But that sweeping generality about serenity’s devaluation could easily apply to any culture, Hayao Miyazaki might say. I’m just guessing this based on what happened when he and producer Toshio Suzuki tried to sell “My Neighbor Totoro” back in 1987. Studio suits rebuffed them. Why? Because who would watch a movie about two little girls who befriend a gentle forest creature and . . . that’s it? No perils or tragedies? No thanks.
So Suzuki struck a deal with Shinchosha Publishing Co. to release “Totoro” in a double feature with a Studio Ghibli adaptation of “Grave of the Fireflies,” which follows struggling survivors of World War II’s fire bombings. What an upbeat lead-in, right?
