The Catbus is a character in the Studio Ghibli film My Neighbor Totoro, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is a large creature, depicted as a grinning, twelve legged cat with a hollow body that serves as a bus, complete with windows and seats coated with fur, and a large, bushy tail. The character's popularity has led to its use in a spinoff film, toys for children, an art car, and being featured in the Ghibli Museum, among other products and influences.
Character description
A window stretches to become a door when a person would like to board it to travel. With its multiple caterpillar-like legs, it runs, flies, bounces, and hops across forests and lakes to reach its destination, making whole rice fields sway in its wake. Its eyes shine a yellow light brightly like headlamps to guide it. Mice with glowing eyes suspended next to its destination sign on its back and from its rear serve as tail lights. The Catbus is seemingly able to take its passengers to any destination they desire, even if the passenger lacks the knowledge how to get there; as is the case when Satsuki needed to find her sister, Mei. With its large elongated smile and its ability to appear and disappear at will, the Catbus is reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Often used to transport Totoros, in the film it makes an exception to help O-Totoro, the main Totoro, who is also the biggest. O-Totoro calls the Catbus and asks it to help Satsuki find her lost sister Mei. As Satsuki boards it, its destination sign changes to "Mei." After the sisters are reunited, the Catbus volunteers to whisk Mei and Satsuki over the countryside to see their hospitalized mother. After Satsuki and Mei return home, the Catbus finally leaves them, its body fading into the evening shadows.
The Catbus was also featured in the short 13-minute film Mei and the Kittenbus, which is shown only in the Ghibli Museum. In the film Mei, the younger sister, meets the offspring of the original Catbus, which is simply named Kittenbus. It is just large enough to fit Mei inside, and can only stir up dust devils. They fly into the forest with many other cat-based vehicles, including different types of catbuses and cattrains, which are carrying Totoro and many other forest spirits to a catliner, which is depicted as an ancient cat. Mei meets O-Totoro and befriends the catliner, before returning in the kittenbus to her home.
In the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Japan, there is an exhibit of a large plush catbus, which can be played with and entered by children 12 years and under.
The Catbus has been produced as a popular plush toy and as a con-vehicle. It also was used as a design base for the six-legged sky bison Appa on Avatar the Last Airbender.
The catbus, along with many of Miyazaki's characters, was parodied on the "Married to the Blob" episode of The Simpsons.
A species of velvet wormEoperipatus totoro described in June 2013 was named by the scientists because of its somewhat resemblance to the Totoro Catbus.
The Catbus has been referenced by Anthroconstaff when mentioning its hotel shuttle service from remote hotels in Pittsburgh. Commenters have suggested that in this instance, "CATbus" would be for "Circulating Anthropomorphic Transit bus".
In the video gamePersona 5, Morgana has an ability to turn himself into a bus. He explains that the Japanese public has a widespread cognition of cats transforming into buses "for some reason", as a reference to Catbus, which is the reason he can do this in the Metaverse.
An unofficial gravity racer version of the Catbus featured in the London 2019 edition of the Red Bull Soapbox Race. The 'Team Totoro' vehicle negotiated jumps and other obstacles at speeds in excess of 30 mph to complete the Alexandra Palace course.
A car resembling Catbus briefly appears in the Cars Toons short "Tokyo Mater".
