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Brave Story (ブレイブ ストーリー)

Brave Story (ブレイブ ストーリー) is a 2006 Japanese animated fantasy film based on the novel of the same name by the best-selling author Miyuki Miyabe, produced by the animation studio GONZO together with Fuji Television and Warner Bros. Pictures and directed by Koichi Chigira1. It follows an 11-year-old boy, Wataru, who enters a parallel world called Vision (幻界, ヴィジョン) through a door that is said to change fate, after his father leaves home and his family faces collapse1. The film opened in Japan on July 8, 2006, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, with a running time of 111 minutes1, and won the Excellent Animation Film Award at the 30th Japan Academy Prize in 20071.

Key factDetail
SourceNovel Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe (Kadokawa, 2003); the novel exceeded 2.8 million copies in print2
ReleaseJuly 8, 2006, Japan; distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures; 111 minutes1
ProductionAnimation by GONZO; produced with Fuji Television and Warner Bros. Pictures1
Director and scriptKoichi Chigira (director), Ichirō Ōkōchi (screenplay)1
MusicJuno Reactor, the electronic unit known for the Matrix soundtracks3
Main voice castTakako Matsu (Wataru), Yo Oizumi (Kee Keema), Takako Tokiwa (Kutz), Eiji Wentz (Mitsuru), Miki Imai (Goddess of Destiny)4
AwardExcellent Animation Film Award, 30th Japan Academy Prize (2007)1

Spoilers

Story

Wataru is an ordinary fifth-grade elementary school pupil whose life collapses without warning: his father leaves the family, and his mother, unable to bear the shock, attempts to take her own life9. Wataru follows the transfer student Mitsuru into a strange door above the stairs of a haunted construction building, which opens into Vision, a world of swords and magic where fate can supposedly be changed5. As an apprentice traveler he sets out to obtain the treasure that grants a change of destiny, hoping to recover his broken family10.

The film's plot, as summarized by the Japanese Film Database, turns on Mitsuru's own wish: he came to Vision to revive a younger sister who died in a family suicide attempt arranged by his father, and he reaches the treasure before Wataru. Because the treasure seals a demon, Mitsuru's possession of it floods Vision with monsters, and Wataru pursues him to seal them. Dying in a battle with his own double, Mitsuru passes the treasure to Wataru, who chooses the peace of Vision over restoring his own happy family; the demon is sealed and peace returns10.

Origin and source novel

The film adapts Brave Story, a fantasy novel by Miyuki Miyabe, a writer known for a wide range of fiction and, as several Japanese sources note, a known fan of video games; her turn to a sword-and-magic adventure in the style of a classic RPG drew attention when the book appeared5. Kadokawa published the novel in 2003, and by 2021, when a new edition and the first e-book release appeared, cumulative sales had surpassed 2.8 million copies, with manga adaptations and other media tie-ins reaching a largely young readership2.

Production

The project was framed as Fuji Television's first full-scale animated feature. Fuji Television led the project, GONZO handled the animation, and Warner Bros. Pictures handled distribution and promotion; the announcement event on March 2, 2006 also confirmed game versions for PlayStation 2, PSP, and Nintendo DS6. A 2005 Japanese film industry report noted that worldwide distribution by Warner had been decided for the film, an unusual Hollywood-facing arrangement for a Fuji Television anime project7.

Staff and cast. Executive producer was Chihiro Kameyama, with Koichi Chigira directing and Ichirō Ōkōchi writing the screenplay; Yuriko Chiba was character designer and chief animation director, and Juno Reactor composed the music1. The score was led by Ben Watkins of Juno Reactor, and the sound work was produced at Skywalker Sound in San Francisco3. The voice cast drew on film and television actors rather than career voice performers: Takako Matsu voiced the hero Wataru (三谷亘), with Yo Oizumi as Kee Keema, Takako Tokiwa as Kutz, Eiji Wentz as the transfer student Mitsuru (芦川美鶴), Miki Imai as the Goddess of Destiny, Yuko Tanaka as Wataru's mother, and Kiichi Nakai-era veterans including Tsurube Shofukutei-era contemporaries such as Itsushi Ishizuka and Juri Shibata in supporting parts; Katsumi Takahashi played Wataru's father and Jiro Ishida (石田太郎) voiced Bishop Daimon4 • 8.

Reception

The film won the Excellent Animation Film Award at the 30th Japan Academy Prize1. A cultural affairs agency table of 2006 Japanese box office lists Brave Story at 2.0 (hundred million yen) for July 2006, distributed by Warner Bros.11. It opened in the same summer season as Studio Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea, Pixar's Cars, and Mamoru Hosoda's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time; director Chigira recalled the collision with Tales from Earthsea as the worst kind of scheduling clash12.

Japanese critics and viewers have generally treated the film as a condensed version of a very long novel. A review on Eiga.com called it a work with the rushed feel of a digest of a TV series, while still judging it a painstaking production that renders its hero's spiritual journey from rejecting the adult world to accepting an impersonal causality13. Viewer reviews on Filmarks repeatedly note that the film compresses the novel so heavily that important scenes are cut, with one reviewer suggesting it should have been made in two parts14.

International release and home media

The film reached French theaters on February 6, 2008, distributed by KAZE, a company better known for anime DVD distribution; the release followed repeated showings at international festivals and was expected to be small in scale15. Home video appeared on DVD, Blu-ray, HD DVD, and UMD4, and a Warner Bros. budget DVD edition carried Japanese and English subtitles with 5.1-channel surround audio16. The film has since circulated on Japanese streaming services including U-NEXT, Prime Video, and FOD17.

References

  1. ブレイブ ストーリー：作品情報・声優・キャスト・あらすじ, 映画.com
  2. 累計280万部突破！宮部みゆき氏の小説『ブレイブ・ストーリー』新装版刊行＆初の電子版配信！, KADOKAWA
  3. ニューカマーズ 2006年7月10日(月)放送 ウエンツ瑛士と見つける！映画『ブレイブストーリー』5つの宝玉・完全版, フジテレビ
  4. ブレイブ ストーリー, GONZO
  5. ブレイブ ストーリー | 映画, WOWOWオンライン
  6. PS2、PSP、DSでゲームも発売！宮部みゆき原作「ブレイブストーリー」映画発表会, 電撃オンライン
  7. 2005 U.S. Film Industry Report, National Diet Library
  8. ブレイブ ストーリーを観る, Netflix
  9. フジテレビムービー：ブレイブ ストーリー, フジテレビ
  10. JFDB - ブレイブ ストーリー
  11. 映画振興に関する資料（2006年興行収入表）, 文化庁
  12. GONZO創立25周年特別企画 千明孝一監督に聞く『青の6号』『LASTEXILE』『ブレイブ ストーリー』の制作秘話〖後編〗, Medery. Character's
  13. ブレイブ ストーリー：映画評論・批評, 映画.com
  14. ブレイブ ストーリー - 映画情報・レビュー・評価, Filmarks映画
  15. 「ブレイブ・ストーリー」2008年2月フランス公開に, アニメ！アニメ！
  16. ブレイブ　ストーリー, 紀伊國屋書店ウェブストア
  17. ブレイブ ストーリーの動画配信サービス・視聴方法・サブスクまとめ, Filmarks映画

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Japanese anime features › Released 1999 to 2013

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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