"Kiki's Delivery Service" (魔女の宅急便), Original Japanese Video / LaserDisc Promotional Poster 1990, Rare, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) N270

This is a rare original Japanese B2 promotional poster produced for the first domestic video and LaserDisc releases of Hayao Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便) in 1990.

This is not a theatrical-release poster. It was created specifically to advertise the film’s arrival on Japanese home video following its enormously successful 1989 cinema release. The dates printed prominently along the lower margin announce:

「ビデオ ’90年1月1日発売　ディスク ’90年1月25日発売」
“Video released 1 January 1990; LaserDisc released 25 January 1990.”

The VHS and Betamax editions were issued on 1 January 1990, followed by the Japanese LaserDisc on 25 January. The releases were handled through Tokuma Shoten, Tokuma Japan and Tokuma Communications, with the LaserDisc carrying catalogue number TKLO-50001.

Posters of this type were supplied to video retailers, record shops and electronics stores for temporary commercial display. They were never standard consumer merchandise, and comparatively few survived once their brief promotional purpose had ended.

Film background

Released theatrically in Japan on 29 July 1989, Kiki’s Delivery Service was written, produced and directed by Hayao Miyazaki for Studio Ghibli. It was adapted from the children’s novel by Eiko Kadono, with music by Joe Hisaishi and songs by Yumi Arai.

The story follows Kiki, a thirteen-year-old witch who leaves home as part of her traditional year of independent training. Accompanied by her black cat Jiji, she settles in the coastal city of Koriko and establishes an airborne delivery service. Her experiences gradually become a sensitive exploration of independence, work, loneliness, creative uncertainty and renewed self-confidence.

The Japanese voice cast includes Minami Takayama as Kiki, Rei Sakuma as Jiji, Kappei Yamaguchi as Tombo and Keiko Toda as Osono. The film’s emotional honesty and richly imagined European setting helped establish it as one of Studio Ghibli’s most enduring and internationally beloved works.

Poster design

The design adapts one of the film’s most expansive original campaign images. Kiki and Jiji soar above a magnificent coastal town on their broomstick, accompanied by a flock of white seabirds. Kiki’s red bow, radio and delivery bag provide brilliant points of colour against the green landscape, blue waterways and terracotta rooftops below.

The breathtaking aerial perspective conveys the freedom and exhilaration of flight while simultaneously emphasizing the enormous new world Kiki must learn to navigate. The landscape recalls the Scandinavian locations that influenced the design of Koriko, particularly the historic coastal environments of Visby and Stockholm.

At the upper right appears the restrained red title:

「宮崎駿監督作品　魔女の宅急便」
“A film directed by Hayao Miyazaki—Kiki’s Delivery Service.”

Across the lower portion is the film’s celebrated Japanese tagline:

「おちこんだりもしたけれど、私はげんきです。」
“There have been times when I felt discouraged, but I’m doing well.”

Created by copywriter Shigesato Itoi, the line captures the emotional centre of Kiki’s journey: resilience not as effortless optimism, but as the ability to recover from loneliness and self-doubt.

The unusually discreet typography allows the spectacular aerial image to dominate, while the dedicated video and LaserDisc release information along the bottom identifies this as the original 1990 home-entertainment promotional issue.

Condition

This poster is in Very Good+ condition and presents excellently.

Please refer to the detailed photographs of both the front and verso of the exact poster offered for sale.

It is over 35 years old.

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.