Much of what audiences have grown to love about Disney’s Lilo & Sтιтch can be found within Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro. Lilo & Sтιтch arrived during a “weird period” in Disney’s history, when the movies produced by the animation studio subverted the audience’s expectations regarding their animation style, tone, and narratives. The success of Lilo & Sтιтch spawned a franchise with a handful of direct-to-video sequels and TV shows. Lilo & Sтιтch tells a heartfelt story about a young girl named Lilo and her older sister Nani, who struggle to see eye to eye after their parents’ deaths.

The тιтular duo in Lilo & Sтιтch take over the film when Lilo adopts an extraterrestrial creature she’s convinced is a dog, naming it Sтιтch. The hilarious adventures between Lilo and Sтιтch mirror those of My Neighbor Totoro‘s Mei, Satsuki, and the тιтular neighboring spirit. Fans of Lilo & Sтιтch are also sure to appreciate the sister relationship depicted in the movie, as Mei and Satsuki’s relationship holds as much thematic weight in My Neighbor Totoro as Lilo and Nani’s does in their movie.

Why Lilo & Sтιтch Fans Would Love My Neighbor Totoro

There’s Just As Strong Of An Emphasis On Found Family And Lighthearted Adventures

Beyond My Neighbor Totoro‘s themes about the environment and the plot in Lilo & Sтιтch in which the latter is on the run from the intergalactic federation, both movies are quite thematically linked. Both Lilo & Sтιтch and My Neighbor Totoro have an emphasis on the importance of found family and address it through their human characters’ bond with non-human creatures. This is perhaps best summed up in one of the best quotes from Lilo & Sтιтch: “Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”

In Lilo & Sтιтch, Lilo is often made to feel bad by others about her strange interests. Lilo finds a strong sense of companionship with Sтιтch, being immediately charmed by his offbeat nature and his initial tendency to cause chaos. Similarly, the forest spirits in My Neighbor Totoro are a source of comfort for Mei and Satsuki as they wait for their mother to recover from a long-term illness. The fantastical creatures in My Neighbor Totoro are part of the film’s endearing childlike perspective, highlighting the power of the young girls’ imagination and providing a whimsical distraction from their mother’s illness.

The bond between the sisters in My Neighbor Totoro and Lilo & Sтιтch is one of the more important components of each film. As the older siblings, Satsuki and Nani take on a maternal role with their younger siblings, though Nani is much older, and she doesn’t have a father or mother to fall back on when times get tough. Both Satsuki and Mei and Nani and Lilo are there for one another in the absence of their parents, providing each other with adventure and a lot of love.

My Neighbor Totoro Is An Iconic Animated Movie

The Film’s Characters Have Taken On A Life Of Their Own Outside The Movie

My Neighbor Totoro is one of Studio Ghibli’s films that is most likely to connect with children. However, both My Neighbor Totoro and Lilo & Sтιтch deal with heavy subjects like grief and worry, addressing them in a way that’s appealing to adults and children alike. This has resulted in the legacy of each film enduring in the many years since their release, with My Neighbor Totoro becoming an especially beloved film and one of Studio Ghibli’s best movies.

My Neighbor Totoro has become a staple film within Studio Ghibli’s history, so much so that the large forest spirit the film is named after is now seen as a mascot for the studio. Like many Studio Ghibli films, My Neighbor Totoro is praised for its stunning animation and sense of wonder, as well as its ability to capture the whimsy of childhood and create iconic characters that have taken on a life of their own outside the film. The film is further connected to Disney beyond Lilo & Sтιтch with Totoro’s cameo in Pixar’s Toy Story 3.