[Anime] Studio Ghibli Working on TV Anime Adaptation of Ronia the Robber's Daughter

Okay, this one came out of left field entirely for me. Turns out that Studio Ghibli is seeking new avenues for their works in the post Hayao Miyazaki era. His eldest son, Goro, is heading up the project and this marks the first time anything by Ghibli will be aired as a TV series. Goro Miyazaki is no stranger to directing either, having helmed both Tales of Earthsea and From Up on Poppy Hill in the past.

Ronia the Robber's Daughter is originally from Sweden, and was originally published way back in 1981. The story focuses on a girl named Ronia, the only daughter of Mattis who is the leader of bandits in a castle in the forest. She learns how to live in the forest where strange creatures live.

Sounds pretty much in the same vain as many of Hayao's works and should prove to be quite the interesting adaptation into a series. Lots of potential there to work if done properly, but only time will tell. I also wonder a bit if this has anything to do with Hayao Miyazaki's recent comments on anime as a whole being too "otaku centered". Maybe Ghibli is taking his philosophy to heart?

The series will be produced by NHK and Dwango and the folks over at  Polygon Pictures are helping with the animation in cooperation with Studio Ghibli. Definitely going to be interesting to see how the collaboration works out and just how Ghibli is received on the TV market as a whole.

Ronia the Robber's Daughter is scheduled to air this coming fall on NHK (and likely other channels as well) if everything goes to plan. So, until then we'll just have to keep an eye out for more development of this new and exciting project from Studio Ghibli and see just how they fair without Hayao at the controls!

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