MNT is specific. It is post-WWII Japan, which affects the way the viewer interprets the film. As a viewer one has a better idea as to who the characters are and where they come from.
The sisters, Satsuki and Mei are extremely dynamic characters and their relationship is illustrated in a realistic way. Satsuki being the eldest looks out for Mei and takes care of her. However they are still sisters and do not always get along.
The greatest part of MNT is seeing how children react or handle with stressful and upsetting situations. Their mother who has is sick with some unnamed disease must stay in the hospital. The scene where Satsuki finds out that she has taken ill, the girls are depicted lounging around the house, exhausted. It is never explicitly said, but the art of Miyazaki is that time is implied because strewn on the floor surround Mei are neglected toys. It means that she was playing with toys attempting to distract herself from the seriousness of the situation at hand and gave up, exhausted and slept.
One of the unanswered questions of the film is whether Totoro is in fact real. He is real for the girls in their world, but whether or not Totoro exists in the world of the adults. The ending implies that Totoro is in fact real because of the corn that Satsuki and Mei's parents find on the windowsill, that was engraved with "For Mom" However there is the logic of the situation. How could the girls possibly have traveled so far if there was not really a CatBus? Although Miyazaki by not explaining this seems to want us to not focus on this issue. That it doesn't really matter. What matters is that the girls are able to grow up and to accept their situations better because of Totoro. He is offers the care and attention that they were not receiving previously.
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