Totoro       This is a magical movie which was a megahit in Japan. The basic story is actually quite simple: two young girls, Satsuki (age 10) and Mei (age 4), and their father move to the Japanese countryside in the early 1950s. They have moved to countryside to provide a healthy environment for their mother when she is able to leave the hospital. (Her illness is never specified, but I would guess that she is recovering from TB back in the days before the widespread availability of antibiotics.)            They spend their days exploring their new home and neighborhood, which is when Mei discovers the existence of Totoros, magical forest spirits which only children can see.          They also discover that Totoros commute by using a catbus (nekobasu), a large bus-shaped cat. The largest of the three Totoros (O Totoro or Big Totoro) gives Satsuki and Mei a package of acorns (above) which hey plant.                 Late one night they find the three Totoros marching around the garden and in a dream (?) sequence they join them to watch as the seeds magically sprout, forming a huge camphor tree. After that O Totoro takes the entire group flying on a magic top.                 When their mother's health backslides Mei runs off on her own to find the hospital. As the whole village tries to find her, Satsuki turns to O Totoro for help.          <Home>