Short answers, pulled from the story.
The film centers on university professor Tatsuo Kusakabe and his two daughters Satsuki who is ten years old and Mei who is four years old. The story also features spirits including susuwatari dust-like creatures and a large forest spirit named Totoro.
Tokuma Shoten released My Neighbor Totoro on VHS and LaserDisc in August 1988. Hayao Miyazaki began directing the film after completing Castle in the Sky in 1986 and eight animators completed it within eight months.
Scholar Eriko Ogihara-Schuck states that Totoro has status as yamagami or master of the forest because he lives in a camphor tree surrounded by a Shinto rope. Cultural historian Timo Thelen argues that Totoro participates in discourse about satoyama landscapes which fuse nature and culture in harmonious balance.
My Neighbor Totoro initially sold 801,680 tickets in Japan during 1988. By 2005 box-office gross receipts in Japan totaled over one billion yen according to animation scholar Seiji Kano.
Dakota Fanning voiced Satsuki while Elle Fanning played Mei in the Disney production produced in 2004. The Disney version premiered on the 23rd of October 2005 at the Hollywood Film Festival before Turner Classic Movies held the television premiere in January 2006.