My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ, Tonari no Totoro) is an animated film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten. It premiered alongside Grave of the Fireflies as a double-feature on April 16, 1988.

The film, which is set Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture, tells the story of a professor's two young daughters (Satsuki and Mei) and their interactions with friendly wood spirits in post-war rural Japan. It stars the voice actors Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, and Hitoshi Takagi.

My Neighbor Totoro received critical acclaim and has amassed a worldwide cult following in the years after its release. It won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize and the Mainichi Film Award and Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film in 1988. It also received the Special Award at the Blue Ribbon Awards in the same year.

The film and its titular character, Totoro, have become cultural icons. The film has grossed over $41 million at the worldwide box office as of September 2019, in addition to generating approximately $277 million from home video sales and $1.142 billion from licensed merchandise sales, adding up to approximately $1.46 billion in total lifetime revenue.

In 2002, a sequel for the film, Mei and the Kittenbus, was released exclusively for Ghibli Museum.

Poster Catchphrase

 * "This strange creature is still in Japan. Maybe." (このへんな生きものは まだ日本にいるのです. たぶん. )
 * "Pure feelings forever." (純粋な気持ちいつまでも. )

The Village in May
In 1950s Japan, university professor Tatsuo Kusakabe and his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei, move into an old house to be closer to the hospital where their mother Yasuko is recovering from a long-term illness. Satsuki and Mei find that the house is inhabited by tiny animated dust creatures called Sootballs - small, dark, dust-like house spirits seen when moving from light to dark places. When the girls become comfortable in their new house and laugh with their father, the soot spirits leave the house to drift away on the wind. It is implied that they are going to find another empty house- their natural habitat.

A Haunted House!
One day, Mei sees two white, rabbit-like ears in the grass and follows the ears under the house. She discovers two small magical creatures who lead her through a briar patch and into the hollow of a large camphor tree. She meets and befriends a larger version of the same kind of spirit, which identifies itself by a series of roars that she interprets as Totoro. She falls asleep atop the large Totoro, but when Satsuki finds her, she is on the ground in a dense briar clearing. Despite her many attempts, Mei is unable to show her family Totoro's tree. Her father comforts her by telling her that this is the keeper of the forest, and that Totoro will reveal himself when he wants to.

Let's Go to the Hospital
One rainy day, the girls are waiting for father's bus and grow worried when he does not arrive on the bus they expect him on. As they wait, Mei eventually falls asleep on Satsuki's back and Totoro appears beside them, allowing Satsuki to see him for the first time. He only has a leaf on his head for protection against the rain, so Satsuki offers him the umbrella she had taken along for the father. Totoro is delighted as both the shelter and the sounds made upon it by falling raindrops. In return, he gives her a bundle of nuts and seeds. A bus-shaped giant cat (known as the Catbus) halts at the stop, and Totoro boards it, taking the umbrella. Shortly after, their father's bus arrives.

A Huge Tree in the Tsukamori Forest
The girls plant the seeds. A few days later, they awaken at midnight to find Totoro and his two miniature colleagues engaged in a ceremonial dance around the planted nuts and seeds. The girls join in, whereupon the seeds sprout and then grow and combine into an enormous tree. Totoro takes his colleagues and the girls for a ride on a magical flying top. In the morning, the tree is gone, but the seeds have indeed sprouted.

The girls find out that a planned visit by Yasuko has to be postponed because of a setback in her treatment. Satsuki, disappointed and worried, tells Mei the bad news, which Mei does not take well. This leads into an argument between the two, ending in Satsuki angrily yelling at Mei and stomping off. Mei decides to walk to the hospital to bring some fresh corn to her mother.

Mei is Missing
Mei's disappearance prompts Satsuki and the neighbors to search for her. Eventually, Satsuki returns in desperation to the camphor tree and pleads for Totoro's help. Delighted to be of assistance, he summons the Catbus, which carries her to where the lost Mei sits. Having rescued her, the Catbus then whisks her and Satsuki over the countryside to see their mother in the hospital. The girls perch in a tree outside of the hospital, overhearing a conversation between their parents and discovering that she has been kept in hospital by a minor cold and is otherwise doing well. They secretly leave the ear of corn on the windowsill, where it is discovered by the parents, and return home on the Catbus. When the Catbus departs, it disappears from the girls' sight.

