Studio Ghibli’s first TV series getting English dub courtesy of Amazon

Gillian Anderson to narrate official 26-episode dub of Ronja the Robber's Daughter.

Famed animation studio Studio Ghibli launched its first TV series, Ronja the Robber's Daughter, in 2014, and fans' wait for an official Western version is now coming to an end, thanks to Amazon.

After the series' 26-episode run wrapped, the studio began shopping an English-language version to various international channels and distributors. That shopping apparently concluded this week, as Amazon confirmed via a Friday press release that Ronja's dub will debut exclusively on Amazon Video in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Japan. The news didn't include a release date, but it did confirm one familiar voice joining the Ronja cast: Gillian Anderson, whose voice previously appeared in famed Ghibli film Princess Mononoke.

As the studio's first release to employ 3D-rendered characters, Ronja the Robber's Daughter represents a huge shift for Ghibli's production process. This style will look familiar to anybody who has seen the mix of 2D and 3D animation and heaping dollops of cel-shading from the animation studio's cut scenes in the Ni No Kuni JRPG series of video games. (That game's sequel has yet to launch in either Japan or the West.)
The company's first TV series plays it safe by adapting an existing children's story as opposed to creating its own—in this case, from the works of Swedish author Astrid "Pippi Longstocking" Lindgren. Reviews of its Japanese version point to an approach tailored specifically for little kids, but we imagine Ghibli-loving parents will want to tune in to see the directorial work by Goro Miyazaki, son of Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki.