Sanzoku no musume Rônya

I watched this show during quarantine with my then 6 year old daughter and we both were charmed. The fact that it was technically a Ghibli production made it even better. It was a thoroughly enjoyable show, like Romeo and Juliet minus all the adult elements, age gap and romance.

It is extremely hard to find refreshing kids content that prioritizes nature and good lessons these days. That is why me and my daughter are constantly rewatching Totoro. This show fits that perfectly though. So when I randomly remembered this show the other day, I thought it was a perfect fall show and invited my now eight year old to watch it with me. So we sat down on the couch, queued up Amazon Prime (the streaming service it used to be on) and searched for it. But when we clicked on it, we got a nasty surprise! It says watch free with Prime, but when you click on that it only takes you to the trailer. So I scrolled down and saw that you can't play any of the episodes, only the freaking bonus trailer.

Apparently you have to pay 30 dollars to buy the complete season on Amazon and also 30 dollars if you want the DVD!

Amazon Prime has disappointed me by removing most of the enjoyable, educational children's content on there (the Long Long Holiday was another one we thoroughly enjoyed, then went to rewatch and it was gone). First HBO Max and Netflix screwed over animation by removing and canceling a batch of animated shows, and now Amazon Prime is repeating that! Take your money to Hulu or Disney+, or buy DVDs instead.

The not so good:

Some of the voice talent seems a bit miscast. That said, the performances do grow on you The 3D animation takes a bit of getting used to. The character of Mattis is somewhat irritating and feels a little bit too melodramatic.

The good?

In watching the initial episodes, the animation was decent and the story seemed a bit slow at times. Stick with it. It's touching, fun, sad poignant, perilous and magical with some genuinely scary characters added to the mix. For the most part it is gentle, touching on friendship, relationships and a love of the outdoors. Much to my surprise, I've fallen in love with it, and the characters (mostly).

The backgrounds are sumptuous, and despite my previous comments the 3D, while occasionally a bit clunky, really grows on you, and in fact is really quite good. There are some very special moments that are worth waiting for, you'll know them when you see them, which take this way beyond just a childish cartoon into something with quite a powerful message that is of use to us all.

There are a few scenes that just blew me away, that were totally unexpected and unusual (?) in a "kids" production. A result of the ethos of not talking down to children at Ghibli?

This isn't just a collection of independent episodes either, with is a clear story arc running through the whole series.

A slow burner that will eventually melt your heart. It really is enchanting.

Edited to add:

I'd never read any of Astrid Lindgren's books and after watching the series, out of sheer curiosity, I've read the book. What is most surprising is that the series reflects the book perfectly. It is unusual in that it is a complete and true adaptation, to the extent that most of the (English Language version) dialogue is taken straight from the book. Much credit should go to the producers at Ghibli for having the courage to make it this way!

What would otherwise have been a beautiful animation series has been completely ruined by the miscasting of the lead voice in English. Ronja is supposed to be 11 years old - My daughter (8) has been constantly mocking the voice of Ronja as she says she sounds like a toddler. The voice is so gratingly irritating it has completely destroyed any enjoyment of the series there might otherwise have been.

I sympathise with the other comments of the music and voice dubbing in English which seems disjointed but all of this might have been forgiven as the animation, characters and creatures would be engaging in themselves.

I expect that the original in Japanese would not suffer from these drawbacks. So it is down to me and my children to study Japanese, or perhaps we could beg the production company to re-voice Ronja, then I might shell out the £25 for the DVD box set for a second time!

I and my kiddos (8 year old girl, 5 year old boy) watched this during summer 2020. We all got really into it and watched 2 or 3 episodes each night, which probably qualifies as binging for this age rage. The series features beautiful if fairly simple animation, a catchy introductory song, and an exciting storyline that manages to be slow-paced and episodic, with the narrative focused mostly on Ronya growing up. The beautiful forest is the spiritual focus of the series, and Ronya loves to explore it. Yet danger lurks not only through natural hazards, but also the evil harpies and other spirits, as well as the violent life of Ronya's robber family. Especially their feud with the rival robber clan that has moved into the other side of their castle, and its young prince "Birk," Ronya's love interest. The generally tranquil (despite the dangers) and joyful feel of the series contrasts uncomfortably with the fact that most of the people whose lives are empathetically chronicled are hardened criminals, despite the fact that they don't seem ever to kill anyone. But the series is redeemed by Ronya and Birk, who reject their parents' feud and their lifestyle, as well as Ronya's strong relationship with her father Mattis, who ultimately is convinced to give up his family's traditional "profession" because of her. Also, my kids loved calling Mattis a "man-baby" and calling out his various "meltdowns"!

Only 4 episodes in and I want it to end. The computer animation is not Ghibli! It's awful and doesn't move properly. This blu-ray only contains the english dub.....and it's horrific! The voice actors do not suit the characters one bit. They don't suit Ghibli. The voices of Ronja and her mother are particularly bad. It's such a shame. I love Ghibli and rewatch their movies often, this is one I'll never watch again.