In the end credits, Mei and Satsuki's mother returns home, and the sisters play with other children, with Totoro and his friends as unseen observers.

Characters

 * Satsuki Kusakabe
 * Noriko Hidaka (Japanese)
 * The eldest daughter of the Kusakabe family. She wears a pale yellow sleeveless dress. Miyazaki originally planned for her to be 10-year-old fourth grader, but was changed to a 12-year-old sixth grader.


 * She is friendly and easy to get along with. She's dependable and cares deeply for her sister Mei. She does household chores on behalf of her overworked father, and has a curious and ecstatic demeanor. She has a delicate nature when thinking about her hospital-ridden mother, particularly after receiving a telegram that her condition was getting worse. She meets Totoro while looking for Mei, and encounters him again while standing in the rain. She shows little fear or hesitation when seeing the Catbus appear before her. Although raised in the city, she has no qualms moving to the countryside.


 * Mei Kusakabe
 * Chika Sakamoto (Japanese)
 * The second daughter of the Kusakabe family. Only 4-years old. She wears a white shirt with a collar, a dark pink sleeveless dress, and yellow shoes. Her outfit changes towards the end, and she wears a light pink sleeveless dress and red sandals as summer clothes.


 * In contrast to her hard-working sister Satsuki, Mei has a stubborn personality and carefree personality. She sometimes quarrel with her older sister, and tends to follow her lead out of loneliness and boredom. She doesn't attend kindergarten, and is often left at the care of her grandmother's home. She is naturally curious, which leads her to notice and follow the small-sized Totoros. The climax of the film finds her getting lost as she heads to her mother at the hospital. She is found thanks to the efforts of Totoro, Satsuki and the Catbus.


 * Her name came from the english name of "May".


 * Tatsuo Kusakabe
 * Shigesato Itoi (Japanese)
 * Satsuki and Mei's father. Height 180 cm, 32-years old. He works at a university in Tokyo, and teaches archeology as a part-time lecturer and also does translation work (mainly Chinese) to earn a living. He has a habit of oversleeping, and is a little sloppy and unreliable, but is kind and calm. He said that he dreamed of living in a haunted house since he was little.


 * Being an adult, he has never met Totoro, but he does not doubt the sightings of his two daughters and considers him the Lord of the Tsukamori Tree. Actor Issey Ogata was originally going to play the character but had to turn down the role for various reasons. Itoi, who was in charge of casting and promotions, then played the role himself. Itoi would later be in charge of coining Ghibli movie poster catchphrases.


 * In the novelization by Giko Kubo, there is a scene where he sings Miyako Tsuzo Yayoi, suggesting that he is from Hokkaido University.


 * Yasuko Kusakabe
 * Sumi Shimamoto (Japanese)
 * Satsuki and Mei's mother. She has a personality. She was taken to the Nanakuniyama Hospital. The production memorandum stated she was "hospitalized due to illness in the chest", however, her disease was not directly stated in the film. She recovers from her illness by the end of the film.


 * Totoro (Large Totoro)
 * Hitoshi Takagi (Japanese)
 * A creature described to by the 'lord of the forest', Totoro has lived for thousands of years, and lives in the giant camphor tree. According to Miyazaki, Totoro is an animal, not a spirit. He coat is colored gray, and he usually sleeps under the Ochs tree in Tsukamori. He is only visible to children.
 * He has the power to quickly grow freshly sown seeds and can fly on a spinning top. He blows on an ocarina during moonlit nights. He also borrows Satsuki's father's umbrella while waiting with her during a rainy day at the bus stop.
 * The name "Totoro" is not derived from folklore, and when Mei asks for his name, he replies with a thick voice, "Duo, Duo, Volo" (ドゥオ、ドゥオ、ヴォロー). Mei interprets this as "Totoro".
 * Totoro's real name is "Miminzuku" and is 1,302 in age. He is two meters in height.


 * Catbus
 * Naoki Tatsuta (Japanese)
 * A huge male cat whose body is like a bonnet bus. The part corresponding to the bonnet is the head, and his torso is hollow and filled with seats covered with soft fur. His eyes are headlights, and had mice on both sides of his head as marker lamps.

