Satsuki Kusakabe

Satsuki Kusakabe is one of the protagonists of My Neighbor Totoro. She is the sister of Mei. Satsuki can be irritable towards her sister Mei, for example at the end of the film when they find out that their mother won't be coming home from the hospital for the weekend, she scolded her sister for getting upset. Satsuki likes to think of herself as grown-up and caring for her sister. She is very lively, although not quite as lively as Mei. Satsuki is a good sister on the whole and looks after Mei to the best of her ability despite being upset about their ill mother. She is also very kind and responsible overall.

Appearance
Satsuki has short, dark brown hair and brown eyes (the eyes mostly appear black due to coloring and art style). She wears an orange overall-and-skirt combo, white underwear, a bright yellow collared shirt, a blue pair of shoes, and a white hat (only worn in a few scenes).

In the second half of the movie she wears a yellow dress with white hems. During the end credits she has a yellow shirt and orange overalls on with a picture of a chibi Totoro embroidered onto the right leg. She is noticeably tall compared to her sister, and somewhat taller than a few of the children her age at her school.

MISCONCEPTION: Satsuki does not wear a blue and pink version of her normal outfit, the lighting is darker and changes the color pallete in the scene.

Personality
Satsuki is a bright and cheerful fourth grader. She generally tries to be someone to look up to, most likely for her sister. She seems to idolize her mother's peaceful demeanor, and she even says that she wants her hair to cooperate to look like her mother's hair. Satsuki is hard working and intelligent, as shown when she is studying at school or helping out around her new home. She is also very open minded and pleasant towards people like Granny and even Kanta after getting to know his friendly side.

Satsuki Kusakabe seems to be an independent and adultness young lady. She does constantly feel grief and pressure, but does not let it show. The grief she feels for her mother being ill is only revealed towards the end of the movie when she breaks down in front of Granny. She also clearly feels very stressed to act like an adult and be a good role model for Mei.

Most of Satsuki's anger stems from Mei's contrasting irresponsibility. She gets easily frustrated, but is still a lovable character with good intentions.

Trivia

 * In the movie, she is voiced by Dakota Fanning, but in The Wonderful World of Ghibli, she is voiced by Stephanie Sheh.