The cats of Studio Ghibli.

Quite, cuddly, and somewhat uncanny, love ‘em or hate ‘em, cats are certainly considered mystical beings. Maybe that is the reason over the years, cats have played both large and small rolls many a Studio Ghibli movie.

Perhaps the most memorable of Ghibli’s cat characters is the Cat Bus from My Neighbor Tototo, and is possibly the second most well known of the Ghibli characters next to Totoro.

Released after My Neighbor Totoro was Kiki’s Delivery Service where Kiki’s talking helper Jiji is introduced. There’s another cat too, Lili who makes some short appearances with Jiji.

Then in Whisper of the Heart, a cat character makes his debut as Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, which is a figurine in the antique store. The Baron also makes another appearance in the sequel, The Cat Returns, along with Muta and Haru (as a cat), in addition to The Cat King, Prince Lune,Yuki, Natori, and Notoru.

Finally, in The Borrower Arrietty, the cat Neeya makes an appearance, but doesn’t do too much as expected for a cat.

There are probably other countless unnamed cats that make appearances in some of the other Ghibli movies. In the end, you have to agree that the animators and producers at Studio Ghibli do love cats.

DIY: The Totoro Bathroom

 

Your bathroom or toilet area should be one that is relaxing, so you can conduct your business in peace. With the My Neighbor Totoro themed bathroom accents from Senko, you’ll be able to enjoy spending time as if you were relieving yourself in a calm and relaxing Ghibli forest. There are four items that make up this set: the Totoro toilet seat cover, Totoro floor mat, Totoro toilet paper cover, and Totoro slippers. Each of these Totoro bathroom accessories feature dai-Totoro, sho-Totoro, and a little dust sprite (Susuwatari) to boot. These Ghibli Totoro characters stand amidst falling leaves and are set on a background of happa (leaf) green.

After you finish your spring cleaning, brighten up your life starting with the bathroom with Totoro and friends from Studio Ghibli.

Laputa: Castle in the Sky Robot Soldier

Fine Molds, the makers of the popular Porco Rosso fighter model kits have created a new Robot Soldier seen in Hayao Miyazaki’s Laputa: Castle in the Sky (天空の城ラピュタ) produced in 1986 by Studio Ghibli.

Laputa’s robot soldier plastic model has been recreated at 1/20 scale and comes in 132 pieces for you to paint and assemble. Once put together the Laputa robot soldier will stand 180mm high and 145mm wide.

The Laputa robot soldier is scheduled to ship from Fine Molds starting April 25, 2011. Preorders are being accepted for the Laputa Robot Soldier (Battle Ver.), now.

Source: [Fine Molds]

Ghibli & Totoro Music Sheets

With Joe Hisaishi (久石 譲) coming to conduct the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa next month, featuring music from Ghibli titles such as Kiki’s Delivery Service, there is a lot of buzz going on in the music world. Additionally, there are a lot of Ghibli fans who enjoy playing Hisaishi’s works on their own. Some people can play by ear, but if you’re not one of those talented individuals, what can you do?

Fortunately, given the popularity of Studio Ghibli’s music scores, movie titles such as Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Laputa, Howl’s Moving Castle, and so on all have sheet music produced by various sheet music publishers in Japan. Not only are the original scores available, but there are also different versions such as jazz piano, guitar, or even recorder scores!

Just because you don’t live in Japan, doesn’t mean you can’t have Japanese published Studio Ghibli music scores of all the famous Studio Ghibli titles.

Nintendo DS: Ni no Kuni

Level-5 teamed up with Studio Ghibli to create this incredible video game for the Nintendo DS. It is about a 13 year old boy named Oliver, who’s mother suddenly dies. Oliver then travels to “Ni-no-Kuni” or Another World, to try to revive his mother.

Those who understand Japanese will probably love the gameplay. For fans of Studio Ghibli, the accompanying magic book and scenes from the game will definitely be satisfying.

Find your copy of Ni no Kuni at beNippon.

Japanese Style Totoro Lanyard

Cellphone lanyards which in Japan are called cellphone straps, are very popular items in Japan. Almost every cellphone toting person in Japan has some kind of cellphone strap or charm attached. In fact, they’re so popular that if you look closely at most portable electronic devices coming out of Japan these days, there’s a lanyard hole. Even popular electronic dictionaries like the Casio XD-B9800 has a hole for a cellphone lanyard or character strap.

Fans of My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro – in Japan), have a lot of options when it comes to showing your love for Totoro. Not only are there tons of Totoro Plushies to choose from, but your cellphone can also represent that you’re a fan of My Neighbor Totoro by choosing from a huge selection of My Neighbor Totoro charms for your cellphone’s lanyard hole.

The Big Totoro above is a great example of a cellphone charm created in traditional Japanese fabric and has Dai-Totoro (or the big Totoro) atop an acorn (donguri in Japanese) with one dust sprite (Makkuro Kurosuke) tagging along for the ride. If you’re a fan of My Neighbor Totoro, you’ll definitely appreciate the classic charm of this one of a kind Totoro cellphone lanyard.

Source [Sun Arrow]

Totoro watches over you, as a clock.

The scene above from “My Neighbor Totoro,” where Mei and Satsuki are sitting with all three Totoros, high above the town looking over the town is wonderful. And is probably one that any of Hayao Miyazaki’s fans’ would recognize from My Neighbor Totoro.

The imagery of this My Neighbor Totoro scene, was recreated as a clock by a company in Japan called Rhythm Watch Co. Ltd. with Totoro sitting atop a carved wooden stand. Totoro is also carved in wood with acorn shaped ears, and inlaid features such as his claws and paws. The clock is built into Totoro’s chest with round hour markers for easy time-telling. Totoro “sits” at just a hair over 31 cm, weights in at 1 kg, and runs on two AA batteries.

This would make a great gift for any My Neighbor Totoro fan, and is built to last. The Totoro sitting on wooden branch clock is sold at beNippon, and ships all over the world.