Title: My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ, Tonari no Totoro)
Type: film/anime
Creator: Hayao Miyazaki
Animators: Studio Ghibli
Studio: Studio Ghibli
Language of Origin: Japanese
Version Reviewed: Japanese voice with English subtitles
Genre: fantasy/adventure
Release Year: 1988
Recommended Age: all ages
Number of Episodes: -
Length: ~87 minutes
Voice Actors: Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi, Hitoshi Takagi
Main Characters: Satsuki, Mei, Mr. Kusakabe, Totoro
** SPOILERS! BEWARE!!! **
Synopsis:
Satsuki and her younger sister, Mei, move into an old house in a village with their father, Mr. Kusakabe. The mother of the children is staying at a hospital nearby, admitted for some kind of sickness. These four characters make up the Kusakabe family.
The sisters excitedly explore their new house and the surrounding area. Satsuki directs the attention of Mei and her father to a huge tree outside. Mr. Kusakabe tells his daughter that it is a camphor tree. The children gleefully run toward the house repeating "Camphor tree! Camphor tree!" Inside the house, they spot an acorn on the floor. A different acorn drops to the floor beside Mei, apparently from the ceiling. The children show the acorns to their father. He suggests there are squirrels in the house.
The sister's father then tasks them with opening up the kitchen (the door is locked). Satsuki unlocks the door, and the children are startled by a "bunch of black things" that scatter and disappear when the light hits them.
Mr. Kusakabe says the black things are dust bunnies. Mei has another encounter with the mysterious black things, traps one of them between her hands and runs around frantically.
While running around, Mei bumps into an old woman on the main floor. Mr. Kusakabe introduces the woman as "Nanny". She is looking after the house. Nanny says the black things are "soot spreaders", and that she saw them when she was young. The old woman also says the soot spreaders breed in empty houses, and will soon leave if the girls keep smiling.
As the family settles into their new home, laughing and smiling into the night, the dustbunnies silently leave without anyone inside taking notice. The mysterious black things float up to the top of the huge camphor tree outside.
With the arrival of a new day, the family sets out by bicycle to visit the mother at the hospital. They arrive, and Satsuki, Mei, and their mother briefly talk about ghosts and their new "haunted" house.
On the bicycle ride back, there is a conversation about the mother returning home soon.
The following scene transitions to another morning. Satsuki makes food for herself, Mei, and their father. They all sit down and share a meal together, when a friend interupts and calls out for Satsuki from outside of the house. Satsuki gets up and runs off to school with her friend, leaving Mei and their father home. Mei goes on an adventure outside of the house and collects acorns, while her father works in the house. Mei sees a small, semi-transparent white creature, smaller than her. The creature doesn't appear to realize it's visible to Mei, and walks directly in front of her, and then past her. Mei follows it.
The small, almost invisible creature disappears completely on the path towards Mei's house, then reappears with solid white-colored fur, and runs away from Mei. Mei gives chase. The creature escapes by retreating under the house. As Mei waits for the target of her curiosity to come out, a slightly bigger, similar-looking creature, with blue-colored fur, sneaks past and away in the background, along with the other white-colored escapee.
Mei sees them, and so the chase begins again. The blue-colored furry creature is carrying a bag, and acorns are falling out of it as they run.
Mei follows the furry pair through a hole in some bushes, deep into a forest, over rocks, and along a path. Up onto a tree, Mei loses sight of them. She finds a hole in the tree, far up the winding roots, and an acorn stuck there. She reaches for it, but tumbles into the trunk and down a passageway, where she then lands on a patch of grass on the ground.
Mei is dazed from the fall and landing. When she comes to, she is greeted with the view of something large, gray, and furry. Mei decides to investigate. The gray thing moves, rolls over, and shows itself to be a larger version of the creatures Mei had followed. It is sleeping. Mei, now atop the creature's belly, naively asks it if it's a big dust bunny. It responds with a loud roar. She decides he's "Totoro". The two seem to understand each other and get along, and Mei ends up falling asleep on Totoro's chest.
