Where is my neighbour totoro set

You can also enjoy marine activity too! Mountains, rivers, a beach, the nature that Yakushima has is exquisite. If you stay in Japan for long enough to travel a bit further the popular trip, Yakushima is definitely worth it. Another location from Princess Mononoke is Shirakami-sanchi. It is also known as a natural world heritage site and it is mainly filled with greenery such as Japanese beech.

There are some famous lakes called twelve lakes which means you can see twelve lakes at once from the upper side of the mountain. The untouched, beautiful nature makes you feel like you actually step into the world of Princess Mononoke.

When thinking about the movie setting of Spirited Away, of course the public bathhouse will come to mind. Dogo Onsen is said to give an inspiration on the movie. It is located in Matsuyama, Ehime prefecture and was build in It is actually one of the oldest public bathhouse in Japan! Around Dogo Onsen, there are some other bathhouses and also more attractions such as shopping arcade, temples and shrines. Edo Tokyo Tatemono-en is another places featured in Spirited Away. It is an open air architectural museum located in Koganei, Tokyo.

Kodakara-Yu is one of the bathhouses that gave inspiration for the bathhouse where Chihiro started working under Yubaba. There are a few more things that inspired the movie director to be found in this museum. Seiseki Sakuragaoka is located in Tokyo, 30 mins away from Shinjuku by train.

Immediately after you get off the train, you will feel as if you are stepping into the world of Whisper of the Heart. The station sign and ticket gate resemble a scene in the movie exactly.

One day, Mei sees two little rabbit-like creatures and follows them through their forest, where she meets a much larger version of the creature, whom she calls "Totoro. Totoro, who is "keeper of the forest," aids Satsuki and her father when Mei decides to walk to the hospital alone to present her mother with a fresh ear of corn. For fans of Miyazaki's later work who haven't had the chance to check out his classics, this is a perfect movie to start.

My Neighbor Totoro is considered Miyazaki 's breakthrough film. Re-released and dubbed in English for a wider audience by Disney, the movie introduced Americans unfamiliar with anime to Miyazaki's signature themes: strong, independent girls as protagonists; whimsical creatures; an imaginative story; and a focus on how families interact with each other and their surrounding environment.

This isn't a spellbinding all-out adventure like Spirited Away or even the gentler journey that is Ponyo , but its leisurely paced story and lushly detailed visuals are part of the charm. Unlike the majority of animated movies, this isn't full of pop-culture or consumerist references that, while funny when handled correctly, can also bog down animated films or zap them of their childlike fantasy.

Satsuki and Mei need Totoro to help them through a difficult time in their lives -- new home, sick mother -- and it's quite lovely to see the sweet little moments that cement their friendship. It's a shame more family movies aren't as simple and beautiful as My Neighbor Totoro. Why do you think they're able to befriend him so easily? How does he help them and their family?

How do the characters in My Neighbor Totoro demonstrate courage , curiosity , and compassion? Why are these important character strengths? How do the girls deal with their mother's sickness?

Does her hospitalization affect the sisters differently? What is the movie's animation style like? How are the humans depicted? Are the Totoros and the Catbus scary -looking? What makes it obvious they're gentle? Why do you think this movie is considered an anime classic? How is it different from the majority of Hollywood animated movies? Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate. Streaming options powered by JustWatch. Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization, earns a small affiliate fee from Amazon or iTunes when you use our links to make a purchase. Thank you for your support. Our ratings are based on child development best practices. We display the minimum age for which content is developmentally appropriate.

The star rating reflects overall quality. Learn how we rate. Parents' Ultimate Guide to Support our work! Corona Column 3 Use these free activities to help kids explore our planet, learn about global challenges, think of solutions, and take action. My Neighbor Totoro. Parents recommend Popular with kids. Beautifully animated fantasy about friendship fit for all. G 86 minutes.

Rate movie. Watch or buy. Based on reviews. Get it now Searching for streaming and purchasing options Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. As this is the backstory there's no need to explain all this, so I didn't tell anyone. But in my mind that's how I thought of the house. The fact that the attached room is so sunny also speaks to this setting.

Additionally, in the film, a box with a sticker of "Sayama Tea" appears when the Kusakabe family moved into their new home. Thanks to the film's success and enduring popularity, public interest towards the conservation effort by the Totoro no Furusato Foundation has helped them acquire and preserve the greenery of Sayama Hills. Hayao Miyazaki is part of the organization's advisory board. He drew early image boards of 5-year-old girl who had a similar design to Mei , but the personality of Satsuki.

In the meantime, early concept the original protagonist was later used in various media such as the cover for the novelization and theater pamphlet. Several concepts were then reincorporated by Miyazaki when creating the scenario for Panda! Go, Panda! Miyazaki eventually decided on having the protagonist between two sisters, but this meant expanding the film's runtime. During a special retrospective program in July , Toshio Suzuki recalls that Grave of the Fireflies was originally planned to be 60 minutes, but was extended to 90 minutes.

Suzuki then fought to extend Totoro to 80 minutes or longer. Miyazaki warned him that extending the film by 20 minutes would only be enough to have a single protagonist, and that having the film be about two sisters would require far more screen time. Additionally, according to Miyazaki, he was initially worried as to how the young protagonist would met Totoro, so he came up with two scenes - one where he encounters him at rainy bus stop and the other in daytime at her home.

By December 1, , a planning document revealed that Miyazaki had already conceived of the characters of Satsuki 3rd-grade elementary school student and Mei a 5-year old as sisters. Totoro actually makes a cameo appearance in Pom Poko. Set during ancient times, the war led to the defeat of the Totoros.