Work Motif
Despite the film's original proposal stating it was set in 30th year of the Showa era (1952 and 1958 in calendar dates), Miyazaki stated that he 'had no specific era in mind'. Miyazaki stated that his film was set in an "era without the development of television" and that it could possibly have taken place in 1953.

Miyazaki, who once studied animation at Seiseki Sakuragaoka, a hilly area that would go on to inspire the locations seen in Whisper of the Heart, decided to set the film at Tokorozawa, a western Saitama city. According to The Place Where Totoro Was Born, Art Director Kazuo Oga cited that his backgrounds were inspired by a variety of locations, including his hometown of Akita and Sayama Hills in Saitama. Additionally, the name "Jinya Inn" (元湯・陣屋), a hot springs inn run by a relative of Miyazaki at Tsurumaki Onsen in Kanagawa Prefecture, is mentioned in the film. Following the release of the film, Miyazaki became deeply involved in the "Totoro no Mori" (トトロの森, part of the Foundation of Totoro no Furusato) conservation movement in the Sayama Hills since the 1990's.

Totoro Name
The origin of the name "Totoro" is said to have come from a girl acquainted with Miyazaki who pronounced Tokorozawa as "Totorozawa". The prototype of Totoro was also derived from author Kenji Miyazawa's "Donguri to Yamaneko" (ととろざわ). Totoro itself was said to be inspired by Japanese folklore involving trolls / goblins.

Relationship with Sayama Hills
Some of the named locations in the film are based on Sayama Hills, located near Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture, all the way to Higashimurayama City, Tokyo. Additionally, in the film, a box with a sticker of "Sayama Tea" appears when the Kusakabe family moved into their new home.


 * Matsugō, Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture (埼玉県所沢市松郷)
 * The place name near the Urawa Tokorozawa Bypass Matsugo intersection in the eastern part of Tokorozawa City is said to have become a model of "Matsugo" where the Kusakabe family lives.
 * Ushinuma, Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture (埼玉県所沢市牛沼)
 * The name of the district adjacent to Matsugo, Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture, is used as a model for the destination "Ushinuma" displayed on the cat bus.

Thanks to the film's success and enduring popularity, public interest towards the conservation effort by the Foundation of Totoro no Furusato has helped them acquire and preserve the greenery of Sayama Hills. Hayao Miyazaki is part of the organization's advisory board.

Development
My Neighbor Totoro began life in the 1970's while Hayao Miyazaki was working at Telecom Animation. He drew early image boards of 5-year-old girl who had a similar design to Mei, but the personality of Satsuki. Totoro was originally intended to be published as a children's picture book, but as proposals for the film slowly developed, the main character was changed to be two sisters. In the meantime, early concept the original protagonist was later used in various media such as the cover for the novelization and theater pamphlet. It was around this same time period that a proposal for a TV special of Totoro was turned down. Several concepts were then reincorporated by Miyazaki when creating the scenario for Panda! Go, Panda! (1972) while working at A Production.

For the poster for the film's theatrical release (which was subsequently used in its home releases and program introduction to Nippon TV's Friday Road SHOW!), a design featuring Satsuki and Mei lined up with Totoro was considered. Due to varying issues, the concept illustration of a girl standing beside Totoro in a rainy bus stop was used.

During a special retrospective program in July 2008, Toshio Suzuki recalls that Grave of the Fireflies was originally planned to be 60 minutes, but was extended to 90 minutes. Suzuki then fought to extend Totoro to 80 minutes or longer. Miyazaki warned him that extending the film by 20 minutes would only be enough to have a single protagonist, and that having the film be about two sisters would require far more screen time. Additionally, according to Miyazaki, he was initially worried as to how the young protagonist would met Totoro, so he came up with two scenes - one where he encounters him at rainy bus stop and the other in daytime at her home.

By December 1, 1986, a planning document revealed that Miyazaki had already conceived of the characters of Satsuki (3rd-grade elementary school student) and Mei (a 5-year old) as sisters.

