Rare Totoro Sequel Will Screen at Ghibli Park

Key Takeaways

• Rare opportunity this winter to see Studio Ghibli’s “Mei and the Baby Catbus” at the theme park in Aichi.
• The Totoro sequel is over 20 years old, never available online, making this screening special.
• Movie will be shown daily from Dec 14, 2024, to Jan 31, 2025, in Cinema Orion in the theme park.

This winter will bring a very rare chance for Studio Ghibli fans to see an extremely rare movie from the famous studio. One of Studio Ghibli’s most famous pieces, My Neighbor Totoro, has a very rare sequel titled Mei and the Baby Catbus which is nearly impossible to view. However, for a limited period this winter, the movie will be screening at the Studio Ghibli theme park in Aichi, Japan.

Mei and the Baby Catbus is an official movie by Studio Ghibli, but it is not usually available for viewing. That is what makes its upcoming screening this winter so exciting and significant, especially for die-hard Ghibli fans. Despite how cold it will be in Aichi during December and January, Mei and the Baby Catbus offers an incentive to brave the cold and go to the theme park during its less popular months.

My Neighbor Totoro Has a Rare Sequel

Why You Probably Haven’t Watched it Before

If you are wondering why you may have never heard of, let alone watched, Mei and the Baby Catbus before, you are not alone. The Totoro sequel is incredibly rare even though it was first released back in 2002, making it over 20 years old now. SoraNews24 reports that,

Mei and the Baby Catbus
has never been released for online viewing, physical commercial release, or regular theater runs. The only places where it can ever be seen are at the theaters inside Ghibli Park and the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, but even at those venues it can’t be seen all the time, as
Mei and the Baby Catbus
(also sometimes known as “
Mei and the Kittenbus
”) is one of a number of Studio Ghibli anime short films that screen for limited periods of time.

That means you’re never going to find the movie for sale, or streaming on Netflix or any other service. The only way to see Mei and the Baby Catbus is to plan to attend one of these special screenings like the one occurring at the Studio Ghibli theme park. The movie is only 14 minutes long, but it was still written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki himself, and the soundtrack was created by Jo Hisaishi. Both are big names at Studio Ghibli.

Where to See Mei and the Baby Catbus

Don’t Miss Your Chance

As stated above, the upcoming screening of Mei and the Baby Catbus is an incredibly special and rare chance to see the Totoro sequel film. It will be n this winter, specifically in Cinema Orion in the Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse section of the park. That means that guests need to be sure to have a ticket that gives them access to this section of the park, though the movie itself will not require any additional tickets on top of the entrance fee.

The official website for the Studio Ghibli theme park describes the plot of the movie as,

“On a very windy day, while Mei was eating caramels, she spotted a whirlwind and started chasing after it. When she finally grabbed hold of it, it turned out to be a Baby Catbus. Mei and the Catbus became friends, and that night, they ventured into the forest.”

Cinema Orion in the theme park regularly rotates between 10 original Studio Ghibli short animated films, all of which previously were only available at the Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo. The films each show one at a time, following a special schedule that is released monthly on the theme park’s website. Mei and the Baby Catbus will be the next film to screen after Treasure Hunting and The Day I Bought a Star, both of which were also created by Hayao Miyazaki.

Mei and the Baby Catbus will screen daily at the Studio Ghibli theme park from December 14th, 2024 to January 31st, 2025 in Aichi, Japan.

Sources: SoraNews24, Studio Ghibli Park