Cart
0
The Movie Room · a Living Undefeated resource
Which Studio Ghibli film has no death in it?
This one. Nobody dies in Kiki's Delivery Service, nobody is ill, and no parent is lost — which is rarer in that catalog than almost anyone expects, and it is the reason this page exists.
Why that question matters
Because Studio Ghibli is what a well-meaning friend recommends to a family with a grieving child, and the recommendation is often wrong. My Neighbor Totoro has a mother seriously ill in hospital for its whole length and a child feared drowned in the last act. Grave of the Fireflies is a film about two children starving to death. Spirited Away has a child's parents transformed and at risk. Howl's Moving Castle opens with a curse of sudden old age.
None of those are bad films. They are the wrong films to put on without warning in a house where somebody has just died, and a parent reaching for the gentle option deserves to know which one is actually the gentle option.
What it is
A 1989 animated feature written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki for Studio Ghibli, adapted from Eiko Kadono's novel. One hundred and three minutes. Kiki is thirteen, and the custom in her family is that a young witch leaves home for a year to find somewhere that needs her. She lands in a seaside city, has no skill except flying, and starts a delivery business out of a baker's spare room.
Who this is wrong for, and when
Two honest notes. There is an airship accident near the end with a boy in genuine danger — he is fine, but a small child may need a hand through it. And there is a stretch in the middle where Kiki loses her ability to fly and cannot explain why. It is one of the most accurate depictions of a flat, frightening low that animation has produced, and an adult currently in one may find it recognizable rather than comforting. For most viewers that section is the best thing in the film.
Why it is on this list
Because a bereaved family needs somewhere safe to start, and this is it. It is slow in the way that lets a room settle, it is beautiful enough to hold an adult who is not really watching, and it is about ordinary work being the thing that brings a person back — which is closer to how it actually goes than most films are willing to be.
If a child in your house is going to watch one animated film this month and you cannot face vetting it yourself, make it this one.
If this one is not right for you
Paddington 2 — the live-action equivalent, and just as safe.
Hidden Figures — for an older child in the room.
Up — only once you have read the warning on its page.
Where to watch it
Start with your library. hoopla and Kanopy both carry Ghibli titles in many systems, free with a library card. It otherwise sits on Max in the United States and on Netflix in much of the rest of the world. Both the subtitled and dubbed versions are good; for a child, use the dub.
We make nothing from any of these links. There are no affiliate links anywhere on this site and there never will be.
Back to the room
The Movie Room — one hundred films, sorted by what the evening needs.
How to tell if a charity deserves your money
We publish the test we use on ourselves, including the parts we do not pass yet. Read it here.
If tonight is bad
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988, any time, anywhere in the United States.
Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741.
These are never behind a form on this site and never will be.
Before you give to anyone
How to tell if a charity deserves your money
We wrote down the checklist we use. Before we send a dollar anywhere, we run the organization through CharityWatch, the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Charity Navigator and Candid. It is one page, and it works on any charity — including this one.
Read the checklist — freeOn the site, right now. Nothing to fill in and no email needed.
Start here — free, no sign-up
Guide one · 7 pages
A Reason to Get Up
Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, and what that book can and cannot do for you after somebody dies. Who Frankl actually was, what he actually argued, and the famous quote that is not his.
Download the guide — freePDF, 7 pages. Nothing to fill in, no email, no ask attached to it.
Three more, if you want them
These are the books we read and the things we did after we lost Austin. Not advice and not therapy — an honest account of what helped us, and what the research actually says about each of it. Every statistic in them carries a source and a year.
Guide two · 9 pages
The Circling
The Power of Now, and what is actually happening when you cannot stop going over it. Includes the part no grief guide prints: meditation is not risk-free, and who should be careful.
Guide three · 11 pages
Give It Away
Why doing something for somebody else, expecting nothing back, appears to do something for you. With a verified list of places that will take you this week, and the ones that will ask you to wait a year.
Guide four · 16 pages
The First Year
The practical one. What actually has to be done, what the months afterward really look like, and fifty things that might help — each one labeled for whether there is evidence behind it.
If tonight is bad
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. Free, confidential, 24 hours a day, anywhere in the US. You do not have to be in immediate danger to use it.
Crisis Text Line. Text HOME to 741741.
Veterans Crisis Line. Dial 988 then press 1, or text 838255.
If there is an immediate danger to life, call 911.
