Daily Dialogue — June 23, 2010

“Trees and people used to be good friends. I saw that tree and decided to buy the house. Hope Mom likes it too. Okay, let’s pay our respects then get home for lunch.”

 — Tatsuo Kusabe (Shigesato Itoi) , Tonari no Totoro (1988), written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki

This week’s Daily Dialogue theme is animated movies.

Trivia: The film is partially autobiographical. When Miyazaki and his brothers were children, his mother suffered from spinal tuberculosis for nine years, and spent much of her time hospitalized. It is implied, yet never revealed in the film, that Satsuki and Mei’s mother also suffers from tuberculosis. He once said the film would have been too painful for him to make if the two protagonists were boys instead of girls.