What I took away from the film though was its focus on nature and the way it created a consistent and believable village for the setting. The rendering of the elderly characters with large features and blemishes, emphasising the passing of time, seems to be a common aspect of Ghibli movies and, whilst to me they feel grotesquely disproportioned and actually a little frightening, I think the intention is, sometimes, merely to celebrate their age and the wisdom that comes with it. The human characters, at least the elderly ones, appear misshapen, but I get the feeling that this is a cultural dislocation. Part of this comes from Miyazaki’s focus on texture from the soft fur and cavernous mouth of the title creature to the weird, fur-lined interior of the cat. However, whilst it doesn’t have the same sinister undertones and the same sense of threat as ‘Spirited Away’, there is still something disconcerting, something alien about the fantasy elements in the film. There are hints of Lewis Carroll in the creatures and in the plot, the younger sister at one point literally falls down what could be a rabbit hole and there is something distinctly Cheshire-like about Catbus. Totoro in particular has that degree of comical charm, for example when he shelters beneath a ridiculously small umbrella, to give him that feeling of safety and to dispel any feelings of threat towards the children. The creatures in the story, including Totoro itself, a colony of sooty sprites and a giant cat bus, are weird but not creepy in the way that they are in Miyazaki’s 2001 fantasy ‘Spirited Away’.

It’s a magical film, as soft, gentle and charming as Isao Takahata’s ‘Grave of the Fireflies’, another Ghibli movie from the same year, is edgy, profound and unsettling. Her older sister, Satsuki, enlists the help of Totoro and Catbus to help her find Mei and to complete her journey to the hospital. Their mother takes a turn of the worse, so Mei, the youngest of the two sisters, sets out on foot to go to the hospital to take an ear of corn to help her get better but gets hopelessly lost. Once there they explore the village and woodland around their house and discover a variety of spirit creatures including the large and gentle Totoro of the title and a cat who is also a bus. It tells the story of two sisters who, with their father, move to the Japanese countryside to be close to their mother who is in hospital.

‘My Neighbor Totoro’, directed by Hayao Miyazaki in 1988, is a Studio Ghibli animated film for children.

But when you suddenly move from a lighted room to a dark one, you can’t see for a second, and that’s when the dust bunnies come out.” ❉ An appreciation of ‘My Neighbour Totoro’, the heart-warming 1988 cult film from anime giant Studio Ghibli.

My neighbor totoro characters