Danica Davidson
February 12, 2025 
Studio Ghibli is here to help couples celebrate Valentine’s Day, and it’s also here to help with the upcoming sakura season. Each spring people in Japan have customs around viewing the beautiful but short-lived cherry blossoms known there as sakura. And Totoro from Ghibli’s iconic movie My Neighbor Totoro is getting involved in the celebrations.
This is not the first time Studio Ghibli has released Sakura Totoro merchandise. However, in the past the merch has sold out within minutes of becoming available. This time Ghibli made sure to have A LOT of sakura Totoro offerings, so the collection is still for sale. And that’s true even after so many people got on the site to buy it that they made the site impossible to access for a while!
Among the goodies offered is a plush Totoro holding a cherry blossom stick and soot sprite, and some pink Totoro purses and bags. The purse and bag even have a little cherry blossom petal hanging from their zippers. You can check out (and potentially buy) all the offerings here.
GKIDS licensed My Neighbor Totoro and gave this description for it:
My Neighbor Totoro Plot
From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away and Ponyo, and Academy Award-winning director Hayao Miyazaki, comes a classic tale of magic and adventure for the whole family.
When Satsuki and her sister Mei move with their father to a new home in the countryside, they find country life is not as simple as it seems. They soon discover that the house and nearby woods are full of strange and delightful creatures, including a gigantic but gentle forest spirit called Totoro, who can only be seen by children. Totoro and his friends introduce the girls to a series of adventures, including a ride aboard the extraordinary Cat Bus, in this all-ages animated masterpiece featuring the voices of Tim Daly, Lea Salonga, and real-life sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning, in early roles.
Source: SoraNews24
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
