Totto-chan: The Little girl at the Window (Theatrical Screening)

Based on the memoirs of Japanese Television personality Tetsuko Kuroyanagi that were originally published in 1981; Totto-chan: The little girl at the window tells the story of Tetsuko a.k.a Totto-chan during her primary school life at the time of World War 2. As a rambunctious child Totto-chan is expelled from her primary school for being too difficult for her teachers to deal with. Her mother takes her to Tomoe Academy a school with a very unorthodox and rather progressive style of teaching for its time period. Known for taking in children that other schools and society deem to be undesirable, it offers a safe and welcoming teaching environment that has been created to allow students the self expression and freedom to learn that goes against the rather rigid and strict style of the time. The school contains students with various learning difficulties, physical impairments and issues, but are all treated equally and fairly by both the staff and students. While all this is going on the aspect of Japan entering the second World War slowly creeps its way into focus until things escalate.

Set in the 1940's, the film shows not only the values of teaching kids who are neuro-divergent and need extra help with learning but also show us how this setting and the war affect children through their eyes. The film details how each day of learning is filled with joy, with the occasional moment where the visuals take on very fluid and stunning displays in dream sequences imagined by the children during several key moments. However as this is a film set during a world war, we get very subtle moments that hint at the childhood naivety of the situation. These include the weather forecast on the radio being cancelled for war updates, the vending machines on the way to school no longer being stocked with Caramels and Totto-chan noticing that the ticket inspector she meets on her commute to school is no longer working at the train station. These subtle hints build until a moment where Totto-chan's childhood innocence is lost and we see the horrors of war on full display and how it affects common people just trying to survive.

While this aspect of the film is rather tragic and honest with its depictions, it's still framed through the eyes of a child who remains the focal point of the film. We meet Totto-chan as a 6 year-old and end the film around when she reaches 10 or 11, the main enjoyment of the film is tied to how invested the audience is in her as a character. Thankfully Totto-chan is a rather nuanced character, boisterous but kind as we see her show general concern for her classmates while oblivious to the bleakness of the situation around her - we see moments of her being upset and sad about things that are out of her control. Shes energetic, chatty and we see her grow and develop through the film, she's a child growing up that still retains some of her good nature in even dire times.

The film itself, being based on a memoir, takes on a slice of life style with key moments of the film focusing on events that take place at the school. While Totto remains the central character, we also see the struggles her parents and what other adults are going through at the time. Her father is a concert violinist and mother a seamstress who have a nice house filled with many western themed items. They eat toast and drink coffee for breakfast, have a German Shepherd as a family pet and even dress in western style clothing most of the time. As the film progresses we see more Japanese Nationalist themes seep in with the way the food they eat changes and the style of dress worn by Totto's mother slowly changes to more traditional Japanese attire. There are moments in the film that show an anti-war stance with one key part in particular in how Totto's father debating whether he should play music for the army or not.

All of this is displayed in a very vibrant and colourful art style.  The dream sequences in particular are a highlight with some rather impressive visuals that range from hand sketched drawings to making great use of colour and lighting.  The voice cast sound exactly like children with Totto's voice in particular being very expressive and the perfect fit for a child who gets excited easily.  The film is carried by a very nice soundtrack that fits in with the whimsy and joy of learning at the films outset that gets more dramatic as the film goes on.

The film thus takes an approach of being charming and focusing on school life in a fun and welcoming environment with the war aspect slowly creeping its way in until it cannot be ignored. In this it feels very true to how a child would recall this time in their lives, noticing the small differences in their day-to-day life until it cannot be ignored and their innocence is completely lost. This film is charming, colourful fun but also tragic in its exploration of wider events, captured in the delivery of everyday moments.

Totto-Chan was shown as part of Scotland Loves Anime on 1st November 2024