Series Synopsis
Deep with
the forest, ever watchful from the trees, a band of thieves lie in wait. Led by the infamous bandit chief Mattis (voiced by Takaai Seki), those traveling through his woods best be careful. However, a great change is on the horizon and not even this notorious clan can avoid its affects.
Far and away
from the eyes of the law, deep within Mattis’ castle stronghold, cries of joy
and jubilation can be heard. Mattis’ wife, Lovis (voiced by Yukari Nozawa),
has given birth to a precious baby girl. This loud, boisterous family of
robbers has grown a little bit larger as they welcome their newest member,
Ronja (voiced by Haruka Shiraishi).
Having grown up to be a energetic and loving child, Ronja is finally given the chance to explore her forest home to her
heart's content. Every day she happily explores the world around her. Life couldn't get any more fun. While
blissfully spending her days laughing, Ronja quickly learns how fast
everything can change.
everything can change.
One day, she meets a boy named Birk (voiced by Reika Uyama) who is
the son of Mattis’ eternal rival. Following in the footsteps of their father’s,
Ronja and Birk instantly start off despising each other. At every given
opportunity, the kids clash and throw insults. Yet this doesn't last and the more time they spend
together, the closer they become.
During a particularly
harsh winter, Ronja and Birk develop an unbreakable friendship. Unfortunately,
the bitterness between their families is an issue that cannot be ignored.
Eventually, an important choice is going to have to be made. It is a choice
that risks’ destroying everything Ronja has ever loved. |
| Ronja |
Series Positives
An entire
month without a Hajime review? Unprecedented, unheard of, inconceivable even,
and I will not stand for it.
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| Birk |
I more or less
got through the entirety of the Ghibli films without talking about their visuals or animation. Ronja is kind of
forcing my hand since it's unlike anything produced, or in this
case co-produced, by the studio.
 |
| Mattis |
From a
distance or at certain angles, the characters look like Ghibli
characters. Yet when they turn a certain way or whenever they’re in motion,
there’s this 3D effect. As
the series goes on and you grow accustomed to this style, it’s actually very
nice. Although I'll always prefer the hand drawn nuance Ghibli is known
for, the occasional alternative, when done right, is fine.
The Characters
Sanzoku no Musume Ronja is a character
anime through and through. There are twenty-six episodes to get to know this
cast and the series uses them to the fullest.
The Mattis’ clan is a big family. Little Ronja not only
has her father and mother, but she also has many uncles and a beloved grandfather figure, Skalle-Per (voiced by Umeji Sasaki). This girl never has to worry about
being bored and will always have people who care for her. It’s always nice to have a few lovable idiots
looking after you and Ronja has quite a few supporting her.
Everyone makes this show a great watch, but I'll just focus on are our leads.
First, Birk.
I’m not going to lie, in the beginning I found him to be rather
annoying. He was condescending, a smart ass, and a bit of a prick. I understand why he was able to get under Ronja’s skin because he was also getting on my nerves. But in one fell swoop, he turned it around.
Ronja and
Birk run into each other one day. This is early in their relationship so they're still on bad terms. Suddenly a strange mist rolls in, putting Birk on edge. Initially I was with Ronja thinking this kid was being a big chicken. Yet this mist turned out to be quite serious and terrifying; like oh
my god this was legitimately creepy. 
Ronja hears
a strange song being sung by what are known as the unnatural ones; which is
code for shadowy ghost children and I wasn’t having any of that. Ronja is
entranced by the melody and Birk realizes what's about to happen. If a person were to follow this song, they would not
be coming back.
Ronja isn't listening therefore Birk has to forcefully stop her. In this state of
mind, Ronja violently lashes out; scratching and even biting Birk, who refuses
to let go. He manages to hold on long enough for the mist to
subside. Ronja was left with no memory of the encounter. This was a scary scene and Birk was no longer some
punk kid I wanted to go away.
I was glad Birk became an integral piece to the story, but
Ronja is the one that made this show be worth a damn.
You see her grow up. Ronja is much older than her actual age and is considerably more insightful than the men in her family; a trait passed down from her mother. She points out a lot of the hypocrisy in her father’s feud and is willing to put everything on the line to do what's right.
You see her grow up. Ronja is much older than her actual age and is considerably more insightful than the men in her family; a trait passed down from her mother. She points out a lot of the hypocrisy in her father’s feud and is willing to put everything on the line to do what's right.
Ronja’s best
moment is after Birk gets captured by her father’s men. I like these
guys, but in this instance they crossed a line with how badly they treated the
boy. Ronja smacks them back in line, but is unable to prevent
Mattis from being unreasonable.
On the night
Ronja was born, there was an incredibly strong storm and a stray bolt of lighting struck the castle. Leaving behind a massive gap and making half of the fortress inaccessible. Birk’s father and Mattis’ rival, Borka (voiced by Atsuki Tani) moves his clan
into this section. Therefore when given the opportunity, Mattis decided to use Birk as a means to force
these unwanted guests out.
During their face off, Mattis said he would return the boy the moment Borka left and
not a second before. Until then, Birk would be locked away in the dungeon,
which I can assure you, is not pleasant. Ronja is sickened by this and decided to
make the ultimate statement; knowing it could have easily rip her family apart.
She leaped to Borka’s side of the castle and voluntarily became his captive. Saying this was a huge slap in the face to her father is an understatement, but it was exactly
what needed to happen. Words were not getting through, so dire action
needed to be taken and leave it to Ronja to make it as crystal clear as
possible.
This was the
crucial turning point in the show since it brought us to the stories main conflict,
Ronja being disowned by her father and the fallout from that. It was a great
scene and at its center was this girl who in a split second grew ten
years older.
Series Negatives
A few
things, the first one being Sanzoku no Musume
Ronja didn’t have to be twenty-six episodes.
As stated,
this is a character anime and there's a lot of time spent getting to know everyone. The payoff is fantastic whenever something happened. The
problem is, for a long time nothing happened. That turning point scene I
mentioned was the first big moment of the series. It
came in episode sixteen.
Fantasy Elements
This is a
fantasy. I've not felt obligated to really mention that up to this point
because none of the so called fantasy elements in this series needed to be here. They
served zero function and could've easily been replaced
or been removed entirely.There are these weird as hell bird creatures that appear a bunch of times but don’t do a lot. They perhaps provided a few random chase scenes, but other than that why were they here? Same goes for these strange dwarf things that were a nuisance, but not an actual threat.
I don’t
understand. Why go through the trouble of establishing the existence of
mythical creatures and then not use said
mythical creatures? A good segment of the series involved Ronja and Birk trying
to tame two horses. Not magical horse, just regular horses. Show, you do remember there are these small imp things you introduced that kind of doof
around in the background and speak in incomprehensible grunts. They
never do anything, but for some reason I know they exist.
Final Thoughts
I’m surprised Ghibli has only produced one anime in its history. If this is the
only one we’re going to get, then it’s not a bad one to have.
Sanzoku no Musume Ronja is pretty great.
This is a story that wants to get you caring about its characters and themes, and
does exactly that. Sure it might be a little long winded and not a whole lot
happens in terms of progression or point, but you’d be amazed how quickly you
go through episodes. It gets you invested, it gets you interested, and it’s
hard to turn it off.
Weather it’s
the big or small screen, the studio’s magic will find a place to shine.
Ghibli Month will continue tomorrow with Out and About: The Great Ghibli Exhibition.
Ghibli Month will continue tomorrow with Out and About: The Great Ghibli Exhibition.
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