Mei Kusakabe

Mei is the younger sister of Satsuki in . According to director Miyazaki's 1987 directorial memo, in contrast to Satsuki, who is reliable and quickwitted, Mei is a single-minded, persevering child. Stubborn yet cheerful, she is like her older sister in that she is persistent and not timid. But with her initial shyness and tendency to few words, she seems to be even more observant than Satsuki. For some reason she doesn't fear goblins (Totoros), and the goblins that open up to her because her child's world has not yet been tainted by the common scene of adults-but this may also be due to her loneliness. Even Satsuki must bear up, but not having her mother around is an even greater hardship for a four-year old. Yet Mei is a bold, happy girl, without any dark shadow sin her personality. She runs after her older sister and imitates her. But if she comes across something interesting she becomes obsessed with it and forgets the way home or time, upsetting her older sister.