Animation

A Real-Life MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO Catbus Was Spotted in Japan!

by Derrick Rossignol
Jun 28 2018 • 8:17 AM

How awesome would it be to ride in the Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro? (A movie which, by the way, is now 30 years old.) You’d get to roam around in a mystical Studio Ghibli anime cat, finding your way to vantage points that other buses simply can’t get you to. Then again, maybe there are downsides. After all, you’d be riding inside of an animal, and who knows how clean of an experience that would be. Whatever the case, somebody made this dream into a reality, and it looks pretty excellent (via SoraNews24).

In the above video posted by a Japanese Twitter user, we see a pretty darn slick real-life approximation of the Catbus, and the look is spot on. There’s the many legs, the cab on top of the cat’s body, the huge toothy smile, and even the light-up eyes illuminating the pathway in front of it.Like the real Catbus (if an anime fantasy vehicle can be considered “real”), this one doesn’t rely on an engine to propel itself, since it’s a heavily modified bicycle (which probably explains why it’s on the sidewalk and not the road, as well as all the clanking and rattling sounds).

Youtube Video play button

It would be interesting to see what this Catbus looks like on the inside and gain a better understanding of how it works, but even with this one limited perspective, this thing still looks pretty spectacular.

What do you think of this IRL Catbus? Would you like to give it a try, or should anime stuff stay in anime? Let us know what you think down in the comments below!

Featured image: Studio Ghibli

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