The (referred to in the film as ねこのバス, Neko no basu) is a fictional character in the Studio Ghibli film My Neighbor Totoro, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is a large, grinning, twelve-legged cat with a hollow body that serves as a bus, complete with windows and seats covered with fur and a large bushy tail. The character's popularity has led to its use in a spinoff film, toys for children, an art car, and a place in the Ghibli Museum. Catbus is believed to be based on the Japanese bakeneko (化け猫, “changed cat”), an ancient urban legend where cats that grow old learn to shape-shift. In the original Japanese film My Neighbor Totoro, Catbus is voiced by Naoki Tatsuta. In the Disney English release, Catbus is voiced by Frank Welker. Character description The huge, twelve-legged fictional creature known as Catbus looks like a cross between a cat and a bus and utilizes its eyes as headlights. It has rectangular openings that serve as windows on its sides and can change its shape to form doors for passengers to board. It is hollow and has chairs with fur around the interior walls. Its orange fur is shown to have brown stripes running around its back, forehead, legs, sides, and tail. There is a destination sign on the front of its rear that shifts to match its destination. Mice with glowing eyes are taped next to its destination sign to serve as tail lights. It has a large smile at all times, and can appear and disappear at will. It can travel to any destination that its passengers desire. The fictional character catbus was inspired by the Cheshire Cat from the 1951 Disney film Alice in Wonderland. The Cheshire Cat and Catbus share their large, mischievous grins. Media The Catbus was featured in the short 13-minute film Mei and the Kittenbus, which is shown only in the Ghibli Museum. In the film Mei, the younger sister, meets the offspring of the original Catbus, which is simply named Kittenbus. It is just large enough to fit Mei inside, and can only stir up dust devils. They fly into the forest with many other cat-based vehicles, including different types of catbuses and cattrains, which carry Totoro and many other forest spirits to a catliner, which is depicted as an ancient cat. Mei meets O-Totoro and befriends the catliner, before returning in the kittenbus