Tatsuya Endo moved to tears as he revisits book he read as a boy.

The 1989 anime from Studio Ghibli is the most internationally well-known version of Kiki’s Delivery Service, but it’s not the original. Four year’s before the animated film adaptation hit theaters, little witch Kiki made her debut in a novel written by children’s author Eiko Kadano, who’s since penned a total of nine books for the franchise, the most recent of which was published in 2022.

With Kiki’s Delivery Service celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, publisher Fukuinkan Shoten is rereleasing the first six novels, and for the cover of the first volume Kiki is getting a visual redesign from the artist of one of Japan’s most popular manga series.

If you see a little of Spy x Family’s Anya Forger in that spunky smile, your powers of perception are on point, because the illustration comes courtesy of none other than Spy x Family creator Tatsuya Endo. Endo, who was just four years old when the original Kiki’s Delivery Service novel came out, had the following to say about being tapped to draw his own version of the protagonist of a book he read as a boy.

“In preparation for drawing the illustration, I reread [Kiki’s Delivery Service] for the first time since I was in junior high school. At that time I didn’t fully realize just how much warmth and tenderness there is to the story, and as I reread it, I found myself starting to cry. It is truly an honor to be involved with such a wonderful literary work that has been loved for so long, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Fukuinkan Shoten is also rereleasing the original six Kiki’s Delivery Service novels in a box set with their original cover artwork.

Shoppers who purchase the rereleased volumes or box set between February 3 and April 30 can enter a drawing to win one of 100 clear files with an even more expansive version of Endo’s illustration, one that shows the iconic clocktower of the town where Kiki sets up her courier venture.

The Endo-cover edition of the novel will be available for a limited time and goes on sale February 3.

Source, images: PR Times
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