"My Neighbor Totoro / Grave of the Fireflies" (となりのトトロ／火垂るの墓), Rare Original Japanese First-Release Double-Feature Nakazuri Poster 1988, Kumamoto Toho Theatre, 44 × 51 cm Including Original Snipe R1
This is a rare original Japanese nakazuri advertising poster produced for the first theatrical release of Studio Ghibli’s celebrated 1988 double feature: Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) and Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓).
Unlike an unused national campaign poster, this example was displayed during the original 1988 release and retains its locally applied advertising strip, or “snipe,” for the Kumamoto Toho Theatre. The complete piece measures 44 × 51 cm, including the original theatre snipe.
The strip announces the films’ opening on April 16, 1988, together with contemporary advance and on-the-day ticket prices. This direct connection to a specific first-release engagement makes it an especially evocative piece of Studio Ghibli and Japanese cinema history.
Film background
Produced simultaneously and released together by Toho on April 16, 1988, My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies formed one of the most remarkable double bills in animation history.
Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, My Neighbor Totoro follows sisters Satsuki and Mei as they move to the Japanese countryside and encounter the mysterious forest spirit Totoro. Its gentle depiction of childhood, nature and imagination eventually made Totoro one of the most recognisable characters in Japanese popular culture and the enduring symbol of Studio Ghibli.
Written and directed by Isao Takahata and adapted from Akiyuki Nosaka’s semi-autobiographical story, Grave of the Fireflies follows siblings Seita and Setsuko as they struggle to survive during the final months of the Second World War. Its restrained but devastating treatment of childhood and wartime loss established it as one of animation’s most powerful dramatic achievements.
The pairing brought together two profoundly different but complementary visions of childhood: one shaped by wonder and rural discovery, the other by conflict, deprivation and remembrance.
Poster design
The poster divides its unusual horizontal composition into two sharply contrasting halves. The My Neighbor Totoro section uses an intense yellow-green ground, dominated by Totoro and the smaller forest spirits beside the girl waiting beneath a red umbrella. Surrounding film stills introduce the rural house, the nighttime flight and other memorable moments from the film.
The girl shown in this early promotional artwork reflects the project’s original single-protagonist concept, combining characteristics that were subsequently divided between the finished film’s sisters, Satsuki and Mei. This makes the design particularly important within the visual development of Totoro.
The Grave of the Fireflies section presents Seita carrying Setsuko beneath a damaged parasol against an almost completely black background. Its subdued imagery and red title typography form a powerful counterpoint to the vivid colour and friendly characters of the adjoining Totoro artwork.
Separating the two films is the shared vertical campaign line:
忘れものを、届けにきました。
“We have come to deliver something you left behind.”
Across the bottom is the original Kumamoto Toho Theatre advertising snipe, announcing advance-ticket sales and the April 16 opening. The surviving handwritten price information records adult, student and child admission charges, transforming the poster from a generic promotional design into a tangible document of its original theatrical use.
Nakazuri and related transport advertisements were created for short-term public display and were normally removed and discarded once a campaign ended. A locally adapted and displayed example from Studio Ghibli’s original 1988 double-feature release is therefore particularly difficult to find.
This poster is in very good condition and was displayed at the time of the original release. It retains strong colour and presents impressively, while showing authentic evidence of period use, including handling and fold creases, scattered surface marks, minor edge wear, and age-related toning, particularly visible on the reverse. The original applied Kumamoto theatre snipe remains intact, complete with its contemporary ticket-price amendments.
Once conservation framed, it will display excellently. Please refer to the front, reverse and detailed imagery of the exact poster offered for sale.
It measures 44 × 51 cm, including the original theatre snipe.
It is over 35 years old.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
