Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Totoro: H's closet anime obsession

Who out there has heard of "Totoro?"   We have one in every room in the house, including the bathrooms, plus each of the cars.  Some are stuffed, while others are stuck to things like the 'fridge.  Then there are the food containers, key chains, pocketbooks, pens, pencils, notebooks, calenders, washcloths, and towels, all plastered with a little blue-gray furry figure which could easily be mistaken for a rather rotund rodent (or cat as some would say).  There are numerous websites devoted to the creature, and people actually collect the memorabilia.  It is all based on a movie called My Neighbor Totoro, a prizewinning 1988 Japanese anime film written and directed by Hayao Miyzaki which tells the story of a professor's two young daughters and their interactions with friendly wood spirits in postwar rural Japan.  "Totoro" is the keeper of the forest.  Keeper of the forest or not, we have been together now for nearly 7 years, yet T has never been able to figure out H's obsession for the little thing until he: 1) Went to Tokyo and visited a Japanese toy store loaded with Totoro gear (because all H wanted from Japan was Totoro stuff) and noticed that the adults-to-kids ratio was about 5-1, and 2)  Saw this video on YouTube. 


 Yea....that explains it.

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