Sanzoku no Musume Ronja

Ronja the Robber’s Daughter is a show that I will be the first to admit that I’m severely biased against. The main reason is that as a swede I grew up watching the live-action version of this story, based from the children’s book by Astrid Lindgren. So rather than fight the inevitable, I wish to dedicate this review to comparing the two adaptions.

The animation is what one notices first as it is far from the usual. With a 3D-style that looks like it came straight out of a video-game, Ronja the Robber’s Daughter has a very different look, which may or may not scare some people off, though I would say that one gets used to the 3D rather quick.

Nature plays a large role in the series, to the point that one could almost call it its own character. Thanks to its amazing backgrounds you can’t help but admire the atmosphere. If you ever need to convince someone to go out camping, show them an episode or two of this. The one aspect that it lacks though is variety, while the live-action version portrays nature both as something beautiful and something that could easily kill you with its overwhelming power, the anime has a tendency to go for nothing but cuteness.

The story is intact and when it arrives at the more memorable scenes it manages to portray them well. The main problem comes from how stretched out it is. This series told a story in 26 episodes that could have been told in 12. Many episodes can literally be skipped as they involve nothing but pointless filler. While it is a Ghibli-production and one should go in expecting a lot of slice-of-life elements, I can’t help but feel that it worked against it more than in its favor this time.

When comparing the characters in each adaption I found the live-action version to be better. The dialogue in the anime tends to come off robotic and unnatural, which is a consequence of translating the story a bit too literally. The way that Ronja smiles and giggles constantly at the slightest thing nearly drove me nuts at times, and her father Mattis was portrayed as far less of an unstable and dangerous man, and more like a screaming drama-queen. Where I will say it caught me off guard was toward the end, where the characters start to reflect on what has been done and what their future holds. The father-daughter relationship comes to a good climax, and Ronja’s make-believe brother Birk in particular was developed in a way that gave me chills.

Overall, Ronja the Robber’s Daughter is a dragged out and cutesified version of the original story. Fans of Ronja are better off rewatching the live-action version or reading the book. It does however offer great art, a decent ending, and a few great scenes in between. If you are a big fan of slice-of-life or Ghibli this will be an okay watch.

Helpful

read more

Well, this was good! I was initially worried about the CGI-animation of the characters, but got used to it pretty quickly. It is very nicely done and gets you thinking about Zelda: The Wind Waker's art. Even if I still would have prefered a traditionally animated interpretation of the story, I don't think this is something that should stop people from giving this series a fair chance. And the background paintings is extremely good looking, it truly is a feast for the eyes to see swedish nature depicted in this way!

With as much as 26 episodes the series gets a long time to adapt the book in a fair way, which it does from beginning to end, with some extra fluff that doesn't take away anything from the experience. If you would compare it to the old swedish movie from the 80's, this is definitely the more true to the book. This is because all the relations, events and characters gets the time they deserve to be built up properly. In the movie they basically just piled up all the key scenes as tightly packed as possible, without giving any emotional connection to anything. This is where Sanzoku no Musume Ronja succeeds splendidly.

However, something they did not succeed in was that special feeling of norse fairy tale creatures. The interpretation of the rumphobs (rumpnissar) is pretty awful, both personality-wise and appaerance-wise. The wild harpies (vildvittror) maybe would have worked in a more detailed 2D-animated style, but now they look too flat and cheap. A good equivalent to their classic catchphrase, "Nu ska blodet rinna!" (literally: "now the blood shall flow") is also missing. The gray dwarves (grådvärgar) and the unearthly ones (de underjoriska) were okay though.

Something that the series managed, that neither the old movie nor the book did, was to give all the robbers in Matt's Fort their own distinct personalites. I greatly appreciated this. And also, the interpretation of Skalle-Per was terrific.

Besides some dumb mistakes, like the fact that they pick blueberries and raspberries in spring (they don't become ripe until late summer), the swedish nature is depicted well. Sometimes the tempo maybe was too slow, but this helped more than becoming a hindrance. The thing I missed most from the movie was all the beautiful accapella harmony songs.

This is most definitely the best work of Goro Miyazaki so far. But then he also got really good source material from the great Astrid Lindgren! A fantastic story that always is relevant to people in all ages. Strongly recommended to everyone, give it a fair chance!

Helpful

read more

Initially, I was thrown off by the 3D animation for this, and I regret that immensely. The story had me engaged in every single episode and this far surpassed my expectations. You follow Ronja throughout, and the only experience what she experiences, meaning at no point do you see what is happening in situations she is not involved in (unless it is in her imagination or if she is told a story).


This is Ghibli's only television series, and I believe that will be heavily why a CGI approach was taken for this. While it does feel very strange to watch at first, you very quickly come to love the art style and it seems to bring more life into these characters, and I can't see myself enjoying this as much if it were a normal 2D animation, which I myself find quite shocking.


From the getgo, you have a recurring song throughout, which is the Wolf's Song. This is a lullaby sang by Lovis to Ronja to help her sleep - every version I hear of this sounds beautiful. The opening and the ending songs are ones you can't help but sing along to.


Birk Borkason - A 10-11-year-old boy who lives with his mother, Undis, and her father, Borka. He is Ronja's best friend and close companion throughout the series.

Lovis - Mattis's wife and Ronja's mother, she takes care of all of the Robbers and acts as a strict/stern mother to them all, including her own husband.

Mattis - Ronja's father and Lovis' husband, as well as the Robber chieftain.

Ronja - A 10-11-year-old girl who lives with her mother, Lovis, and her father, Mattis. She is also the protagonist.

Skalle-Per (Crazy Old Man) - Also known as Noddle-Pete in the English version, he is the oldest of the Robbers and as such can no longer participate with them, and has known and looked over Mattis since the day he was born.

Helpful

read more

Astrid Lindgrens story really comes to life in this anime, which is a great adaptation and manages to make fans of the book feel right at home while still managing to excite them.

If you enjoyed the book you owe it to yourself to watch this anime, it does the source material justice, and it will make you feel like a little kid again. There is so much ejoyment to be had in this anime wether you've read the book or not.

The characters are great, there are moments of joy, moments of sadness, and everything in between.

If you want to watch a good and heartwarming anime Sanzoku no Musume Ronja is a great option. You won't regret it.

Helpful

read more