Mei and the Kittenbus, the short film sequel of My Neighbor Totoro

     Back in 1988 Hayao Miyazaki  Directed and wrote Tonari no Totoro, his second film from his brainchild Studio Ghibli. It detailed the adventures of two daughters of a college professor in postwar rural Japan, and their encounter with animal and forest spirits that live in and around their new home. The film was creative in both its weird subject matter (who thinks up an octo-ped giant Catbus???) and its storytelling, Miyazaki rarely uses any villain and his stories always have themes of environmentalism,  feminism, and pacifism...I'm sure there is an ism missing there.  Totoro was dubbed to english by an American/Japan airline as an  inflight movie, then the dub was distributed by Troma pictures believe it or not. In 2004 Troma and Fox lost the rights to distribute Totoro, which left the money vultures at Disney to do what they do best. Since its re-dubbing and redistribution My Neighbor Totoro has become a fan favorite among Disney, Studio Ghibli and animation aficionados in general, myself included. That's why I was left awestruck to find that Miyazaki had made a sorta sequel to the classic childrens movie.
   Mei and The Kittenbus is a short film(13 min.) that is exclusively shown at the Ghibli museum in Tokyo Japan. It takes place after the events of My Neighbor Totoro, when Mei comes across the offspring of the Catbus in the first film she is swept up into a magical journey to a secret meeting of the forest spirits.
   Truly, made for the fans of the film, it has a whole bunch of Totoro-like animals it has several catbusses, including a kitten and an older one that serves as a sort of cruise liner to the pure lands, a vaguely buddhist reference that escapes me at the moment. The story is simple enough and like the movies, leaves you with a childlike sense of wonder that can only be described as a curiosity of what can not be explained, things as simple as a sudden gust of wind can be explained by a giant cat whizzing by on its way to a secret meeting and not be given a second thought.

    Sadly, Mei and the Kittenbus has no signs of getting a proper release to any home medium, it will remain a  Ghibli Museum exclusive. Which is too bad because it is a cute addition to the Totoro mythos, a simple story that will leave a lasting impression on fans of the series. But who knows...it might get a release on a special dvd or something...for now, save up for those plane tickets to Tokyo.