Few Totoros survived, and their descendants eventually settle in modern Tokorozawa, Tokyo. With My Neighbor Totoro , Hayao Miyazaki knew what he wanted to achieve: a warm film, offering young audiences neither conflict nor confrontation. Yet although Miyazaki first shared his idea in the early s, when it came to putting the story to paper, he didn't find inspiration straight away.

The visit to a colleague, shortly before the start of production, would unblock the situation. However, its post-war setting, [15] sober subject matter and minute length led to its rejection during a planning meeting. Financiers and distributors did not believe the story of two little girls and a monster in modern Japan. But producer Toshio Suzuki is convinced of the allure of seeing Totoro animated on the big screen. He shrewdly proposed a simultaneous release of Totoro and Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies ; however the proposal was also rejected.

They knew that if a film is adapted from one of their novels, schools would be forced to see it for educational purposes. Then, this same audience would then be able to attend the screening of a second film, included in the price of the ticket.

The very young Studio Ghibli , then two-years old, thus found himself managing and producing two films with seemingly no real commercial appeal at the same time, over a record period of only one year. Two possibilities are then considered: turning over two films six month periods or dividing the studio in two and making the films jointly. The first possibility raises the question of whether the team will be able to direct Takahata's film and then immediately shift to Miyazaki's while managing the staff's energy and enthusiasm.

In the end, the second solution was chosen and almost every animator who collaborated on Castle in the Sky , went on to work on My Neighbor Totoro. While Takahata's production crew moved into Studio 1 i. The area was designated as Studio 2 , created especially for Miyazaki's production needs.

In practice, the conversion of the second studio only began on April 1, , thus requiring staff to temporarily cohabit with the team of Studio 1. The three men do not know each other very well.

Only Oga had previously collaborated with Miyazaki on Panda! Joe Hisaishi was hired once again to craft the film's score. The director challenged Oga to raise his standards. The ultimate product was described by Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki: "It was nature painted with translucent colors.

The move into Studio 2 finally took place on April 13, , and came with a small inauguration ceremony. On April 14, Miyazaki completed his directing proposal the content would turn out differently to the final movie in one day. The next day, he began working on the film's synopsis, a process that lasts eight days. On April 16, he met with Rieko Nakagawa , author of children's books, and asked her to write the lyrics for the opening credits song of the film, Sanpo Promenade.

That same day, he asked Joe Hisaishi to begin composing music for the film. Hayao Miyazaki has a strong admiration for children's author Reiko Nakagawa's work, and begged her to write the opening song to Totoro. On April 18, a joint press conference on the two films took place at the Diamond Hotel in Tokyo, officially announcing their proposed release date.

Nearly two hundred journalists were in attendance. Some have noted it was the 'most important' press conference for animated films at the time. On April 28, Miyazaki began work on Totoro's storyboard. The film was initially to be split into three 30 minutes parts. Each part would begin with a three-minute introduction, bringing the film to a total runtime of 77 minutes.

By the end of May, the first drafts of parts A and B were completed. This was around the time when Miyazaki changed the cut of the film to include part D. At the beginning of June , the timing of part A was completed shots for 1, Also in June , Miyazaki announces in an interview that a quarter of production had already been completed. He gives a fairly detailed description of the Totoros and the Catbus and refers to the Totoros as "spirits of nature".

The Catbus was used in the poster for a special exhibit at the Ghibli Museum. From July 11 and the days that follow, Miyazaki lays out his expectations, important points and feelings to the key facilitators of parts A and B.

In the middle of summer, the storyboard of part C was finished shots for 1, seconds. However, the daily progression hoped for by producer Toru Hara was not achieved. To keep a high level of quality throughout the film, he decided to call on other subcontracting studios for the key drawings and other miscellaneous details. Despite the rapid progress of labor, this period proved to be the most challenging. It is for this reason that at the beginning of the fall, the team of Studio 2 left a day for a picnic of "motivation" in the valley of Akikawa.

The studio organized this getaway during the week, without warning the subcontracted studios which, for their part, continued their work. The opening sequence of the film was not storyboarded, Miyazaki said.

Each element was made individually and combined in the time sheets I believe he lives on acorns. He's supposedly the forest keeper, but that's only a half-baked idea, a rough approximation.

The storyboard depicts the town of Matsuko as the setting, with the year being ; Miyazaki stated that it was not exact and the team worked on a setting "in the recent past". At the beginning of October , the first version of the film was screened. Despite the absence of sound and the disorder of the sequences, those who viewed it were satisfied with the result of their work.

At the end of the month, Shiba arrived with the test tapes of the actors selected to lend their voices to the characters. The vocal liners of Satsuki , Mei , Mr. Kusakabe were chosen by the end of this meeting. Towards the end of , the storyboard for part D was completed shots for 1, seconds. With the e-konte storyboards completed, Miyazaki could finally concentrate on checking the key drawings of the animation.

Yasuyoshi Tokuma , president of the Tokuma group , visited Studio 2 at the end of the year to encourage the team. On December 30, Studio 2 celebrated their last working day of the year at an Iseya restaurant, near Inokashira Park.

Most of the team members then went back home to celebrate the New Year. However, workaholics still spent the New Years working.

A few went to the local temple to meditate and wish each other happiness and luck. They are sixteen in total, including the animators from Studio 1. Several collected editions of e-konte storyboards Totoro have been released in time. Work resumed on January 4, Studio 2 was on their last stage of intervals. By mid-January, all that remained to be done were the key drawings of part D. At the end of the month, more and more key animators handed in their work and joined the team of animators.

They contributed to the last push of the interval. On February 21, the key drawings for the opening credits were completed. On February 25, the intervals were over.