smthsmthdarkside:

For about 5 years now i’ve been convinced i did not like the ghibli film totoro. I found it messy and unsatisfying, something that inevitably led to a number of arguments with it’s fans. Honestly it came to the point where it actually bothered me that it was so popular! Today i was linked to an article which explained a theory to the story that completely flipped my point of view. It basically links the story up to a relatively gruesome murder case/urban legend from the 60’s -Ghibli of course, has not confirmed the theory which in any case is very understandable.

I largely forgot my experience with Totoro until one night at work’s mini 忘年会 bounenkai, end-of-year party, the subject came up.

One fellow employee (actually he works at a restaurant next door) told me some disturbing rumors about the 20 year old family movie. Let me begin.

The story is far from a happy one. According to him, and apparently a popular urban legend in itself, Totoro and his magical friends are in fact Shinigami, that is to say the gods of death, the grim reaper. Pretty cute for a grim reaper, huh?

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