Why Does Jiji Remain Unable to Speak at the End of “Kiki’s Delivery Service”?

“Kiki’s Delivery Service(Studio Ghibli Official)” is an animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, released in 1989. While the story itself is renowned, the insert song “Rouge no Dengon” and the ending theme “Yasashisa ni Tsutsumareta nara” by Yumi Matsutoya left a powerful impression, and surely many people came to love these songs through this film.

This time, I’d like to explore a question that everyone who has seen “Kiki’s Delivery Service” has probably thought about: “Why does Jiji remain unable to speak at the end?” To answer this, it’s important to consider “What kind of existence was Jiji, really?” I’d like to start by thinking about that aspect by posing three questions.

*This article is an English translation of the original Japanese article, “「魔女の宅急便」のラスト、ジジはなぜ喋れないままなのか？“

Three Questions About Jiji in “Kiki’s Delivery Service”

Jiji Only Speaks When He’s Alone with Kiki

As the title suggests, this is a “story of a witch,” so we are not at all bothered by her flying on a broom or being able to talk to a cat. The people in that world seem to feel the same way, at least regarding a “witch flying on a broom.” They seem to think it’s unusual, but not something to be shocked about.

So, is “conversing with a cat” also not particularly shocking to them? That’s what we don’t know. The reason is that while there are plenty of scenes where Kiki and Jiji converse, there are almost no scenes where others witness it.

The almost only scene where others see them conversing is on the night Kiki leaves home. When Jiji recommends her mother’s broom, saying “I think that’s better, too,” Kiki replies, “Traitor!” and the people around them see this.

However, the people in the new town never once see Kiki and Jiji having a conversation. In fact, they hardly pay any attention to Jiji. One would expect at least a “What a cute cat.” For the record, Osono and her husband, and the old woman who baked the “herring pie” do notice Jiji, but Kiki and Jiji don’t converse. Furthermore, when Osono makes “milk porridge” for a feverish Kiki and says, “For Jiji, too,” Jiji responds with a typical cat’s meow.

Why is this the case?

It feels as though Jiji’s existence is a cleverly constructed device. And an event that speaks to this sort of strangeness about Jiji is “Jiji pretending to be a stuffed animal.”

Jiji, Who Can Perfectly Pretend to be a Stuffed Cat

Upon arriving in the new town, Kiki meets a bakery proprietress named “Osono” that very day and, one way or another, starts a delivery service while living and working at the bakery (what a miracle!). Then, Kiki receives an order from an “admired older sister” to deliver a stuffed cat as a present for her nephew.

In the middle of the delivery, Kiki loses the stuffed animal and, as a last resort, has Jiji pretend to be the toy while she searches for it. Unbelievably, the plan succeeds, and Jiji, despite being played with by a child, perfectly acts the part of a stuffed animal.

Now, everyone. Don’t you think this is impossible?

There is no way a living cat could imitate a stuffed animal. But he did it. Why? When Jiji first sees the stuffed cat, he mutters in a small voice, “It’s me,” which also seems meaningful.

What Happened Before Jiji Stopped Talking

There appear to be two incidents that occurred before Jiji stopped talking. One is the “Herring Pie Incident,” which struck a chord in many people’s hearts.

The other is the “Tombo’s Unlikable Friends Incident.” On the night of the “Herring Pie Incident,” she actually had plans with Tombo, but due to the shock, she falls ill and misses their appointment. Osono’s quick thinking allows Kiki to meet Tombo again, and the two go to see an airship on a “bicycle with a propeller.”

During that ride, the two share a thrilling experience and finally open up and become friends. However, Tombo’s friends who appear there are quite unlikable.

Tombo’s friends, who arrive in a car that is beat-up but still a car, are what you’d call the “cool kids.” They’re sort of like the “unapproachable city folk for a country person” or “people who are not like oneself.” In any case, for Kiki (and for us), those cool kids are just unlikable. And Kiki ends up suffering because she “found herself thinking that way.”

After these two incidents, Jiji suddenly stops talking and seems to have lost interest in Kiki. We somehow accept that this happens, but why did it happen? Why did Jiji stop talking after these two incidents?

The Reason and Meaning Behind Why Jiji Stopped Talking at the End of “Kiki’s Delivery Service”

The Reason Jiji Stopped Talking [Jiji’s True Identity]

Having presented three questions about Jiji up to this point, one interpretation of Jiji that answers all of them is that “Jiji is a stuffed animal to Kiki.”

“It’s helpful to imagine a “little girl talking to her stuffed animal.” Talking to a stuffed animal is, in the end, “talking to oneself,” but it is nonetheless an important dialogue. It’s a process of sharing the joy within you, voicing your complaints, and discovering your own shortcomings. While conversing with the stuffed animal, you are gazing at yourself.

But that is limited to looking at oneself within the scope of “self-solvable problems.” The stuffed animal is merely a “spokesperson for one’s own inner self.” Therefore, if you talk to a stuffed animal about a problem that essentially involves “others who are there,” it will not give you a reply. Because the “solution” does not exist within you.

Thinking this way, the scene of “Jiji perfectly acting as a stuffed animal” and Jiji muttering “It’s me” upon seeing the stuffed cat seem to be conveying to us that “Jiji is a stuffed animal to Kiki.” After Kiki can no longer talk to Jiji, Ursula, whom she met in the forest, comes to visit her. Upon finding Jiji, Ursula also remarks that he “looks just like a stuffed animal.” Indeed, Jiji is a stuffed animal.

After experiencing the “Herring Pie Incident” and the “Tombo’s Unlikable Friends Incident,” Kiki faces a problem that truly involves others for the first time in her life. In other words, she faces a “problem she cannot solve by herself.”

Even if she were to ask Jiji, “Was it the right thing for me to make and deliver that herring pie?” or “Why did I feel this way when I saw Tombo’s friends?” no answer would come back. That answer is something she must find on her own, and her stuffed animal, the spokesperson for her inner self, can no longer help.

To put it simply, Jiji was never speaking human words from the beginning; it was merely Kiki’s inner reflections that she herself could hear.

And Jiji’s stopping to speak represents Kiki’s internal growth, which is something to be celebrated. Thinking this way, the meaning of the ending also becomes clear.

The Meaning of the Ending [Jiji’s Liberation]

I have a memory of feeling quite sad as a child when Jiji just said “Meow~” at the end. However, if you think of it as “Jiji is a stuffed animal to Kiki,” it is only natural that Jiji does not speak, and moreover, it is a wonderful thing. Kiki faces a “problem she cannot solve by herself,” but she nevertheless regains her magical powers and takes a new step forward.

Tombo’s rescue mission was surely Kiki’s “first act of self-reliance.” When she left home, she received her mother’s broom, and when she came to a new town, she met a Bodhisattva-like person named Osono. Kiki has broken free from that “protected position” and has grown into a being who acts on her own power. When such a Kiki saw Jiji at the end, she must have known that she had crossed a line from which she could not return and realized that she “no longer needs Jiji.”

On top of that, she must have felt a sense of gratitude, “thank you,” to the friend who had supported her until then, and thought “good for you” upon seeing “Jiji, who was able to return from being a stuffed animal to a cat.” After all, he had supported her a great deal (Jiji finding a partner probably also signifies that Jiji’s role as a “stuffed animal” has ended and he is returning to being a “cat”).

In other words, that ending depicts “the growth of a girl who was able to part with her stuffed animal, her gratitude to the stuffed animal that supported her, and the liberation of Jiji, who had finished his role as a stuffed animal“

The “problem of Jiji not talking in the end,” which felt somewhat sad when I was little, I now think was a pretty refreshing, good ending.