There are two similar, smaller creatures in the film, also referred to as totoro the big grey Totoro is named 'ЕЊ-Totoro', or 'Miminzuku', the middle is 'ChЕ«-Totoro', or 'Zuku', and the smallest is 'Chibi-Totoro', or 'Mini'.

Totoro is Mei's mispronunciation of torЕЌru, Japanese for troll. (Miyazaki's mother had tuberculosis when he was a boy.)ДЄ grey, friendly forest spirit, at least three meters tall.

The girls' mother, recovering from an unnamed illness (confirmed by Miyazaki as being tuberculosis) at Shichikokuyama Hospital, which is noted for its tuberculosis treatment program. The girls' father, who works in the archaeology and anthropology departments of a Tokyo university. (The widely-distributed promotional image for the film of a girl standing next to Totoro at a bus stop reflects the earlier conception with a single child.) Her name deliberately echoes her sister's, reflecting the fact that the story originally featured one girl, who was then divided into an older and younger sister. Satsuki is the traditional name of the fifth month of the Japanese calendar, the equivalent of the English May

My neighbor totoro cat bus