My Neighbor Totoro
Movie, 1988, The '80s, Set in Rural Japan, 1950s
My Neighbor Totoro is #3 of 25 in release order and #3 of 25 in chronological order in the Studio Ghibli.
The story
Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.
My Neighbor Totoro recap
My Neighbor Totoro (1988) follows two sisters in 1950s rural Japan who move near their sick mother's hospital and befriend the forest spirit Totoro. Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed it for Studio Ghibli, released as a double bill with Grave of the Fireflies. Satsuki Kusakabe (Noriko Hidaka) and her younger sister Mei (Chika Sakamoto) move into an old house with their father Tatsuo while their mother Yasuko recovers from a long illness. Mei follows two small creatures into a hollow and falls asleep on a huge furry spirit she calls Totoro (Hitoshi Takagi). Waiting in the rain for their father's bus, Satsuki lends Totoro an umbrella and receives a packet of seeds; Totoro then boards an enormous Catbus. The girls join a midnight dance that makes the seeds sprout, until a telegram says their mother's visit home is postponed.
My Neighbor Totoro ending explained
My Neighbor Totoro ends with Mei lost on her way to the hospital with an ear of corn, and the village searching a pond after a sandal is found. Satsuki asks Totoro for help, and the Catbus takes her to Mei and then to the hospital. Their mother has only a cold, so the sisters watch from a tree and leave the corn on the window sill. Totoro has appeared in Ghibli's logo ever since.
Post-credits scenes
No. My Neighbor Totoro has no post-credits scene, but the credits show the mother returning home and the girls playing as Totoro watches.
Where to watch My Neighbor Totoro
My Neighbor Totoro is streaming on HBO Max in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 8.1/10, Rotten Tomatoes 94%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Castle in the Sky, before Grave of the Fireflies.
- Chronological order: after Castle in the Sky, before Grave of the Fireflies.
Cast
- Noriko Hidaka as Satsuki Kusakabe (voice)
- Chika Sakamoto as Mei Kusakabe (voice)
- Hitoshi Takagi as Totoro (voice)
- Shigesato Itoi as Tatsuo Kusakabe (voice)
- Sumi Shimamoto as Yasuko Kusakabe (voice)
- Tanie Kitabayashi as Granny (voice)
- Toshiyuki Amagasa as Kanta Ogaki (voice)
- Yuko Maruyama as Kanta's Mother (voice)
- Masashi Hirose as Kanta's Father (voice)
- Reiko Suzuki as Kanta's Aunt (voice)
- Machiko Washio as Teacher (voice)
- Naoki Tatsuta as Catbus (voice)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki.