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Susuwatari
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{{short description|Fictional Japanese spirits from Studio Ghibli films}} {{Infobox fictional race | name = Susuwatari | series = [[Studio Ghibli]] | image = Susuwatari My Neighbor Totoro.webp | caption = Multiple Susuwatari in ''Spirited Away'' | first_major = [[My Neighbor Totoro]] | first_date = 1988 | last_major = Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies | last_date = 2022 | creator = [[Hayao Miyazaki]] }} '''Susuwatari''' ({{langx|ja|ススワタリ}}, {{lang|ja|{{linktext|煤渡り}}}}; "wandering [[soot]]"), also called '''Makkuro kurosuke''' ({{lang|ja|まっくろくろすけ}}; "makkuro" meaning "pitch black", "kuro" meaning "black" and "-suke" being a common ending for male names), is the name of a [[fiction|fictitious]] [[Sprite (folklore)|sprite]] that was devised by [[Hayao Miyazaki]] and [[Studio Ghibli]], known from the famous [[anime]]-productions ''[[My Neighbor Totoro]]'' (1988) and ''[[Spirited Away]]'' (2001) where, in the former, they are identified as "'''black soots'''" in early subtitles, as "'''soot sprites'''" or "'''dust bunnies'''" in the [[Streamline Pictures]] English dub,<ref>{{cite web|title=''My Neighbor Totoro'' (Fox dub and Disney dub) |url=http://dub-support.livejournal.com/15198.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207215244/http://dub-support.livejournal.com/15198.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-02-07 |website=LiveJournal |first=Jon |last=Turner |date=2009-09-05 |access-date=2016-01-23 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-my-neighbor-totoro-cheryl-chase/3631912?ean=24543059233 |title=''My Neighbor Totoro'' by 20th Century Fox, Hayao Miyazaki, Dakota Fanning - 24543059233|website=Barnes & Noble|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606223600/http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-my-neighbor-totoro-cheryl-chase/3631912?ean=24543059233 |archive-date=June 6, 2014 }}</ref> and as "'''soot [[gremlin]]s'''" in the [[Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures|Walt Disney Studios]] English [[Dubbing (filmmaking)|dubbed]] version. In the RSC’s stage version of “[[My Neighbour Totoro (play)|My Neighbour Totoro]]”, they are called “soot sprites” and there is a solo sprite named Geoff.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTjmJcwCQ9Q&ab_channel=MyNeighbourTotoro |title=What's your favourite moment in My Neighbour Totoro? |date=2023-09-11 |last=My Neighbour Totoro |access-date=2025-03-14 |via=YouTube}}</ref> == Description == Susuwatari are described and shown as [[golf ball]]-sized, pitch-black and fuzzy-haired beings with two large eyes and long, thin limbs. They move by hovering around, but they can extend stick-like limbs from their bodies to do certain tasks, and can lift objects many times their own weight. They make a squeaky murmuring sound when excited, and dissolve into powder (soot) if crushed. ==''My Neighbor Totoro''== In ''[[My Neighbor Totoro]]'',<ref>{{harvnb|Nobuhiro|2005}}</ref> the house the main characters move into is full of Susuwatari, which are rationalized as ''Makkuro Kurosuke'', an optical illusion caused by moving quickly from light into darkness. Seeing that the family consists of good people, the Susuwatari leave the house to move to another abandoned area. ==''Spirited Away''== They later reappeared in ''[[Spirited Away]]'' as workers in Kamaji's [[boiler room (building)|boiler room]].<ref name="Miyazaki 94">{{harvnb|Miyazaki|2008|pp=94–95}}</ref><ref name="Miyazaki 108">{{harvnb|Miyazaki|2008|p=108}}</ref> The protagonist Sen (Chihiro) befriends a number of them by helping them carry [[coal]]. Sen is told that if these Susuwatari are not given a job to do, they turn back into soot. Another character, Lin, feeds the Susuwatari much like farmers feed [[chicken]]s, throwing handfuls of the [[Japan]]ese candy [[konpeitō]] onto the ground for them to eat.<ref name="Miyazaki 94" /> After Sen is accepted among the staff of the bathhouse, chiefly by Kamaji and Lin, the Susuwatari become almost admiring of her,<ref name="Miyazaki 151" >{{harvnb|Miyazaki|2008|p=151}}</ref> and help her in their small ways.<ref name="Miyazaki 108"/> ==''Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies''== In 2022, Studio Ghibli and [[Lucasfilm]] collaborated on a [[Star Wars]] short for [[Disney+]] where ''[[The Mandalorian]]'' character [[Grogu]] interacts with a band of dust bunnies that give him a flower as a gift.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ettenhofer |first=Valerie |date=2022-11-11 |title=Lucasfilm And Studio Ghibli Announce Animated Star Wars Short For The Mandalorian's Third Anniversary |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/1098476/lucasfilm-and-studio-ghibli-announce-animated-star-wars-short-for-the-mandalorians-third-anniversary/ |access-date=2022-11-12 |website=Slashfilm |language=en-US}}</ref> ==See also== * [[Dust bunny]] == References == === Citations === {{Reflist}} === Bibliography === * {{cite book|title=The Art of My Neighbor Totoro|series=Studio Ghibli Library |first=Watsuki |last=Nobuhiro |publisher=Viz Media |year=2005|isbn= 978-1591166986}} * {{cite book|title=The Art of Miyazaki's Spirited Away |series=Studio Ghibli Library |first=Hayao |last=Miyazaki|authorlink=Hayao Miyazaki |publisher=Viz Media |year=2008 |isbn= 978-1569317778}} * {{cite book|first1=Hayao|last1=Miyazaki|first2=Yuji|last2=Oniki|title=Spirited Away|publisher=Viz Communications|location=San Francisco|year=2003|isbn=1-56931-794-1}} * {{cite book|first=Hayao|last=Miyazaki|title=My neighbour Totoro|publisher=Viz Communications|location=San Francisco|year=2005|isbn=1-59116-699-3}} * {{cite book|first=Julien R.|last=Fielding|title=Discovering world religions at twenty-four frames per second|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-8108-5996-8|page=317}} * {{cite book|first=Patrick|last=Drazen|title=A Gathering of Spirits: Japan's Ghost Story Tradition: from Folklore and Kabuki to Anime and Manga|publisher=iUniverse|location=New York|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4620-2942-6|page=144}} * {{cite book|first=Ayumi|last=Suzuki|title=Animating the chaos: Contemporary Japanese anime, cinema, and postmodernity|location=Carbondale|year=2008|isbn=978-0-549-60505-8|page=14}} * {{cite journal|author=Professor Tamah Nakamura|title=Spirited Away|journal="Hayao Miyazaki's World" 'Best Of' Booklet|editor1=Hiroshi Kudo|editor2=Bobby Recinos|edition=PDF|publisher=Kyushu University|year=2013|pages=17–91}} * {{cite magazine|last=Hartman|first=Emma|title=Tradition vs. Innovation and the Creatures in Spirited Away|magazine=Digital Literature Review|edition=PDF|volume=4|issue=4|pages=1–13}} {{Studio Ghibli}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Characters created by Hayao Miyazaki]] [[Category:Anime and manga characters introduced in 1988]] [[Category:Fantasy anime and manga characters]] [[Category:Fictional amorphous creatures]] [[Category:Fictional fairies]] [[Category:Fictional species and races]] [[Category:Fictional yōkai]] [[Category:Studio Ghibli]]
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