IMAX 'Kiki's Delivery Service': Why did Tombo cause the accident? | Details and foreshadowing that weren't visible on TV

'Kiki's Delivery Service' is currently being shown in IMAX. When 'Princess Mononoke' was shown in IMAX last December, I was shocked by the movie experience, which was completely different from watching the Friday Road Show on TV, so I went to see this one too. And, as expected, I noticed various things that I hadn't noticed during TV broadcasts, so I'd like to summarize them.

By the way, for the previous 'Princess Mononoke', after the IMAX screening, I even took my eldest daughter, who was in fourth grade at the time, to see the Dolby Cinema version.

This time, I invited my second daughter (third grade), who loves magic-themed stories, to 'watch Kiki's Delivery Service in IMAX.' She asked, 'What does the I in IMAX mean? Is it an eye? Does it mean me?' It seems her obsession with Duolingo is paying off. By the way, I don't know what the I in IMAX means either.

About to cry 10 minutes in

Oh no, I can't take it anymore. It hasn't even been 10 minutes, and my tear ducts are already tightening up.

'Daddy, lift me up high.
Just like when I was little'

If my daughter said that to me on the night she was leaving on a journey, I'd be a wreck. I don't think my daughters would ever say something so adorable, but if they did, my tear ducts would burst.

If my second daughter hadn't been sitting next to me, I might have been sobbing.

However, a situation occurs that makes even those tears recede.

The problem of Kiki's flying being way too dangerous

Kiki is about to set off, following the witch's tradition of leaving home at 13 to live independently. Not only her friends but many villagers have gathered to see her off. This is proof that Kiki and her family are loved by the local residents.

Go Go Kiki!
Go Go Kiki!

Kiki takes off on the broom her mother gave her. Immediately after, she hits a tree in the garden and the bell rings. Cling-cling-cling. She hits another tree and it rings again. Cling-cling-cling. Her mother says worriedly, 'Oh my, she's as clumsy as ever.' Her father, with his hand to his ear, says, 'It's okay, it looks like she made it safely.'

When I watched it on a TV screen, I just had the impression that she wasn't very good at flying, but when you watch it on a movie theater screen, the story changes quite a bit. The impression of height is completely different between TV and the big screen. It's incredibly nerve-wracking. Frankly, it's extremely dangerous. I wish she would at least wear a helmet.

Besides the fact that her flight is unstable right after takeoff, there's another problem. The radio weather forecast is completely wrong, and suddenly, along with lightning, a heavy downpour begins—rain like a waterfall. The rain is scary, but the lightning is even scarier. If you're flying in an open area with nothing around, there's a possibility of being struck by lightning.

When an airplane is struck by lightning, the electricity just flows over the surface of the fuselage and doesn't affect the interior. Therefore, it basically doesn't crash, and the passengers don't get electrocuted. But Kiki is flesh and blood. If she gets hit, she'll be charred black.

After this, she boards a freight train and takes off from the roof of a freight car the next morning, but she hits a tree again and spins spectacularly.

She could have easily died two or three times already in the early part of the story.

Kiki's mother said that the girl only learned how to fly. And that this medicine would end with her generation. Mother, your daughter doesn't just have no talent other than flying; even the flying part is questionable.

To begin with, the system of living on one's own at 13 feels a bit unreasonable. Sending out a girl who is still shaky at flying all by herself—the witch society is quite Spartan.

Tombo's accident was bound to happen

The level of concentration when watching a movie is completely different between IMAX and TV. On TV, you miss not only the sounds, the details in the corners of the screen, and the true impact of large motifs like the airship and buildings, but also the meaning of the dialogue and the resolution of the story itself.

On the box of pancakes Kiki is making, it says 'JIBURI NO HOT KEKI,' the radio plays in English, and in the city of Koriko, vehicles drive on the right side of the road.

I'll say it again.
In the city of Koriko, vehicles drive on the right side of the road.

...Tombo?

That's right, Tombo is speeding down the left lane on a propeller bicycle that is wider than a normal vehicle. On top of that, there is no sidewalk on this road. In other words, he is driving against traffic at high speed. As expected, an oncoming vehicle appears around the curve. He manages to avoid it by floating up with Kiki's magic (?), but then a truck comes. Moreover, both lanes are blocked by a vehicle trying to pass that truck. It's hopeless. In any case, a head-on collision was inevitable. There is a very high possibility that he would have died in the accident along with Kiki. Stop being so reckless, Tombo!

Was that wind foreshadowing?

Near the end, while Kiki is receiving a cake from the lady at the house with the blue roof, news comes in that the airship was blown away by strong winds. The lady watching TV says:

'This kind of wind blows sometimes in the summer,'
'It will be here soon too.'

I was startled when I heard this line.

Sometimes...
Strong wind...?

Don't we know this strong wind? The gust of wind that blew away the flock of gulls and dropped Kiki into the crow's nest in the middle of the story.

'Sometimes,' that is, 'occasionally.' If it means that it repeats irregularly with some time in between, then the wind that caused Tombo to be left hanging in mid-air and the wind that blew Kiki away,

could both be the same meteorological phenomenon: 'this kind of wind (strong wind) that blows sometimes in the summer.'

Kiki's work will be very busy from now on

By saving Tombo, Kiki has become an overnight celebrity as the witch on a deck brush. It will likely be broadcast widely on TV and featured in the newspapers. Incredible promotional effects can be expected.

Koriko is a city where buildings cling to the hills along the coast. For a city with many slopes like Nagasaki or San Francisco, the witch's delivery service, which can move up and down with ease, is the perfect profession for Kiki.

The setting is summer, but winter will come in a few months. Speaking of winter, it's the Christmas season. Gifts will increase. The phone at Gutiokipanja will likely be ringing off the hook with people wanting the little witch on the deck brush to deliver their packages. Eventually, she might even get her own phone line and hire someone to answer it so she can take orders even while out on deliveries.

However, flying in winter looks cold, so I'm a little worried.

I've seen this film many times on TV, but watching it on a big screen in a space cut off from the outside world amplifies the resolution with which I receive the "story."

The sound.
The scale of the buildings.
The movements of the characters.
And the seemingly casual lines of dialogue.
There was even something like a small photograph drawn on Kiki's pillow. I hadn't noticed it at all on TV.

Even with the same film, when you watch it again years later, you see different things because of the differences in your own situation. I almost teared up from a father's perspective, and I felt dizzy at the reckless bicycle riding.

If "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" or "Castle in the Sky" were screened in IMAX, I would go to the theater again.

I wonder what kind of "things I missed" I will be able to notice next time.

Well then, thank you for reading. All images used this time were official Ghibli ones.

If there are parts you resonate with, it would be very encouraging if you could provide reactions such as following, liking, sharing on social media, or commenting.

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