Her father doesn’t let Mei’s belief be in vain though as he comforts her by telling how lucky she is to have met with the king of the forest. Excited for them to meet Totoro, Mei is disappointed that she is unable to show him to her father and Satsuki as the road to him has disappeared. Returning from her school, Satsuki finds Mei asleep on the ground. She falls on a larger spirit, which Mei names Totoro and falls asleep on his belly. After visiting their mother at the hospital the next day, we see how Miyazaki lets the story be an escape from reality for Mei by letting her discover two small spirits who lead her into the hollow of a large camphor tree. For the rest of the day, the family shifts their stuff inside with help from Nanny (Tanie Kitabayashi), the caretaker of the house. But when she opens her hands, the dust bunny she captured vanishes, leaving behind only the black dust. When she does, she runs as fast as she can to show it to Satsuki. Mei’s mind stays on the dust bunnies as she becomes determined to catch one. When they ask their father about it, he tells them that they are dust bunnies similar to the ones Satsuki has drawn in her picture book. When their father asks them to open the kitchen, the sisters find the room filled with tiny black creatures which run into hiding. It is clear from the very first moment that the sisters share a great bond as we see Mei (Chika Sakamoto) following her older sister Satsuki (Noriko Hidaka) everywhere and repeating her last spoken words with the same enthusiasm.
They quickly discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by magical spirits of the forest. My Neighbor Totoro is a story about two sisters who move to the countryside with their father (Shigesato Itoi) in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother (Sumi Shimamoto). In this film, Miyazaki establishes his writing style, characters, and themes such as humanity’s relationship with nature, the use of magic, and the intergenerational relationships and friendships that become a part of his character’s journeys. As his career progresses, his characters venture further and further from the bounds of his protectiveness, letting them grow as a child does.
My Neighbor Totoro is Hayao Miyazaki’s second feature with Studio Ghibli and we can see clearly how he becomes like a parent protecting his children with these characters. One of these movies is Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro, which transports you back to your childhood, to a time when your imagination knew no bounds. There are only a few movies I can name which I revisit every now and again- whether it is for comfort, to feel joy, or to just to let the day pass by. The magic behind every Studio Ghibli Film is how they transport us inside their world for those few hours, making everything seem possible. Isn’t it fun to see things that way? Feels like you could go somewhere far beyond. Suddenly, there is your humdrum town is a magical movie. When you look from above, so many things reveal themselves to you. If you could walk the cable, you could see the other side. ”What if you leapt onto the next rooftop, dashed over that blue and green wall, jumped up and climbed up the pipe, ran across the roof and jumped to the next. He explains how the man has no idea they are watching him and then points out another house with a rooftop, asking, During its final moments, Hayao Miyazaki calls for the director of the documentary to look outside the window at a man watering his plants.
A few weeks ago, I watched the documentary The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness.