I saw that yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the release of My Neighbor Totoro, one of my all-time favorite films. I was lucky to be one of the first people in the U.S. to see the film, as I happened to be hanging out in the anime room at the San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday morning back in 1988 when staff from Tokuma Shoten brought in a video so they could judge the likely reaction by American fans. I was instantly captivated by the magic of Totoro and the Catbus, so unlike anything I’d seen before, and resolved to create a Totoro cosplay the following year, though people thought I was a giant gerbil (I got my picture in Animage though). Totoro and Hayao Miyazaki’s other films are very important to our family, and I’ve spent many evenings watching them with my kids over the years. (My wife once said, “Only children can see Totoro…but I think your father can see him too.”) Yesterday was also the 25th anniversary of Grave of the Fireflies, which was released as a double feature with Totoro, with the latter film created almost as an afterthought to lighten up the heavy content of the first film.
Celebrating 25 years of Totoro.