Back at home, Satsuki returns from school, and asks her father where Mei is. Mr. Kusakabe is unsure, and they commence a search for her. Satsuki finds Mei's hat at the entrance to a small hole in the bushes nearby, and calls out to her father to let him know what she's found. Satsuki enters the hole and follows a tunnel. She finds Mei sleeping on the ground. Mei is shaken awake by her sister, and scolded for sleeping in the bushes. Mei is confused and asks where Totoro is.
Mei explains that Totoro was there. Satsuki asks if Mei is talking about the troll from Mei's picture book. The youngest of the two sisters nods agreeingly, and then goes on to describe Totoro as she clearly remembers her meeting with the large gray creature, the smaller blue one, and the white one. Mr. Kusakabe crawls into frame finding the two sisters in "a great hiding place". Satsuki explains to her father that Mei claims she saw a totoro, and Mei takes off running shouting "It's this way." The three of them cannot seem to find the totoro, and Mei gets upset when she thinks her sister and father don't believe her. Mei's father says she must have met the king of the forest, and that she is very lucky to have seen him because he doesn't come out often. Mr. Kusakabe suggests they all head to the shrine to pay their respects.
At the shrine, Satsuki points to a large camphor tree. Mei is certain this is the tree she encountered earlier that led to Totoro. On closer inspection, the hole leading to Totoro is closed. Mr. Kusakabe comments that he told them "he doesn't come to see us often", referring to what he'd said before about the king of the forest, and that Satsuki may get to see him if she's lucky. Their father stares in awe at the great tree, saying that it must have stood there for many years and that "Trees and people used to be good friends." He says that he saw the tree and that's why he decided to buy their new-old home. The family playfully race back home.
Before bed, after the day's adventures, Satsuki writes a letter to her mother about Mei's story of Totoro. Satsuki wishes to see the creature herself soon.
Kanta, a boy living in the same village as the Kusakabe family, and attending the same class as Satsuki, is shown to be interested in Satsuki from afar.
Midway through a school day, Mei insists on being with her sister, and Nanny brings her to the school.
Satsuki's teacher lets Mei sit next to her sister in the classroom. The teacher instructs everyone to be nice to her because her mother is in the hospital. Mei occupies herself in class by drawing a totoro. Everyone seems to enjoy Mei.
When classes finish, Satsuki and Mei get caught in the rain on the way home. They stop at a small shrine with a small roof covering, and make a prayer to the Guardian Spirit to let them stay until the rain stops.
Kanta, walking down the same path with an umbrella, sees the sisters at the shrine. Kanta drops his umbrella in front of Satsuki, and runs away before saying anything. The sisters make their way back home with Kanta's umbrella shielding them from the downpour.
At home, they eat, and then leave again to meet their father at the bus stop with umbrellas. On the way, they stop by Kanta's house to return his umbrella. Kanta sees Satsuki walking up the path to his house. His shyness takes over and he hides inside the house. Satsuki returns the umbrella to Kanta's mother, then is off again with Mei to meet their father.
At the bus stop, time passes, and while waiting for her father to arrive, Mei becomes very tired. Satsuki takes notice and picks Mei up on her back. Mei falls asleep. Totoro appears and Satsuki is shocked to see the large fuzzy gray creature standing beside her. She asks the creature if he is Totoro and his groan-response confirms to her that he is. She offers Totoro her father's umbrella as better protection from the rain than the leaf Totoro has on his head.
Totoro is confused by the umbrella, and Satsuki instructs the creature to hold it above his head.
Totoro likes the sound of rain on his new umbrella, so the fuzzy giant jumps and the impact of the landing makes more rain fall from above, waking Mei. The rain then stops. Soon after, Totoro's bus arrives. It is a living, cat-shaped bus, a catbus. Totoro gives Satsuki and Mei a small gift wrapped in bamboo, then boards the catbus and it darts off into the night. Satsuki and Mei are bewildered.
Mr. Kusakabe arrives on a normal bus moments later, and apologizes for being late. The children hug their father and burst into details about Totoro and Catbus. Then, the three family members go home.
That night, in another letter to her mother, Satsuki writes about her excitement over the day's events. And about the bamboo-wrapped package given to them by Totoro. Inside the wrapping are "magic nuts and seeds!" They "decided to plant them in the garden to make a lovely forest."
