I also had issues with the pacing, and found it pretty odd throughout the book; many parts were very faithful to the anime, while others were anywhere from too dragged out to completely omitted. The fund, started in 1990 after the film's release, held an auction in August 2008 at Pixar Animation Studios to sell over 210 original paintings, illustrations, and sculptures inspired by My Neighbor Totoro. The bus then takes them to the hospital, where the girls learn that their mother has been kept in the hospital by a minor cold but is otherwise recovering well. The dual billing was considered "one of the most moving and remarkable double bills ever offered to a cinema audience". The companion book to the beloved animation classic My Neighbor Totoro, by legendary Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki.

Trevor Johnston from Time Out also awarded the film five stars, commenting on its "delicate rendering of the atmosphere" and its first half that "delicately captures both mystery and quietness". Following the request of the paper's authors, the species was named for the character because he "uses a many-legged animal as a vehicle, which according to the collectors resembles a velvet worm". Buena Vista Home Entertainment Japan (now Walt Disney Japan) reissued the VHS on June 27, 1997, as part of their series Ghibli ga Ippai. The film was originally set to be an hour long but during production it grew to respond to the social context, including the reason for the move and the father's occupation. These pictures are there, serving as a sort of anchor, to keep the fantasy and adventure very much grounded and alive inside the little readers' curious minds.The film's central character Totoro was used as a mascot by the Japanese campaign "Totoro Hometown Fund Campaign", which aimed to preserve areas of satoyama in Saitama Prefecture. The soundtrack for My Neighbor Totoro was first released in Japan on May 1, 1988, by Tokuma Shoten, and includes the musical score used in the film, except for five vocal pieces that were performed by Azumi Inoue, including "Stroll", "A Lost Child", and "My Neighbor Totoro". A 111-page picture book based on the film and aimed at young children was released by Tokuma on June 28, 1988, and, in a 112-page English translation, by Viz on November 8, 2005. It depends on a situation instead of a plot, and suggests that the wonder of life and the resources of imagination supply all the adventure you need. The book itself is a beautifully presented hardback, and scattered throughout are gorgeous illustrations, that I think really add to the overall experience.

The animators stated one month was taken to create the tadpoles, which included four colors; the water for it was also blurred. Totoro also makes a cameo appearance in the Pixar film Toy Story 3 (2010) [86] but was not included in Toy Story 4 due to licensing problems. A few days after planting the seeds, the girls awaken at midnight to find Totoro and his fellow spirits engaged in a ceremonial dance around the planted seeds. Klady described the film's environment as "obviously aimed at an international audience" but "evinces a disorienting combination of cultures that produces a nowhere land more confused than fascinating". Miyazaki said the film's opening sequence was not storyboarded; "The sequence was determined through permutations and combinations determined by the time sheets.It is a little sad, a little scary, a little surprising and a little informative, just like life itself.

According to the environmental journal Ambio, My Neighbor Totoro "has served as a powerful force to focus the positive feelings that the Japanese people have for satoyama and traditional village life". Overall I was a bit dissatisfied, but reading this has definitely made me want to watch the movie again for nostalgia’s sake so I’m definitely glad I picked it up! Totoro has animistic traits and has kami status because he lives in a camphor tree in a Shinto shrine surrounded by a Shinto rope, and he is referred to as mori no nushi (master of the forest). Despite the highlights, Holden wrote "too much of the film, however, is taken up with stiff, mechanical chitchat".I'm a big fan of Studio Ghibli movies and have great respect for the amazing artist that is Hayao Miyazaki. In 2022, the magazine ranked the film as the joint-72nd-greatest film overall, being one of two animated films included in the list. The girls are learning what its like to work hard like the country folk and Satsuki is becoming more of a big girl, helping her father keep up the house and cook food. Miyazaki's Animism Abroad: The Reception of Japanese Religious Themes by American and German Audiences.

Steve Rose from The Guardian gave the film five stars, praising Miyazaki's "rich, bright, hand-drawn" animation and describing it as "full of benign spirituality, prelapsarian innocence and joyous discovery, all rooted in a carefully detailed reality". Stephen Holden of The New York Times described the 1993 translation as "very visually handsome", and said the film is "very charming" when "dispensing enchantment". But when it all comes down to it the book was still kinda good, and it is still Totoro, so I can't help but like it. Jordan Cronk from Slant awarded the film three-and-a-half stars but said it is "devoid of much of the fantasia of Miyazaki's more outwardly visionary work". Don't get me wrong, there is that magical feel of adventure with Totoro and company but the struggles of country living, mixed with school, medical fees and work commutes plays out more strongly here.Untungnya buku ini ada ilustrasinya shg saya tidak kesulitan membayangkan sebesar apa Totoro, cat-bus yg sesuai namanya, bus ajaib berbentuk kucing dan kucingnya hidup. The cable television network Turner Classic Movies (TCM) held the television premiere of Disney's new English dub on January 2006, as part of the network's tribute to Hayao Miyazaki.