Characters from My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Kiki’s Delivery Service want to help keep you cozy on hot summer nights.
“Have a cool summer!”
It’s really not the deepest sentiment, but hey, what else are you supposed to write when you’re about to go on summer break and suddenly asked to sign a casual-acquaintance classmate’s yearbook? For generations, it’s been a go-to phrase for cordial, noncommittal well-wishing, even if it’s not a particularly personalized piece of prose.
However, “Have a cool summer” takes on an added joyous significance when it’s the unspoken message from Totoro.
With the start of summer coming up fast, Studio Ghibli specialty shop Donguri Kyowakoku is standing by with its Towel Pillow Cover series, featuring characters from anime classics My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Spirited Away. Starting with the Totoro designs, there are three to choose from, with the first showing the Big Totoro on one side, and the Small Totoro on the other, with a group of Soot Sprites hanging out with them.
Early summer in Japan is marked by frequent rain showers, which makes not only the motif on the above pillow appropriate, and the high humidity that continues for the entire season is what inspires the material choice. Made of a stretchy, 95-percent cotton, 5-percent polyurethane blend, the terrycloth-like Towel Pillow Cover are invitingly soft, but also breathable and absorbent, helping reduce sweating while you sleep and also soaking up any perspiration your head still needs to produce. They’re essentially pillowcase counterparts to the Totoro and Catbus towelket blankets we looked at a while back.
Ah, but what about the Medium Totoro, the mid-sized blue forest spirit? Don’t worry, here’s present and accounted for too in a patterned pillowcase.
The gray Totoro pattern cover is actually a bit of a conversation piece/debate prompt. From the color, you might assume that it’s depicting the Big Totoro, and the chubbier proportions also align with the largest-size version of the creature. Even Donguri Kyowakoku itself designates it the “Big Totoro Silhouette” pillow cover.
However, if you look closely, you’ll see that these gray Totoros only have three markings on their chest, like the Medium Totoro, and not the more numerous marks the Big Totoro is usually depicted with.
▼ Both cases have “My Neighbor Totoro” written on their reverse sides.
Also here to help you stay cool as you sleep is Spirited Away’s No Face, flanked by Soot Sprites and with the 油 emblem of the Aburaya bathhouse of the gods…
…and his travel companions mouse-form Boh and Yu-Bird on the other side.
Finally, there are two Kiki’s Delivery Service Towel Pillow Covers…
…with black cat Jiji representing the charter cast, though the sign little witch Kiki hands up outside the bakery she runs her courier enterprise from is shown too.
The second pillowcase, though, is all Jiji.
Donguri Kyowakoku lists all of the pillowcases as “for adult-use,” but that’s a reference to their size, not an indication that they’re inappropriate for young children, as they’re for use with pillows 63 centimeters (24.8 inches) in length. Priced at 2,200 yen (US$15.15) each, the whole lineup is available through the Donguri Kyowakoku online store here.
Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Top image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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