“Even if all the trees return it won't be his forest anymore. The Forest Spirit is dead.”

“Never, he's life itself. He's not dead, San. He's right here, trying to tell us something: that it's time for both of us to live.”

—from Princess Mononoke (English translation)

There is some confusion as to the ending of the aforementioned movie: did the Forest Spirit really die, or, as Ashitaka puts it; he's life itself, so how can he die? However, as anyone who has watched My Neighbor Totoro can tell you, it is obvious that the Forest Spirit did not die at all: he just changed shape a bit.

Okay, a lot. But it makes perfect sense! Really. Even if My Neighbor Totoro pre-dates Princess Mononoke by ten years. I don't care. It's obvious the Forest Spirit turned into Great Biiiiiiiig Totoro, and brought all the little Totoro along to help re-grow the forest.

Oh look, and he has taken Jigo's umbrella. Little white Totoro isn't sure about Moro's cubs, but the blue one doesn't seem to mind. Yakul looks a little surprised. And Ashitaka and San…
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Oil paints on 12"x18" gesso'd masonite panel. Took several weeks. Characters are from the Studio Ghibli films Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Tororo written and directed by Miyazaki Hayao.

This is part of an ongoing series of fanart I have been doing, for over a year now, covering all the items listed under "Fan Of" in my old deviantID. Doing Miyazaki fanart gave me almost as much trouble as Diana Wynne Jones fanart, simply because there was just so much to choose from. In the end though I picked these two films because they have had a huge impact on my life (I first saw Totoro when I was six) and my imagination.

Here is the complete list:
Anime/Manga:
Inu-Yasha
Ranma 1/2
Naruto
Fullmetal Alchemist
Movies:
The Matrix
Books:
The Lord of the Rings
The Chronicles of Narnia
Writers:
Diana Wynne Jones
Ursula K. LeGuin
<strike>Joss Whedon</strike> Neil Gaiman
Patrick O'Brian