Fantasy and reality

Totoro demonstrates many of the main attractions of anime. The artwork is densely detailed and stunning, it deploys a spectacularly freeform imagination, and although this particular example centres on children (it is sometimes mistakenly called a kids’ film), its sensibility is far-reaching and intelligent, and likely to appeal to everyone. Rather than being relentlessly kinetic, its tone can be slow and contemplative, and it requires an attention span. The film has many ambiguities which are not resolved. The mother’s illness isn’t sugar coated. The contradictory emotions of childhood – fear, boredom, sadness, wonder – are all explored. Fantasy sits alongside reality so easily that the distinction loses meaning.

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Clearly we’re nowhere near Kansas anymore, but there is something about anime that makes you want to linger in the Japanese version of Oz forever. Totoro, like all the singular creations of Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli, has a devoted and growing following. “My Neighbor Totoro is the greatest film I have ever seen,” says Helen McCarthy, an expert on anime and an editor of the definitive reference book Anime Encyclopedia “That’s my all-time number one.” When the aberrant and influential creative genius Terry Gilliam chose his 50 greatest animated films, he also put My Neighbor Totoro at number one.