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Here is Teto, a creature known as a fox squirrel which Nausicaa befriends. He is often seen riding on her shoulder, in both the manga and the anime.

Teto with Nausicaa

In the anime Laputa: Castle of the Sky we also see what appears to be the exact same creature:

Laputan Fox Squirrel, on a derelict robot

Do the two stories occur in the same universe?

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    More likely just an easter egg. If you watch other Miyazki films there are plenty of them. For example in Kiki's Delivery Service a large red bus drives past the screen with the words "Studio Ghibli" written on the side, Totoro from My Neighbour Totoro appears in the background in multiple films as does Jiji the black cat from Kikis Delivery service. Miyazaki has a tendency to reuse character designs as a matter of expediency or economy due to the high cost of traditional cell animation. You can read list of Studio Ghibly easter eggs here... cbr.com/studio-ghibli-easter-eggs
    – skyjack
    Aug 8, 2021 at 5:25
  • Do you know if the fox squirrel is a creature in traditional Japanese folklore? Possibly They are as common in anime and manga as bigfoot in USA cartoons.
    – M. A. Golding
    Aug 8, 2021 at 16:35

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From reading several articles across the internet I would have to say this is a fan theory only and not borne out in any direct quote from Studio Ghibli or Miyazaki himself.

The web page listed below directly addresses whether multiple Studio Ghibli films are set in the same universe or narrative and conclude this is not the case.

https://ap2hyc.com/2021/01/are-the-studio-ghibli-films-set-in-the-same-universe/

To directly quote the article

"There is no concrete evidence that all the films exist in the same world, though minor characters do cross over".

Having visited the Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo and having seen some of Miyazki's notes on exhibited story boards for Spirited Away where he notes that the background female faces in one scene can all be basically the same to keep down production costs, it is clear he is a pragmatic film maker. The appearance of Teto in Laputa is an easter egg and nothing more. If you look closely at his other character designs, Muska from Laputa bears a resemblance to the father in Totoro. The Laputa robots have their design origins in Lupin the Third made 18 (?) years before Laputa. Meanwhile the makkuro kurosuke from Totoro reoccur in Spirited Away. It is too much to ask that all these films make up one mega-text.

For the sake of completeness the following links are the other articles I consulted.

https://yattatachi.com/studio-ghibli-animation-easter-eggs https://www.cbr.com/studio-ghibli-easter-eggs/ http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/miyazaki_hayao http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/kaze_no_tani_no_nausicaa http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/tenku_no_shiro_rapyuta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Hayao_Miyazaki

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  • Yet the appearances of ET in Star Wars and R2-D2 in Indiana Jones, which could be classified as easter eggs as well, is enough to most to claim it to be the same universe.
    – SQB
    Aug 8, 2021 at 8:05
  • lucas has confirmed a shared universe between star wars and et see this answer for details scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/6555/… but sometimes an easter egg is just an easter egg
    – skyjack
    Aug 8, 2021 at 23:41

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