the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney and with special guests Graham Day and Marianne Cassidy, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.

This year, we are proud to announce Anime April, a fortnight looking at two of the animated Japanese films on the list. We hope to make this an annual event. This year, we watched a double feature of Isao Takahata’s Hotaru no haka and Hayao Miyazaki’s Tonari no Totoro to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of their original release in April 1988. This week, the second part of the double bill, Tonari no Totoro.

Introducing perhaps the most iconic character in Japanese animation, and perhaps one of the most iconic characters in all animation, My Neighbour Totoro is the story of two young children who move to the Japanese countryside in the aftermath of the Second World War and befriend the mysterious eponymous creature who serves as a guardian of the local environment.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 137th best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show notes:

• Recorded 10th February 2017.
• Recorded as part of a double bill with Hotaru no haka, to recreate the circumstances of their original release in April 2018. The process was to watch each film, and then record the episode on it, before watching the next. The first half of the double feature was released last week.
• All of our guests have been fantastic, but doing this involved a massive commitment from Graham Day and Marianne Cassidy, so just a quick shout out to the duo for giving up their whole day to this.
• With a bit of luck, we are hoping to turn Anime April into an annual tradition on The 250, hopefully with both Graham and Marianne. This was Graham’s idea, and prompted in large part by our satisfaction with the episode that we recorded on Your Name.
• Tonari no Totoro at The Internet Movie Database.
• The IMDB 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
• Read Marianne’s blog at Massive Hassle.
• Follow Marianne on Twitter.
• Read Graham’s reviews at Scannain.
• Hear Graham on Speaking Geek.
• Read Graham’s guide to Irish Gaming at Gameir.
• Follow Graham on Twitter.
• Ryan Lamble at Den of Geek discusses the wonderful pairing of Hotaru no haka and Tonari no Totoro as a double feature, May 2013.
• Leah Schnelbach at Tor discusses the ways in which Hotaru no haka and Tonari no Totoro play off one another when examined as a double feature, June 2017.
• TimeOut ranks Tonari no Totoro as the best animated film ever, October 2009.
• Dee Forbes ranks Totoro as one of the most iconic children’s characters for The Independent, November 2005.
• Mark Schilling at Variety on Studio Ghibli’s plans to build a theme park modelled on Tonari no Totoro, June 2017.
• Brian Ashcraft at Kotaku on “the Totoro House” in Japan, August 2013.
• Margaret Talbot’s interview with Hayao Miyazaki at The Asian Pacific Journal, March 2006.
• Margaret Talbot discusses her interview with Hayao Miyazaki in The New Yorker, January 2005.
• A.O. Scott at The New York Times on Hayao Miyazaki’s contributions to the magical menageries of children’s cinema, June 2005.
• Brian Ashcraft at Kotaku on the fan theory that Totoro is the god of death, May 2015.
• Casey Baseel at Rocket News on how Studio Ghibli officially disavowed this “Totoro is the god of death” interpretation of the film, June 2015.
• Nicole Martin at The Telegraph on how parents are afraid to let their children play outside, March 2008.
• Allegra Stratton at The Guardian on the anxiety that adults no feel interacitng with children, June 2008.
• Follow The 250 on Twitter.
• Subscribe to The 250 on iTunes.
• Subscribe to The 250 on Stitcher.
• Listen to The 250 on Soundcloud.

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: animation, anime april, graham day, Hayao Miyazaki, japan, marianne cassidy, Studio Ghibli, The 250, tonari no totoro, totoro |