Kiki takes flight once again: novel that inspired Studio Ghibli's cult film gets a sequel (after 33 years of waiting)

Kiki returns after 33 years, with an official sequel: "Kiki and the New Magic", the new chapter in the novel popularized by Studio Ghibli, is about to be released. Growing up, mastering magic and taking on new challenges, discover the sequel to Miyazaki's classic.

After 33 years of waiting, the world of "Kiki the Little Witch" is finally about to expand. Delacorte Press has announced the publication of "Kiki and the New Magic" in English, the official sequel to Eiko Kadono's original novel. First published in Japan in 1993, the book has never before been translated. The international release is scheduled for August 25, 2026, a historic moment for fans of the saga.

Adult Kiki: between success and new uncertainties

The story picks up a year after the events that marked the emancipation of the young witch Kiki, also the heroine of the film adaptation "Kiki the Little Witch" directed by Hayao Miyazaki. In this new chapter, Kiki is no longer the inexperienced teenager who leaves home to learn to live on her own, but a figure now recognized and appreciated by the community thanks to her flying delivery service.

Success doesn't make life any easier, however: the heroine must now deal with growing responsibilities, doubts about her future and a central question that runs through the whole novel: what direction should her own identity take?

A new magic between evolution and introspection

According to the official synopsis, the novel remains faithful to the series' founding themes of friendship, courage and personal initiation, while introducing a new, more complex and symbolic dimension of magic. Kiki will have to learn to tame a different form of magic, less immediate and more intimately linked to self-awareness.

The book, illustrated by Yuta Onoda and translated by Emily Balistrieri, will be published in several formats: paper, ebook and audio book. The publisher intends to preserve the delicacy of the original story, while adapting it to a global audience that has continued to grow with Studio Ghibli's poetic universe.

The return of a global animation icon

The timeless success of the 1989 film has made Kiki one of the most beloved heroines of Japanese animation. Her story has won over entire generations thanks to the way it tells, with rare emotional realism, of learning about life, loneliness and the quest for one's place in the world.

At a time when Studio Ghibli continues to bring its legacy to life through new projects and reissues, the arrival of this sequel goes beyond a simple editorial operation: It marks a symbolic return to one of the most emblematic figures in its narrative universe. With the return of Kiki, one question remains: will this new novel manage to preserve the delicate, universal magic that made the original work immortal? After more than three decades, readers are about to find out.