Some thoughts about the narrative structure of My Neighbour Totoro (Studio Ghibli 1988):

We open on S2, the new place. It often entails separation from parents, and here, of course, it is separation from the mother that is at issue. It’s a place where everything awaits discovery, but there are images of death as well – the bottle in the limpid stream, the decayed woodwork, the rubbish under the house. The girls’ father, I think, plays the role of King, while the old grandmother is a mentor. There should be an easy task to make the transition to the next phase – perhaps the father’s instruction to the girls in the bath to laugh off the frightening aspect of natural phenomena is it. This phase concludes with their visit to the hospital on the bicycle and the news that their mother will be better soon. The role of Hero is distributed between the two girls here, though Mei is the primary focus.
The garden, a, begins the next day, which opens with the image of the camphor tree. Mei gathers flowers after Satsuki has gone to school, and is led in due course into Totoro’s sanctuary in the heart of the tree. The flowers, ferns and butterflies emphasize the idyllic setting, echoed in the outer world by the landscape through which Satsuki is seen returning from school. Later the father explains the tutelary role of the tree, and the day, and phase, close with Totoro sitting atop the tree in the moonlight. Totoro is clearly Princess here, while Mei is Hero.
The next phase is transitional. We would expect a difficult journey, and what we get is a troubled journey both for the girls – Mei runs away to the school, the two sisters make their way home in the rain, and for their father, who misses the train and isn’t on the expected bus. Totoro makes an early appearance as Donor, giving the girls the bundle of acorns which lead to the dream-sequence promise of protection, ending with Totoro and the girls perched on the camphor tree. In the morning, an image of birth, the acorns have sprouted.
The wilderness, $, begins with the arrival of the telegram. The children are gathering vegetables with the old woman, who as Donor gives Mei the valuable token of the cob of corn which is an assurance of health for her mother. But when Mei, desperate to find her mother, becomes lost, not once but twice, Satsuki takes over the role of Hero and her search for Mei is the difficult task. She invokes the aid of Totoro (Donor), and with the cat bus (Helper) finds Mei and is reassured that their mother will be well. The final sequences reassure us that we have arrived at the city (S1). This often involves a reunion, or the forging of a new relationship, with parents – we have the girls’ mother arriving at their new house in a taxi, and the three of them in the bath together, but also images of the girls playing with the neighbourhood children. They are part of a new society now.