I've seen it already and liked it, but I'm going through everything Miyazaki (that I can get through Netflix) in chronological order. I think Totoro warrants another watch; there was too much weird stuff to absorb the first time, and now I think I can just enjoy the experience.
I don't think I should take intermissions during a movie, it breaks up... something. Continuity? Mood? Immersion? Whatever. Life interrupts whenever it feels like it.
Spoilers. I stopped where the smaller child met the Totoros, and then woke up in the woods. You could stop the movie here and still have a fairly complete and engaging story up til now. I know there's more weirdness to come, but I think everything has been laid out in front of you to enjoy. The most obvious thing is that Miyazaki has crossed a line here, from just being good, to true greatness. A lot of the same elements crop up again, but everything is smooth now. Ideas that were once beaten into you (nature, youth, innocence, corruption, decay, and more) are introduced so subtly that they seem to come from inside of you instead of the movie. Like you always knew these things, and Miyazaki is just gently reminding you. You can't get much better than that, if you want to make a point.
Any time I stop to examine any particular frame, I am moved by the quality and life of the background, as I am simultaneously repulsed by the animation of the people. They're so mismatched its like those old cartoons from the 1970s (like Ralph Bakshi) where there's a bit of distorted live action mixed in with the cartoon - and they fight each other for your suspension of disbelief. The world feels real, but there's Loony Tunes walking around in it. Maybe Roger Rabbit's world is the better analogy. And yet, you can't help but excuse it. Despite the strange animation of people, their humanity does come across, and it brings me back in. Maybe this is some kind of self training you have to learn to be able to watch anime.
A few days later, I finish watching the movie. And then I immediately start watching again from the beginning, and then turn the subtitles off. One of my favorite things is the quiet moments where nothing much seems to be happening. Someone is doing something simple and just quietly living their life, and not hardly serving the plot at all. It draws me in, making the person and their world so real I can feel it. And this is on top of all the other little realistic touches, like small glances or behaviors that make me forget I'm watching a moving drawing. I can even forgive the cartoonish behaviors and sounds, even as the background is hyper real.
Is there a reason for this mix of real and surreal? Maybe too much of one or the other wouldn't work. Something to keep an eye on as I continue down this road. I'm already aware that animation techniques keep changing over time, making older anime feel increasingly dated. Maybe some of this strange stuff isn't meant to be strange at all, its just working with the limits of the day, and carrying years of contextual baggage.
I was confused by Totoro for a while, struggling to figure out if the supernatural world is real, but only accessible to the innocence usually only found in children. The best analogy I could come up with was Alice in Wonderland, or maybe The Wizard of Oz, where the surreal world isn't meant to be taken seriously; its more of a comment on the real world. But Totoro seems better than that. The spirit world and the real world echo each other, and while it points this out over and over again, but its not trying to say anything by it; it just is. And while these worlds overlap a little and influence each other, real isn't even a question.
You already got a nice ending that wraps things up as much as any movie needs to, but like a gracious host who has provided you with generous hospitality, they also send you off with an exquisite going away present. The end credits show the homecoming, and some return to normalcy with the kids playing. I just saw on the wiki that there's a short sequel to Totoro, at the time that Spirited Away came out. As curious as I am, its not next in line.
