On August 8, 1988, Studio Ghibli and Toho, the Japanese distributor most famous for its Godzilla franchise, released the animated film My Neighbor Totoro, written and directed by legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. My Neighbor Totoro becomes the fourth feature film to be based on his writing, after Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), and Castle in the Sky (1986).

My Neighbor Totoro begins when two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother. The girls have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.

The original Japanese voice talent for My Neighbor Totoro includes Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi, Sumi Shimamoto, Tanie Kitabayashi, Hitoshi Takagi, Hiroko Maruyama, Machiko Washio, Reiko Suzuki, Masashi Hirose, Toshiyuki Amagasa, Shigeru Chiba and Naoki Tatsuta.