My Neighbor Totoro

Totoro, Satsuki & Mei At The Bus Stop In The Rain

In the year of 1957 a university professor along with his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei move into their new countryside home to be closer to the hospital where their mother is being treated for tuberculosis. The two girls find that the house contains small dust like creatures called soot sprites, but these tiny house spirits leave once the girls settle in the new house.

Whilst Mei is playing outside one day she encounters a creature with rabbit like ears which she follows underneath the house. Here she discovers two magical creatures who she follows to a big Camphor Tree where she meets a bigger version of the creatures known as Totoro.

On a rainy evening Mei and Satsuki wait at a bus stop for their father to arrive home but grow concerned when he does not arrive on the bus he is supposed to. While they wait Mei falls asleep and Satsuki meets Totoro for the first time as he appears next to her. Totoro only has a leaf to shelter under from the rain and so Satsuki offers him the umbrella she had taken for her father – in return Satsuki is presented with some nuts and seeds.

Mei and Satsuki plant the seeds and a few nights later they awake to see Totoro and the smaller creatures dancing around the planted nuts and seeds. They both go outside and join in the dance and see the seeds grow into a huge tree. The next morning the huge tree has gone but the seeds have started to grow.

When Mei beleives that her mothers illness is getting worse she attempts to go and visit the hospital but gets lost. When Satsuki cannot find her younger sister she finds Totoro to ask for his help. He summons the Catbus who finds Mei and then takes both the girls to see their motherwhere they discover she is recovering well.

The film ends when the mother returns home and Totoro and his friends watch unseen as Satsuki and Mei play with other human friends.