While Studio Ghibli has effectively shut down its full-length feature division, there remains new narratives to come from the company, in this case for smaller screens. Ronja, The Robbers Daughter is a series set to arrive on Amazon Prime Video later this month in the US and UK.
A co-production of Ghibli and Saltkråkan, the series adapts Pippi Longstocking author Astrid Lindgren's book about 10-year-old Ronja (voiced in the Western version by Teresa Gallagher), who grows up surrounded by her mother (Morwenna Banks), father (Rufus Hound) and a loving group of bandits. Exploring the forest surrounding her father's mountain fort, she befriends Birk (Kelly Adams), who just so happens to be the son of her father's rival...
With Gillian Anderson serving as narrator, Ronja is a 26-part story directed by Gorô Miyazaki (AKA Hayao's son), and has already been a big hit in Japan, scoring an international Emmy Award. “With Ronja, The Robber’s Daughter, Astrid Lindgren seems to be telling children to believe in their own power to grow, whilst telling adults to learn more from children,” Miyazaki says. "Mutual respect will attain freedom in the true sense of the word."
The show will arrive on Amazon on 27 January.
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