Azumi Inoue -- Tonari no Totoro （となりのトトロ）

In the last couple of days, I heard that Hayao Miyazaki（宮崎駿）had announced his retirement from creating feature-length films after the completion of "The Wind Rises" (known as "Kaze Tachinu"...風立ちぬ in Japan）. It's not an exaggeration to say that this is the passing of an era in world animation, whether or not one has liked his body of work.

So, going back a few decades, I wanted to profile the ending theme for "Tonari no Totoro"（となりのトトロ...My Neighbour Totoro), which was released in March 1988. I first heard it in its instrumental form when it was always used as one of the songs of encouragement played over the speakers at the Sports Festivals at the two schools I had taught in Gunma. Some months later, I finally bought the VHS video for the movie itself, and although it didn't displace "Kiki's Delivery Service" as my favourite Miyazaki film, the couple of scenes that charmed my kutsushita off both involved that ending theme by singer Azumi Inoue（井上あずみ）.

Composed by frequent Miyazaki musical collaborator Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）and with lyrics by Hayao Miyazaki himself, the playing of "Tonari no Totoro" as sisters Satsuki and Mei happily head home in the cool and adorable Neko Bus at the very end of the movie had me smiling ear-to-ear much like the Bus and Totoro themselves. Inoue's flying delivery perfectly fit the fantastical optimism and whimsy that Totoro and his little buddies brought into the scenes. A lot of the little kids have probably wanted to take a flight with the big grey lug himself as soon as the theme came on. Totoro may not be the most verbose of fellows but he will always have your back.

Inoue, who hails from Kanazawa City Ishikawa Prefecture, also sang the opening theme, "Sanpo"（さんぽ...Stroll） to the movie, and provided the ending theme, "Kimi wo Nosete"（君をのせて...Carrying You） for a previous Miyazaki film, "Tenku no Shiro Laputa"(天空の城ラピュター....Laputa - Castle In The Sky) in 1986.

As a PS, the theme song for "The Wind Rises" is Yumi Arai's（荒井由実） "Hikoki Gumo"（ひこうき雲...Vapour Trails）, her 1973 classic which is already profiled here.