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

Ronja, the Robber's Daughter (山賊の娘ローニャ) is a Japanese anime about Ronja, the only child of a bandit chief, who grows up among a clan of robbers living in a castle in the woodlands of early-Medieval Scandinavia. When Ronja grows old enough she ventures into the forest, exploring and discovering its wonders and dangers like the mystical creatures that dwell there. She learns to live in the forest through her own strength, with the occasional rescue by her parents. Ronja's life begins to change, however, when she happens upon a boy her own age named Birk, who turns out to be the son of the rival clan chief.

Characters

 * Ronja (ローニャ)
 * Mattis (マッティス)
 * Lovis (ロヴィス)
 * Birk (ビルク) aka Birk Borkason
 * Borka (ボルカ)
 * Undis (ウンディス)
 * Noddle-Pete (スカッレ・ペール)
 * Fjosok (フョーソク)
 * Pelje (ペリェ)
 * Tjorm (チョルム)
 * Sturkas (ストゥルカス)
 * Knotas (クノータス)
 * Tjegge (チェッゲ)
 * Lill-Klippen (リル・クリッペン)
 * Jutis (ユティス)
 * Joen (ヨエン)
 * Labbas (ラッバス)
 * Turre (トゥッレ)
 * Harpy (鳥女)
 * Rumphobs (ずんぐり小人)
 * Narration (ナレーション)

Production
The anime is a cel-shaded television series, based on the novel Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (Ronja Rövardotter) written by Astrid Lindgren. Produced by Polygon Pictures, Studio Ghibli, NHK Enterprises and Dwango, the series is directed and storyboarded by Gorō Miyazaki, with Hiroyuki Kawasaki handling series composition and writing the scripts, Katsuya Kondō designing the characters, Toshio Suzuki providing the title logo and Satoshi Takebe composing the music. Miyazaki stated that "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", also saying that the series can be enjoyed by everyone, from children to adults. Kazuyoshi Saito wrote, produced and performed all the instruments on "Player" for Mari Natsuki to sing as the ending theme song. It is Studio Ghibli's first television series.

UK-based distributor Serious Lunch has acquired the worldwide distribution rights, except for Japan and Scandinavia. It sought English-language broadcasters and brought the series to potential backers at the 2015 Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Amazon began streaming the series on its Amazon Prime service on January 27, 2017. GKIDS released the series in the United States on August 20, 2019 (distributed by Shout! Factory), and additional licenses were sold in China (UYoung Media) and Taiwan (PTS). The English dub is narrated by Gillian Anderson. The BBC also produced a Scottish Gaelic dub of the series - "Ronia, Nighean a' Mhèirlich" - which was broadcast on the BBC Alba channel and available on its iPlayer service in 2022/23.

Reception
Critical reception of Ronja, the Robber's Daughter was mostly positive. The series was praised in reviews by The Guardian, Collider, The Daily Dot, Slate, iDigitalTimes, Starburst, Mir Fantastiki, among others. Meanwhile, Swedish journalist Yukiko Duke, The Onion's The A.V. Club and Polygon published negative reviews. The show was praised for its visual beauty and being faithful to the original novel, but criticized for slow pacing.

Awards

 * 2015
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 * Asian Television Awards — Best 2D Animated Programme
 * Won
 * 2016
 * International Emmy Awards — Kids: Animation
 * Won
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 * Won
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