My Neighbor Totoro’s English-language version could have been made much worse by one name change. The classic Studio Ghibli movie is beloved across the globe for its artistic beauty and elegant storytelling, a feat aided by its translation through subtitles and dubbing. While English-language dubs for My Neighbor Totoro have generally succeeded in conveying the original’s charm, there is a rumor that a production team almost made one major mistake.
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There have been two My Neighbor Totoro English-language dubs since its original release in 1988. The first was a stiff yet faithful translation produced by Streamline Pictures in 1988 for use by Japan Airlines. Fox Video acquired the right to distribute this dub for home video use from 1993 until 2004, leading viewers to call it the "Fox dub." Walt Disney Pictures then produced a second English version of My Neighbor Totoro, with an all-star cast, soon after Fox’s rights to the Streamline dub expired. This new version was released in 2005 and has been used in all English-speaking regions since.
The team behind one of these dubs apparently considered making a major change to the movie. During the production of this undetermined English-language version of My Neighbor Totoro, executives planned to change the titular character's name to something more American sounding, which obviously would have also altered the movie's title. Several names under alleged consideration included "Craig," "Kyle," "Uncle Sam," and "Joe Toro" (from Cleveland). The story goes that its highly influential director, Hayao Miyazaki, made the decision to keep Totoro’s original name. He reportedly said, “I could not name him Craig… because I would not want to be named Craig.”
Why Changing Totoro’s Name Would Have Been Bad
If this story of the English-dub version of the movie is true, changing Totoro’s name to make him sound American would have lacked sense on multiple levels. It would have created a jarring contrast with the rest of the characters, who seemingly would have retained their original Japanese names. Calling Totoro “Joe Toro” or “Uncle Sam” alongside Satsuki and Mei Kusakabe, their friend Kanta Ogaki, and their parents, Tatsuo and Ask, would have sounded outright absurd.
Changing the other characters’ names in the Studio Ghibli movie to match would have compounded the problem, as visual elements like clothing styles and the environment would have remained Japanese. Even if My Neighbor Totoro's setting was changed to the rural United States, calling the forest spirit “Craig” or “Kyle” would have been equally absurd given the context of the name “Totoro.” Mei names Totoro by mispronouncing the Japanese word for troll, “tororu,” mixing an innocent childhood mistake with her recognition that Totoro is a supernatural being. "Craig," "Kyle," and "Joe Toro" are seemingly random American names that lack a similar backstory, and renaming Totoro “Uncle Sam” would have invoked a variety of unnecessary connotations.
Aside from the logical and contextual problems changing Totoro’s name would have created in the classic animated movie, doing so also would have betrayed the purpose of dubbing. A well-made dub allows its viewers to enjoy a movie created in a language other than their own, bringing them the best of global cinema and broadening their experience of the world. Changing Totoro’s name would have dulled the ability to enjoy My Neighbor Totoro on its own terms as a Japanese film and assimilated it into American assumptions. Whether the plans for a name change were real or not, the decision to keep Totoro’s name fully allowed the movie to be itself.