Ronja, the Robber's Daughter (2014 TV series)

• 1. Introduction

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  Ronja, the Robber's Daughter holds an unusual distinction: it is Studio Ghibli's first television series. At its center is a girl coming of age inside a world ruled by a robber clan, testing herself against a forest full of dangers. What happens when a director from one of Japanese animation's most recognized families takes on that story, and where did it actually come from? Once the anime reaches the screen, how far does it travel, and who ends up narrating it in English? What do critics make of it?

• 2. Into the Forest

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  Ronja is the only child of a bandit chief, raised inside a castle in the woodlands of early-Medieval Scandinavia among a clan of robbers. Once she is old enough, she ventures beyond the castle walls and into the surrounding forest. There she finds both wonders and dangers, including creatures the story describes as mystical, dwelling among the trees. She learns to survive mostly through her own strength, though her parents occasionally step in to rescue her.

  Her routine changes when she meets a boy her own age named Birk. Birk turns out to be the son of the chief of a rival robber clan, and the series credits him elsewhere as Birk Borkason. That friendship between two children from feuding clans becomes the thread a Japanese production team built the rest of the series around.

• 3. A Team Takes Shape

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  The series adapts the novel Ronia, the Robber's Daughter, known in Swedish as Ronja Rövardotter and written by Astrid Lindgren. Polygon Pictures, Studio Ghibli, NHK Enterprises and Dwango produced the cel-shaded television series together. Goro Miyazaki directed the show and also handled its storyboarding.

  Hiroyuki Kawasaki took charge of series composition and wrote the scripts. Katsuya Kondō designed the characters, Toshio Suzuki contributed the title logo, and Satoshi Takebe composed the music.

  Miyazaki described his approach directly: "Ronja, the Robber's Daughter is not only a story about a young girl growing into adulthood, but also a story of love, growth, and the bond between parent and child and their friends." He added that the series could be enjoyed by everyone, from children to adults.

  Kazuyoshi Saito wrote, produced and performed every instrument on the song "Player," created for Mari Natsuki to sing as the series' ending theme. Finishing the series in Japan was only the first step; reaching audiences beyond it would take its own separate effort.

• 4. Crossing Borders

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  Serious Lunch, a UK-based distributor, acquired worldwide rights to the series excluding Japan and Scandinavia. The company sought English-language broadcasters and presented the series to potential backers at the 2015 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

  Amazon began streaming the series on Amazon Prime on the 27th of January 2017. GKIDS then released it in the United States on the 20th of August 2019, distributed through Shout! Factory. Additional licenses went to UYoung Media in China and to PTS in Taiwan.

  Gillian Anderson narrates the series' English-language dub. The BBC separately produced a Scottish Gaelic version titled Ronia, Nighean a' Mhèirlich. It aired on the BBC Alba channel and reached viewers through its iPlayer service in 2022 and 2023. None of that international reach said anything yet about how critics would judge the finished series.

• 5. Critics and Recognition

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  Reviews of Ronja, the Robber's Daughter were mostly positive. The Guardian, Collider, The Daily Dot, Slate, iDigitalTimes, Starburst and Mir Fantastiki were among the outlets praising it. Reviewers pointed to the show's visual beauty and its faithfulness to the original novel, while criticizing its slow pacing.

  Swedish journalist Yukiko Duke published a negative review of the series. The Onion's The A.V. Club and Polygon also ran unfavorable assessments.

  At the 2015 Asian Television Awards, the series was entered in the Best 2D Animated Programme category. The following year, it appeared in the International Emmy Awards' Kids: Animation category. That nomination made 2016 the second year running that Ronja, the Robber's Daughter had been named in industry award consideration. It followed the series' entry the year before at the Asian Television Awards.