| Director: | Taesik Shin |
| Composer: | Jim Latham |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 39 (78 segments) |
| List Episodes: |
|
| Runtime: | 11 minutes |
Rainbow Ruby (;) is a CGI animated television series aimed at children, produced by 38 °C Animation Studio and CJ E&M Corporation in South Korea and China Entertainment Corporation (a subsidiary of China ACG Group,[1] which is an enterprise directly under the PRC Government's Ministry of Culture[2] [3]) in China, and distributed by WildBrain.
At Ruby's house, a small event related to the main plot of each episode occurs, before a red jewelry on the chest of Choco, Ruby's Teddy bear, flashes with a melody. Ruby then takes Choco to her room, and the two 'transport' themselves to the Rainbow Village There, Ruby hears an explanation from Ling Ling, the mayor of Rainbow Village, and transforms herself using her Rainbow Roller into an appropriate clothing to solve problems. Each episode concludes, back home, with another small event.
The series is distributed as 52 single episodes and as 26 double feature episodes. The airings on Family Jr. in Canada are shown in the form of the latter.
The series is distributed as 26 single episodes. The airings on RTV in Indonesian are shown in the form of the latter.
Rainbow Ruby was first showcased in the licensing market at MIPJunior 2015 in Cannes, France,[4] as announced in September that year.[5] [6] At the market, the series was announced to be the first animated series to "support girls' and women's education in partnership with UNESCO".[4] On March 12, 2016, at the 2016 Global Education Skills Forum held in United Arab Emirates, the UNESCO and the CJ Group (the parent of CJ E&M) signed a partnership agreement to use Rainbow Ruby: this agreement is a part of the Better Life for Girls campaign, which was launched in November 2014 by CJ E&M and UNESCO, and "a share of the sales from Rainbow Ruby character products will be contributed to UNESCO's global fund for promoting girls' right to education", according to UNESCO.[7] [8]
DHX Media has the distribution rights of the series for Canada, United States and the EMEA regions except France.[9] CPLG, a brand licensing agency which became a subsidiary of DHX Media in 2012, represents Rainbow Ruby worldwide except Asia and Latin America.[10] Within Mainland China, all the related rights of the series are exercised by China Entertainment Corporation.
At a business presentation to South Korean media held on February 28, 2017, CJ E&M announced that the series was sold to thirty broadcasters outside South Korea.[11] Also, the company announced that it will have a multimedia campaign in South Korea involving the series.[11]
In Canada, the series was premiered on April 23, 2016, on Family Jr.; it was then broadcast on its regular slot on Mondays starting April 25.[12] The French language version debuted on April 9, 2018, on Télémagino; for its first week, Télémagino premiered each episode per day from April 9 to 13, but premieres the rest every Monday. Both Family Jr. and Télémagino are specialty television channels which DHX Media acquired in 2014.
In South Korea, the series premiered on March 2, 2017, on EBS1, a public service terrestrial television channel operated by the Educational Broadcasting System.[13] [14] [11] From April of the same year, the series will also be broadcast on Tooniverse,[11] a specialty television channel available on multi-channel television platforms which was acquired by the CJ Group in 2009, before it was integrated into the then-newly formed company CJ E&M's broadcasting division in 2011. Other specialty channels that will broadcast the series include Animax in South Korea.[11]
Previously, it was reported in January 2016 that the series would be launched between March and April that year on Tooniverse,[15] and was reported in July 2016 that it would be within the year,[16] but there have been no indications since.
Season 2 had been released; from April 2 to June 26, 2020, and return had been released; from August 27, 2020.
In China, the series gained a governmental license of approval for distribution in the Mainland television market as a domestic animated production on April 19, 2016,[17] and it was named as one of the Outstanding Domestic Animated Television Productions in the second quarter of 2016 by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, which gives an advantage when selling such programs to broadcasters.[18]
Rainbow Ruby premiered on March 28, 2017, on CCTV-14, where it was given a time slot of Monday to Friday evenings.[19]
The series was also broadcast in multiple countries around the world. In August 2016, outside the original networks, Rainbow Ruby was acquired by ABS-CBN (via Yey!) (Philippines), RTV (Indonesia), Thai PBS (Thailand), Yoyo TV (Taiwan), Duronto TV (Bangladesh), Spacetoon (Middle East) and E-Junior (United Arab Emirates).[20] [21] [22]
In January 2017, CJ E&M/DHX Media secured deals with 10 channels to air the series.
On February 28, 2017, at a business presentation, CJ E&M announced that the series was sold to thirty broadcasters outside South Korea, with ten of them already airing the series.
In South Korea, Haksan Publishing published a series of comics adapted from each episode, using the still images from the television series. The books follow the episode order of South Korean airings.[23]
In Mainland China, the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House published a series of story books adapted from each episode, using the still images from the television series. The books follow the episode order of television airings in China.
Rainbow Ruby won a Grand Prize in Animations and Comics at the 2015's presented by China Animation Association, being ranked at number 7. The ceremony was held on October 1, 2015, as a part of the year's edition of Shenzhen Gameshow.[24]