Original Story Proposal
In a panel featuring Mamoru Oshii (longtime friend of Miyazaki) × Toshio Suzuki (Studio Ghibli's producer) × Nobuo Kawakami (director of Ghost in the Shell), Oshii recalls of Totoro's early plot was, "originally the story of the battle between humans and the Totoro tribe. Set during ancient times, the war led to the defeat of the Totoros. Few Totoros survived, and their descendants eventually settle in modern Tokorozawa, Tokyo." This plot would later be used in Isao Takahata's Pom Poko.

Pre-Production
With My Neighbor Totoro, Hayao Miyazaki knew what he wanted to achieve: a warm film, offering young audiences neither conflict nor confrontation. Yet although Miyazaki first shared his idea in the early 1980s, when it came to putting the story to paper, he didn't find inspiration straight away. The visit to a colleague, shortly before the start of production, would unblock the situation.

After the release of Castle in the Sky, Miyazaki submitted a proposal for Totoro to Tokuma Shoten (Studio Ghibli's parent company at the time) in November 1986. However, its post-war setting, sober subject matter and 60-minute length led to its rejection during a planning meeting. Feature-length animated films were also not yet big hits at the Japanese box office. Financiers and distributors did not believe the story of two little girls and a monster in modern Japan. But producer Toshio Suzuki is convinced of the allure of seeing Totoro animated on the big screen. He shrewdly proposed a simultaneous release of Totoro and Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies; however the proposal was also rejected. Shinchôsha Publishing, who originally released the novel of Grave of the Fireflies, then stepped in and decided to help produce Takahata's film adaptation. They knew that if a film is adapted from one of their novels, schools would be forced to see it for educational purposes. Then, this same audience would then be able to attend the screening of a second film, included in the price of the ticket. Tokuma finally agreed, establishing a joint partnership them and the much larger Shinchôsha.

Production
The very young Studio Ghibli, then two-years old, thus found himself managing and producing two films with seemingly no real commercial appeal at the same time, over a record period of only one year. Two possibilities are then considered: turning over two films six month periods or dividing the studio in two and making the films jointly. The first possibility raises the question of whether the team will be able to direct Takahata's film and then immediately shift to Miyazaki's while managing the staff's energy and enthusiasm. In the end, the second solution was chosen and almost every animator who collaborated on Castle in the Sky, went on to work on My Neighbor Totoro. Only Yoshifumi Kondō who, at Takahata's request, joined the Grave of the Fireflies team as director of animation.

While Takahata's production crew moved into Studio 1 (i.e. the former Castle in the Sky studio), the My Neighbor Totoro team, moved into a second studio a few dozen meters away, in a building under construction. The area was designated as Studio 2, created especially for Miyazaki's production needs. In practice, the conversion of the second studio only began on April 1, 1987, thus requiring staff to temporarily cohabit with the team of Studio 1. Only three tables were installed at Studio 1, one for the Miyazaki, the second for the animation director Yoshiharu Satô, and a last for the director artistic Kazuo Oga. On March 1987, approximately eight months after the release of The Castle in the Sky in Japanese theaters, production of My Neighbor Totoro began. The three men do not know each other very well. Only Oga had previously collaborated with Miyazaki on Panda! Go, Panda! while Totoro was Satô's first project with Miyazaki.

Art director Oga was drawn to the film when Hayao Miyazaki showed him an original image of Totoro standing in a satoyama (里山, defind as the area between mountain foothills and arable flat land). The director challenged Oga to raise his standards. Oga and Miyazaki debated the palette of the film, Oga seeking to paint black soil from Akita Prefecture and Miyazaki preferring the color of red soil from the Kantō region. The ultimate product was described by Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki: "It was nature painted with translucent colors."

The move into Studio 2 finally took place on April 13, 1987 and came with a small inauguration ceremony. On April 14, Miyazaki completed his directing proposal (the content would turn out differently to the final movie) in one day. The next day, he began working on the film's synopsis, a process that lasts eight days. On April 16, he met with Rieko Nakagawa, author of children's books, and asked her to write the lyrics for the opening credits song of the film, Sanpo (Promenade). That same day, he asked Joe Hisaishi to begin composing music for the film.

