My Neighbor Totoro’s World Cosplay Championship Appearance Inspires Both Applause and Laughter
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The eponymous friendly forest spirit of My Neighbor Totoro comes to life, courtesy of some award-winning cosplay at the official World Cosplay Championship event.
As seen in a recent Twitter (formerly X) video from the event, as well as photos from the event’s own official account, cosplayers Henrik Pilerud and Victoria Christensen of Team Sweden took fans aback with their stellar depictions of Totoro and Satsuki during the 2024 World Cosplay Championship. In the video of the awards ceremony for the event, the audience can be heard applauding and laughing good-naturedly at Pilerud’s Totoro, who is unable to grasp his own award, leading the presenter to try and feed it to him through the costume’s massive, toothy grin. The duo took home the second-place trophy, losing out to Team Japan’s Sasuke and Naruto cosplay.
Written and directed by industry icon Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli, 1988’s My Neighbor Totoro is home to some of the studio’s most iconic characters. The film, set in Japan in the 1950s, follows a pair of young sisters, Satsuki and Mei, who move into a secluded old house in the country with their father in order to be close to the hospital currently housing their ailing mother. As they make themselves at home and explore the surrounding woods, the girls come across a variety of spirits. These include the film’s instantly recognizable soot sprits, or susuwatari, the unforgettable catbus and of course, Totoro himself.
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