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Harem trash. The setup, which at first seems interesting and unusual in the main character's early and severe downfall, soon turns out to just be pretense. The female harem 'characters' (if you can even call them that) don't have personality that extends beyond loving the main character and being excited about food.
Also, it doesn't really seem to matter what kind of animal the main character takes into his party, it is going to magically evolve into a demi-human harem girl. Why, you ask? No reason. Just the writer peddling to otakus who have never had a real conversation with a woman and who like ... to escape into fantasy worlds where girls constantly throw themselves at them just to cuddle their ego.

The main character is slow to adjust and to act in an emotionally intelligent way. He gets by because he magically always has the proper tool at hand to solve whatever situation presents itself in front of him. Yet, he always gets screwed by the evil conspirators messing with him, just for fun. Despite them needing him to save their world.
Sounds nonsensical? That's because it is. The only way to rate this abomination higher than 4/10 is to have no expectations of good writing.

"Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know. It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans. And that’s why the industry is full of otaku!"

It's anime like this that make me share Hayao Miyazaki's sentiment. While I wouldn't say that his works are perfect, at least he wrote characters that are realistic, relatable and have feelings and ambitions beyond "I want MC to marry me".

In a way, I consider this film perfection. The qualities I mainly appreciate about Hayao Miyazaki's works are focused on the most and to the highest level here.
Together with 'Totoro' and 'Ponyo', it's one of the films best-suited for children, even very young ones, and it's the film I most recommend to parents to watch with their children. That being said, I first watched it when I was 20 years old, and enjoyed it immensely from the first second to the last, so it's not at all less suitable for adults than for children, unless you are the kind of person who absolutely needs ... conflict and fights in fiction.

This review focuses on how I see 'Majo no Takkyuubin' relative to Hayao Miyazaki's other work and anime in general, and while I try to not make overly specific statements, there might be minor spoilers somewhere. So if you haven't seen all of his films yet, you might want to skip this review.

Ever since before the creation of Studio Ghibli, core themes of Hayao Miyazaki's work have been highlighting the senselessness of humanity's egoistic struggle and having main characters stray very far from this tendency, acting from a brighter vision of kindness and understanding for all sides.
In my interpretation, these are two different feelings that Miyazaki expresses within his work: despair and hope. He tries very hard to balance them well, and out of the intention to not have unrealistically sweet and hopeful endings, there is usually some kind of bittersweet and ambivalent ending.

In many of Miyazaki's films, for example 'Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä' and 'Mononoke Hime', the protagonists Nausicaä and Ashitaka often had to fight in order to act according to their goals and visions. However, they were not warriors at heart, but problem-solvers wanting to help others, and fighting was something they avoided whenever possible and reasonable.

In 'Majo no Takkyuubin', the element of fighting and struggle against one another is barely present, which leaves a lot of time to focus on the element of hope and a vision of a brighter future.
More than anything else, Kiki is hopeful. For her, her year spent working by herself is not a chore, but an opportunity that she feels enthusiastic and excited about. Yet, this positivity is not exaggerated to the point of feeling unrealistic, as shows within the many scenes in which her high hopes are disappointed by the people and the world around her.
These scenes make Kiki a very believable protagonist that is easy to identify with, which is apparently no easy feat – in most non-Miyazaki animes, I find nearly all the characters unrealistic and can't find myself empathizing with them.

A very beautiful point is that a couple of times, when Kiki feels disappointed and lost, it's the act of seeing others in need and helping them without a second thought that creates new, fulfilling opportunities for herself.
Some other people recognize her helpful, kind nature and cherish her for that, which creates very warm interactions that never feel forced, but very natural and life-like.
Even that is only a tendency though, and the examples where others react to Kiki's kindness in a less warm way give a valuable contrast as they enrich Kiki's character by showing how she reacts to that emotionally.

'Majo no Takkyuubin' is, to me, primarily a film about learning by doing. Learning to embrace yourself and your talents within a world that largely runs on a different clock.
Learning to live in the moment and to move out of your comfort zone in little steps.
Learning how to interact with others in a kind, but not self-sacrificing way, and recognizing people for who they are.

'Majo no Takkyuubin' does what it aims to do with perfection, in my eyes more so than any other anime I have seen. The visuals are masterful and astounding, and the soundtrack not only blends in perfectly, but also adds to a very distinct atmosphere that at times can be described as a sort of blissful melancholy.

The only thing holding me back from giving a perfect overall score is that the film doesn't dare to move into any controversial or more difficult subjects, which would have made it more of a challenge to reach perfection in a holistic way.
I reserve perfect scores for works of art that accomplish just that, bringing concepts that lie within the dark, unexplored or taboo areas into the light in an integrative new story, and do so in the highest form without any flaws.

For a film that doesn't aim there and just wants to present a positive, beautiful story that you can take lessons from (if you want to) or simply enjoy for what it is, regardless of age, 'Majo no Takkyuubin' is as good as it gets.