The seeds do not sprout immediately, however. The children wait with great anticipation. One night, Satsuki is awakened by a light shining on her face while she is sleeping in the house. She wakes up Mei when she sees the totoros outside walking around and jumping over the garden. The children rush outside to join them in their ritual. Together they bend and stretch their arms up in the air and down near the ground as if to coax the growing of the seeds. Magically, the seeds quickly sprout and shoot up into the air, growing into a very tall tree.
After the growing is done, Totoro hops on a large, floating, spinning top. With two small totoros, Satsuki and Mei jump and grab onto Totoro's chest, and they fly up, up and away. Totoro flies them over the tops of the trees and all around the countryside.
Mr. Kusakabe appears to hear the totoros and children playing wind instruments atop the trees.
The sisters wake up and the tree is gone, but they find the seeds have sprouted out of the soil. The realization that the evening's happenings were a dream but not a dream has the girls cheering.
During the day, a mailman attempts to deliver a letter to Mr. Kusakabe. Mr. Kusakabe is not there to receive it, and will be home late. Nanny and the children are picking vegetables in a field. Mei picks a head of corn and hangs onto it. Nanny pulls a hanging basket of vegetables out of a cold stream to share with the children. They bite into cucumbers, comment on how delicious the vegetables are, and Nanny says the sun has blessed the food so it is good for them. Satsuki asks if they would help her mother. And Nanny replies with "Of course. If she eats my vegetables, she'll get better right away." The children are excited for their mother's return. Mei talks about giving the corn she is still holding to her mother, and Nanny says that her mother will be pleased.
Kanta runs up to the picnicking group, announcing he's received the letter intended for Mr. Kusakabe. Satsuki opens it with Nanny's approval. The letter reads "Please contact, hospital... " Satsuki jumps to the conclusion that something bad has happened to her mother. They resolve to call Mr. Kusakabe.
Satsuki and Kanta find a phone in a home in the village and call for Mr. Kusakabe. He is reached and says he will call the hospital and then call back. Mei follows Satsuki and Kanta, against the orders of her sister and Nanny, falls behind on the way, and loses sight of them in the village. Mei finds the two walking sadly along a path and catches up with them. Satsuki tells Mei that their mother is not well and she will not be coming home soon. Mei is in denial of the news and very angry at her sister for telling her this. They both take out their frustration on each other and Satsuki flees the emotional scene. Mei begins to cry. Kanta follows Mei as she wails and exits.
Back at home, Satsuki worries aloud to Nanny about the possibility of her mother dying. Nanny does what she can to comfort her, but Satsuki cries. Mei sees her sister crying, and silently resolves to take matters into her own hands by setting off to bring her mother the head of corn, which will heal her and save her from death.
When it is discovered that Mei is missing, Satsuki and Nanny guess that Mei must have left for the hospital. Satsuki hurries to try to locate her sister. Kanta and Nanny work quickly to spread word about the disappearance of the little girl to others.
On her own, Satsuki inquires far and wide without success. Many villagers check a nearby pond, after spotting a child's sandal floating in the water. Kanta bicycles to relay the information about the sandal to Satsuki. Satsuki immediately turns to meet with Nanny and the others at the pond, to confirm whether or not the sandal is Mei's. Nanny shows the sandal to Satsuki, she says that it is not Mei's, and they are relieved.
Desperate, Satsuki dashes off with the idea to ask Totoro for help. She enters the tunnel in the bushes and trips and falls down onto Totoro, who is sleeping. Totoro wakes up. Satsuki weeps on Totoro's belly about her sister's disappearance, and asks for his help.
Totoro reaches up to grab hold of Satsuki, and smiles up at her. He roars, and leaps high up and out of the hole with the girl under his arm. Now outside of his resting place, the fuzzy giant creature, with the sister under his arm, rushes up the trunk of the large tree. At the top of the tree, a deep breath in and a loud roaring exhale signals that a ride is needed. Catbus appears, swiftly making its way across fields and over water to the top of the tree where Totoro and Satsuki await. A door opens on the side of Catbus, and Totoro gestures for Satsuki to enter. She does, and the door closes.
The inside of the catbus is furry and her feet sink into the fur a little, then she sits on a soft seat near the front.
The destination signage on the front of Catbus changes to "MEI", Catbus lets out a meow, and the bus departs.
Mei is found on a path under powerlines that the Catbus is daringly following. Catbus jumps down and the sisters happily reunite.
