[Anime Review] Tonari No Totoro

Tonari No Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)

"There is no other children anime that is better than Tonari No Totoro" -bezoe

Two young girls, Mei and Satsuki, move into a new home that is close to the hospital that their mother is in. In their yard is an extremely large tree which is home to three Totoros, gods of the forest. Soon after, news from the hospital comes up that their mother can't come home as promised, so Mei (the younger daughter) runs away from home to visit her mom. Satsuki then needs to turn to Totoro for help in finding her sister.

I don't know how many times I've watch Totoro for the past 8 years (yeah I wish I know Totoro earlier like when I was still 6 years old) but this is the first time that I will going to review it. It is probably the most fun anime feature that I ever watch in my life.

If you a younger audience (like still around less than 15 right now), you will probably super exciting watching this anime. If you are older audience (like above 15), I will say it really depends on how you accepting the storyline, because its a very light story with no violence. Basically the whole anime we as an audience following the life of a family, especially their 2 daughters and their encounter with the Spirit of the Forest.

Animation was superb as what I expected from Ghibli, I really love the way they make the characteristic of Mei and Satsuki, it really feels like you are watching a real children that playing around and having fun, and full of curiosity.

Character designs was the most memorable one of all Ghibli movie. Totoro design was very adorable and very er.. fluffy? =D. Its like a character that you won't ever forget even after 50 years later. for other character such as Satsuki, Mei and their father, Its not as strong as Totoro, but is still pretty good.

Background illustration was unbelievably very good. The illustration of the forest and Shrine was very good. I noticed one thing also that the illustration of the bamboo forest was also very awesome ( I was try to painting a bamboo forest right now and its still not as good as Ghibli's... Doh~~). And just a reminder, this anime was released on 1988, but it still looks very good even now.

Music is beyond superb, Joe Hisaishi made the music for Totoro. I will say probably this is his best work, and I really love the opening music and the ending ost. The background music during the movie was also memorable even though you only listen to it once. Joe Hisaishi you the man!

Bottom line: This is Hayao Miyazaki's most famous work in my opinion and also one of my all time favorite. Want to know how much I love Totoro? I will show you down below after the rating :)

Overall Rating: A

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