due to poor communication). The more time she spends there, the more feline she becomes. If she doesn’t find a way to find her inner human, she’ll end up permanently as a cat!
Dismayed, she hears an unknown voice telling her to look for the Cat Bureau. Can this place be her hope of having her life back as a normal human girl?
1 Wolf Children
Hana falls in love with a werewolf, and the two decide to have children together. They have two children, but the father dies in an accident. A devastated Hana moves to the countryside to raise human-wolf pups, away from the prying eyes of city folks.
Her children Ame and Yuki become increasingly unmanageable with the passage of time, with their wolf characteristics often being in full display. This movie is about the determination of a single mother who struggles to adapt to a new society, as well as being the mother of half-human children.