Satsuki comments about Mei wanting to take the corn to their mother, and Catbus interupts with a meow. The destination signage changes once more to "SHICHIKOKUYAMA HOSPITAL". The children board, and Catbus journeys to the hospital with Satsuki and Mei as passengers.
The scene shifts to a hospital room, where Mr. Kusakabe is speaking with the children's mother. The mother feels it was unnecessary to send a letter "just for a cold." She apologizes to the father for upsetting the family. The father is happy she is okay. Satsuki, Mei, and Catbus are seen in a tree outside the hospital, looking in on the conversation. They, too, are happy the mother is well.
Mr. Kusakabe finds a head of corn left on the windowsill of the hospital room. Satsuki and Mei's mother thinks she sees her children laughing in the trees outside. Mr. Kusakabe thinks that could be true, and shows the mother the head of corn etched with the message: おかあさん; okā'-san.
Satsuki and Mei are taken home by Catbus, and Nanny and Kanta are happy to see them return.
The scenes accompanying the ending credits show Satsuki and Mei's mother coming home, safe and sound.
folium's Thoughts:
Hayao Miyazaki is a well-known, and respected creator inside and outside the industry of anime. Studio Ghibli, the film studio which Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and producer Toshio Suzuki founded in 1985, in Tokyo, Japan, is responsible for many critically acclaimed works.
What is the world through a child's eyes? My Neighbor Totoro visualizes this question. Conclusions to it can be drawn by the gentle overlaying of the abstracted antagonist in the plot. Conflict is created here, not by pitting the characters against totoro, because of obvious differences of appearances or languages, but by intersecting curiosity, innocence, and threats to family. Ghibli positively spins the narrative world with fascination rather than divisiveness.
There is a chain of signifiers connecting layers of concepts present in the film. The seeds represent children and freedom of imagination. Totoro, keepers of the seeds, represent the transition between unconscious and conscious (transparent and opaque, flying and grounded), and they are incubators of imagination. The ritualistic growing of plants could represent the children's defense of their right to grow freely; in the conscious world, that freedom is threatened by their mother's illness. Character ages are symbolistic stages. Mei is fully connected to imagination, without question. Satsuki, older, tempers her beliefs with conscious thought. Mr. Kusakabe and the mother are more connected to the conscious, but are reminded by the unconscious. Nanny reconnects the unconcious and conscious chain.
The music in Totoro, overall, is uplifting, wondrous, and pleasant. The orchestration is well-executed and its placement in the film lightly lifts and guides the viewer along in the adventure (the unexpected and catchy salsa-ish rhythm in the chorus of the outro song may leave you humming it from time to time... "Hm-hm-hm hm-hmmm-hm, hm-hm-hm hm-hmmm-hm").
Ghibli wears its inspiration on its sleeve. There are acknowledgements of films produced by other studios internationally, originally released prior to My Neighbor Totoro, throughout. One such cue is playing as Mei is entering the tunnel in the bushes that leads to Totoro; that initial sequence of music could be heard as a brief rearrangement, evocative of a sequence playing while Alice is falling down the rabbit hole in Walt Disney's 1951 adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland". What's more is totoro bear some resemblance to rabbits, and the white rabbit is a central character in Alice in Wonderland. Mei follows the totoro through a tunnel, much like Alice follows the white rabbit down the hole. Several cues are from a different film, "Mary Poppins", again a Walt Disney adaptation, this from 1964. A nanny character exists in both My Neighbor Totoro and Mary Poppins. The reference continues in Totoro's ability to float/fly, as Mary magically defies gravity, too. And when Satsuki gives Totoro her father's umbrella at the bus stop in the rain, that appears to mirror the key prop and character identifier for Mary Poppins (Mary arrives and is able to float down to the street from the clouds with an umbrella).
My Neighbor Totoro is a film in support of imagination. Its charm and heartfelt fun become more endearing with time and additional viewings.
The sequel to My Neighbor Totoro is Mei and the Kittenbus (めいとこねこバス, Mei to Konekobasu), which came out in 2002 under Studio Ghibli, playing at the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, Japan. Also an anime, it is a short piece that expands on the Totoro world, and has a runtime of ~13 minutes.