THE SCARY Truth
Behind the cutness of Totoro and the pureness of the sisters, there is the scary truth. Let's have some fan theories. And while they are considered as theories, with so many coincidences it's hard not to believe them.
Some fans find a connection between the anime and the reality. There’s a famous murder case called The Sayama Incident (My Neighbor Totoro takes place in Sayama Hills) in which two sisters turned up dead. The story goes that one of the girls said she saw a cat apparition before committing suicide. According to others, this, was just an urban legend attached to the Totoro is a God of Death rumor so that it would sound more believable.
While that connection is not exactly correct, the Sayama Incident did happen in May, and both of the sisters in Totoro are actually named “May”: “Satsuki” means “May” in Japanese, and “Mei” is the Japanese pronunciation for “May”.
Positive facts ^_^
Totoro is as famous among Japanese children as Winnie-the-Pooh is among British ones.
The Financial Times recognised Totoro as “more genuinely loved than Mickey Mouse could hope to be in his wildest—not nearly so beautifully illustrated—fantasies.”
A Totoro plush makes an appearance in Pixar’s Toy Story 3.
SPOILERS