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50 free My Neighbor Totoro trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
My Neighbor Totoro is Hayao Miyazaki's 1988 film about two sisters, a sick mother, a rickety country house and the enormous, sleepy forest spirit who lives in the camphor tree next door. It opened on a double bill with Grave of the Fireflies, sold modestly at first, then grew into a global icon: Totoro became Studio Ghibli's logo, topped Sight & Sound's list of the greatest animated films, got an asteroid and a velvet worm named after him, and in 2022 became a Royal Shakespeare Company show that broke the Barbican's one-day ticket record. These 50 questions cover the film and everything around it: the Kusakabe family, the soot sprites, the umbrella at the bus stop, the Catbus and the flying top; Kazuo Oga and Joe Hisaishi; the Streamline and Disney dubs; the Chinese release 30 years late; Mei and the Kittenbus; and praise from Roger Ebert and Akira Kurosawa. Easy questions cover the sisters and the spirit; the hard tier asks about Fairlight synths and Saitama satoyama. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a family movie night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who wrote and directed My Neighbor Totoro?
Hayao Miyazaki
He based Mei on his niece and said the Totoros were 'supposedly the forest keeper, but that's only a half-baked idea'.
Q 02In what year was My Neighbor Totoro released in Japan?
1988
It shared a double bill with Grave of the Fireflies, a pairing critics called one of the most remarkable ever offered.
Q 03What is the surname of the family who move into the old house?
Kusakabe
Early concept paintings and the theatrical poster show only one girl; the bus-stop scene forced the split into two.
Q 04What is the girls' father's job?
University professor
His occupation and the reason for the move were added as the film grew from its planned one-hour length.
Q 05Why does the family move to the old country house?
To be near the mother's hospital
The hospitalised mother is often read as drawing on the director's own childhood with a chronically ill mother.
Q 06What are the small, dark dust-like house spirits called?
Susuwatari
Often translated as soot sprites, they are only seen when moving from bright places into dark ones.
Q 07Inside what kind of tree does Mei first find the big spirit sleeping?
Camphor
The tree sits in a Shinto shrine wrapped in a sacred rope, which scholars say gives the spirit kami status.
Q 08What does Satsuki lend the spirit at the rain-soaked bus stop?
Her father's umbrella
Delighted, he hands over a bundle of nuts and seeds in return before boarding his own transport.
Q 09What does the spirit give Satsuki in exchange for her gift at the bus stop?
A bundle of nuts and seeds
Days later the girls wake at midnight to find him dancing around the planted seeds until they sprout into a giant tree.
Q 10What vehicle picks the spirit up from the bus stop?
A giant bus-shaped cat
It has twelve legs, a grinning face and fur-covered seats; Naoki Tatsuta voices it in Japanese.
Q 11What do the spirits and the girls ride on after the midnight seed dance?
A magical flying top
In the morning the enormous tree is gone but the seeds really have sprouted.
Q 12What is Mei carrying to the hospital when she gets lost?
Fresh corn
The girls later leave the ear of corn on the hospital windowsill for their parents to find.
Q 13What discovery makes the neighbours fear the worst during the search for Mei?
A child's shoe in a lake
Satsuki then begs the spirit for help, and he summons the Catbus to carry her to Mei.
Q 21Which company produced the 2004 English dub with a star cast?
Walt Disney Pictures
It premiered in October 2005 and reached DVD on March 7, 2006.
Q 22Which sisters voice Satsuki and Mei in the 2004 English dub?
Dakota and Elle Fanning
Timothy Daly plays their father, Lea Salonga their mother and Pat Carroll Granny.
Q 23Which veteran voice actor plays both the spirit and the Catbus in the 2004 dub?
Frank Welker
Hitoshi Takagi voiced the spirit in the original Japanese.
Q 14Which film shared the original 1988 double bill with My Neighbor Totoro?
Grave of the Fireflies
The two were made simultaneously at Ghibli; Isao Takahata's tragedy drove some family audiences away.
Q 15Who composed the film's score?
Joe Hisaishi
He had already scored Nausicaä and Castle in the Sky, and later co-announced the RSC stage adaptation.
Q 16Which instrument did the composer primarily use alongside a hired orchestra?
A Fairlight
He cited Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Stockhausen and John Cage as inspirations.
Q 17Who sang the film's vocal songs such as 'Stroll' and 'My Neighbor Totoro'?
Azumi Inoue
The soundtrack came out on May 1, 1988; an image-song CD had preceded it in 1987.
Q 18Who was the film's art director, whose backgrounds became a Ghibli trademark?
Kazuo Oga
He and the director argued over soil colour: Oga wanted Akita black, the director Kantō red.
Q 19How many animators worked on the film?
Eight
They finished it in eight months, and spent a whole month just on the four-colour tadpoles.
Q 20Which company produced the first English dub in 1989?
Streamline Pictures
It was made for Japan Airlines in-flight screenings; Troma gave it a theatrical run in 1993.
Q 24Who voices Satsuki in the original Japanese version?
Noriko Hidaka
She also played Akane Tendo in Ranma ½ and Minami Asakura in Touch.
Q 25Which network held the TV premiere of the 2004 English dub in January 2006?
Turner Classic Movies
It was part of the network's tribute to the director and also aired the subtitled original.
Q 26Roughly how much has the film grossed worldwide at the box office?
Over $41 million
Home video alone passed $250 million by 2018, and merchandise far more.
Q 27In which country did the film get a theatrical release 30 years late, in December 2018?
China
It opened at number two behind Aquaman and made $25.8 million there by February 2019.
Q 28Which Hollywood film kept the 2018 Chinese release of Totoro off the top spot?
Aquaman
Totoro took $13 million in its opening weekend there, ahead of the Bollywood film Padman.
Q 29Which critics' poll named it the top animated film of all time in 2012?
Sight & Sound
It placed joint 154th overall that year and climbed to joint 72nd in the 2022 critics' poll.
Q 30Which Chicago critic listed it among his 'Great Movies'?
Roger Ebert
He wrote that it 'depends on a situation instead of a plot'.