My Neighbor Totoro

Two sisters, Satsuki and Mei, move with their father to rural Japan to be closer to their mother, who is hospitalized. In a nearby forest, they discover an enchanted world inhabited by fantastical creatures. There they meet Totoro, the largest of these creatures, and begin a friendship that transforms their daily lives. Although predating Satoshi Kon’s filmography, My Neighbor Totoro evokes the same period of effervescence in Japanese animation, when artists and animators moved between studios such as Ghibli and Madhouse, sharing a creative context that would leave a lasting mark on contemporary animated cinema.