On April 18, a joint press conference on the two films took place at the Diamond Hotel in Tokyo, officially announcing their proposed release date. Nearly two hundred journalists were in attendance. Some have noted it was the 'most important' press conference for animated films at the time. On April 28, Miyazaki began work on Totoro's storyboard. The film was initially to be split into three 30 minutes parts. Each part would begin with a three minute introduction, bringing the film to a total runtime of 77 minutes. By the end of May, the first drafts of parts A and B were completed. This was around the time when Miyazaki changed the cut of the film to include part D. At the beginning of June 1987, the timing of part A was completed (214 shots for 1,166.5 seconds).

Also in June 1987, Miyazaki announces in an interview that a quarter of production had already been completed. He gives a fairly detailed description of the Totoros and the Catbus and refers to the Totoros as "spirits of nature". By the end of the month, Satô finalized the character designs, and the storyboard of part B was also completed (213 shots for 1,230.5 seconds).

From July 11th and the days that follow, Miyazaki lays out his expectations, important points and feelings to the key facilitators of parts A and B. In the middle of summer, the storyboard of part C was finished (247 shots for 1,213 seconds).

However, the daily progression hoped for by producer Toru Hara was not achieved. To keep a high level of quality throughout the film, he decided to call on other subcontracting studios for the key drawings and other miscellaneous details. Despite the rapid progress of labor, this period proved to be the most challenging. It is for this reason that at the beginning of the fall, the team of Studio 2 left a day for a picnic of "motivation" in the valley of Akikawa. The studio organized this getaway during the week, without warning the subcontracted studios which, for their part, continued their work. “It's a movie to distract people. It is therefore better that the directors experience something pleasant that they will remember later with pleasure ”, explains Miyazaki.

The opening sequence of the film was not storyboarded, Miyazaki said. "The sequence was determined through permutations and combinations determined by the time sheets. Each element was made individually and combined in the time sheets..." Miyazaki has said that Totoro is "not a spirit: he's only an animal. I believe he lives on acorns. He's supposedly the forest keeper, but that's only a half-baked idea, a rough approximation." The character of Mei was modeled on Miyazaki's niece. The storyboard depicts the town of Matsuko as the setting, with the year being 1955; Miyazaki stated that it was not exact and the team worked on a setting "in the recent past".

Final Stretch
At the beginning of October 1987, the first version of the film was screened. Despite the absence of sound and the disorder of the sequences, those who viewed it were satisfied with the result of their work. At the end of the month, Shiba arrived with the test tapes of the actors selected to lend their voices to the characters. The vocal liners of Satsuki Kusakabe, Mei, Mr. and Mrs. Kusakabe were chosen by the end of this meeting.

Towards the end of 1987, the storyboard for part D was completed (276 shots for 1,289 seconds). With the e-konte (storyboards) completed, Miyazaki could finally concentrate on checking the key drawings of the animation. Yasuyoshi Tokuma, president of the Tokuma group, visited Studio 2 at the end of the year to encourage the team.

On December 30, Studio 2 celebrated their last working day of the year at an Iseya restaurant, near Inokashira Park. Most of the team members then went back home to celebrate the New Year. However, workaholics still spent the New Years working. A few went to the local temple to meditate and wish each other happiness and luck. They are sixteen in total, including the animators from Studio 1.

Work resumed on January 4, 1988. Studio 2 was on their last stage of intervals. By mid-January, all that remained to be done were the key drawings of part D. At the end of the month, more and more key animators handed in their work and joined the team of animators. They contributed to the last push of the interval. On February 21, the key drawings for the opening credits were completed. On February 25, the intervals were over. The opening credits, the last job to be done, werealso coming to an end. The work on the animation lasted one hundred and seventy-four days. There remains one last effort on the finish to be done.

To speed up the film's completion, Studio 2 formed, what it affectionately called, the "hand of cats" - a special team made up of three women, working and helping the main team to finish key drawings, intervals, assistance from the animation director, in checking the animation and finishing it.

Dubbing and Test Screening
Sound recording took a long time to complete. Miyazaki spent much this period outside the animation studio, having to sit in during recording sessions, pre-mixing of dialogues and sound effects.

On the 1st April 1988, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the first projection of Totoro is made to Genzosho Tokyo Chofu. The results of a year of intensive work was on display. After attending the test screening presented to the public, Miyazaki returned to Studio 2. The reaction from the adults was very good and the children loved it. He is happy and reassured. During the first screening, the team had reacted quite differently and Miyazaki had not been able to anticipate the reaction of the public. The worries gone, the film is finally over. That same evening, at the nearby Iseya restaurant, the teams celebrated the end of the production and the culmination of all their efforts.

