These are themes that crop up in Japanese anime frequently, and I have to assume that this is partly due to the nation's collective experience of the atomic bomb devastating their country and culture. Miyazaki was born during World War II, and his family made their money from making wingtips for Zero fighters during the war. He felt guilty as a child growing up with a comfortable life from the profits of war. Perhaps it's not so surprising that he eventually became a communist. As he matured, he became disenchanted with communism and he later claimed that the writing of Nausicaä had more to do with his departure from communism that the collapse of the communist bloc.
If anything Miyazaki is an optimistic humanist, who believes it is humanity's noblest virtues - love, honesty and courage - that carry us through the struggles of life. This is noticeable in the actions of both Mononoke and Nausicaä who both risk their lives in order to set the world to rights in a just and fair manner.
Acts of selfless bravery are what set the hero above the villain in the Miyazaki universe.
My Neighbour Totoro (1988) and Spirited Away (2001) on the other hand, fall into another category of film that Miyazaki is interested in exploring. The plot is simpler, and the emphasis is on the internal development of the characters. Somehow Miyazaki maintains a charming innocence and freshness in these films which never verges on the overt saccharine sentimentality to which Disney often falls prey.
In My Neighbour Totoro the young sisters Satsuki and Mei are brought to a new home by their father in the idyllic Japanese countryside. Their mother is in hospital, and the fear and anxiety that this places upon them is an undercurrent in the film. The girls are hyper, funny and utterly real as they examine their new house and discover the soot creatures living in the darkness. Eventually, the youngest sister Mei, meets Totoro, a creature that looks like a giant shambling rabbit, but with a very large grin, who lives in the local forest. Totoro exists as the spirit of the forest, and teaches the girls how to have fun, and make the trees grow. For me the most amazing moment in the film was when the cat-bus appeared. You have to see the film to understand what I mean. This anime makes more than a few references to Alice in Wonderland, and while nothing extraordinary happens during the film, it is completely satisfying because Miyazaki's vision is simple without being simplistic.
Article comments
1 - BJ
Great writeup. The guy's a genious.
One question: I apologize if I'm dense and just mis-reading your post, but does that mean My Neighbor Totoro is available on DVD in the U.S. now?
(Kiki's Delivery Service is available on Netflix. It's cool.)
2 - Maura
Hi BJ,
Yeah, if you check out the list of DVDs at the end of my article you'll see "My Neighbour Totoro" is available for sale on Amazon.com.
However, if you take a look at the comments on Amazon.com you'll see that the transfer isn't the best, and there is only an English-dubbed version on the DVD. I read that Fox, who produced the DVD, lose the rights next year, and hopefully then someone else will take over the distribution and will create a better DVD.
All the best,
Maura
3 - randy
Maura: How cool to see you in Blogcritics. One of my earlier posts was about Spirited Away. Is this great minds thinking alike? :-)
4 - Disie
Hayao Miyazaki is a genious where can i find some contacts so i can get in touch with the crew im really interested in japanese annimation and want to maybe become an annimator myself Help please!