On April 30, the offices of Studio 2 is cleared out. Its role has ended and the two Ghibli Studios becomes one once again.

Poster
In several of Miyazaki's initial conceptual watercolors, as well as on the theatrical release poster and on later home video releases, only one young girl is depicted, rather than two sisters. According to Miyazaki, "If she was a little girl who plays around in the yard, she wouldn't be meeting her father at a bus stop, so we had to come up with two girls instead. And that was difficult."

Release
After writing and filming Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and Castle in the Sky (1986), Hayao Miyazaki began directing My Neighbor Totoro for Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki's production paralleled his colleague Isao Takahata's production of Grave of the Fireflies. Miyazaki's film was financed by executive producer Yasuyoshi Tokuma, and both My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies were released on the same bill in 1988. The dual billing was considered "one of the most moving and remarkable double bills ever offered to a cinema audience".

In Japan, My Neighbor Totoro initially sold 801,680 tickets and earned a distribution rental income of ¥588 million in 1988. According to image researcher Seiji Kano, by 2005 the film's total box office gross receipts in Japan amounted to ¥1.17 billion ($10.6 million). The film has received international releases since 2002. Overall, the film has grossed $30,476,708 overseas, for a total of $41,076,708 at the worldwide box office.

Thirty years after its original release in Japan, My Neighbor Totoro received a Chinese theatrical release in December 2018. The delay was due to long-standing political tensions between China and Japan, but many Chinese nevertheless became familiar with Miyazaki's films due to rampant video piracy.

Release Dates

 * April 16, 1988 - The film is released in Japanese theaters.
 * August 3, 1988 - The film is released onto VHS in Japan by Tokuma Shoten.
 * Spring 1993 - The Streamline Pictures English dub is released in theaters.
 * Summer 1994 - The Streamline Pictures English dub is released on VHS in the United States by Fox Video.
 * June 27, 1997 - The film is re-released onto VHS in Japan by Buena Vista Home Entertainment Japan as part of their Ghibli ga Ippai series.
 * Autumn 2001 - BVHE Japan releases the movie onto DVD in Japan, including both the original Japanese and Streamline Pictures dubs.
 * 2002 - The Streamline Pictures English dub is released on DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
 * 2005 Fox's rights to the English dub expire, with Disney taking the rights.
 * 2006 - The film is re-released on DVD in the US by Walt Disney Home Entertainment, featuring an all-new dub produced by Disney as well as the original Japanese voice track.
 * 2012 - Walt Disney Studios Japan releases the film to Blu-Ray in Japan, Complete with an all new remastering of the film.
 * 2013 - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment releases the film to Blu-Ray in the US.
 * Summer 2014 - Walt Disney Studios Japan re-releases the DVD in Japan, using the HD master.
 * October 2017 - GKIDS/Shout! Factory reissues the movie onto DVD and Blu-Ray in the US.

Localization
In 1989, Streamline Pictures produced an exclusive dub for use on transpacific flights by Japan Airlines. Troma Films, under their 50th St. Films banner, distributed the dub of the film co-produced by Jerry Beck. This dub was released to United States theaters in 1993, on VHS and laserdisc in the United States by Fox Video in 1994, and on DVD in 2002. The rights to this dub expired in 2004, so it was re-released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on March 7, 2006 with a new dub cast. This version was also released in Australia by Madman on March 15, 2006 and in the UK by Optimum Releasing on March 27, 2006. This DVD release is the first version of the film in the United States to include both Japanese and English language tracks.

Animation Book

 * The Art of My Neighbor Totoro

Sequel
Mei and the Kittenbus (Mei to Konekobasu) is a thirteen-minute sequel to My Neighbor Totoro which is shown exclusively at the Ghibli Museum. It focuses on Mei and her adventure with the Kittenbus.

Trivia

 * My Neighbor Totoro was released in cinemas.
 * This is the only Studio Ghibli film that used Hanna-Barbera sound effects. This was mainly used for the actions of Totoro and his servants.

Cast
See full /Credits/