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Brave Story
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - Japan - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (2nd February 2016). |
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The Film
 “Brave Story” (2006) 5th grader Wataru Mitani (voiced by Takako Matsu) and his best friend Katchan (voiced by Mihoko Abukawa) go to a supposedly haunted building late at night for a game of dare. The boys get scared of a cat rummaging around and get separated. Though there was no ghost, Wataru is suddenly confronted by a mysterious boy with blonde hair, who then walks up a magical set of stairs to enter a large gate. When Katchan finds Wataru again, the stairs, the gate, and the blonde haired boy are gone, leading Wataru to believe it might have been a mirage or a dream. The next morning at school, a newly transferred student comes who Wataru recognizes as the blonde haired boy from the night before. His name is Mitsuru Ashikawa (voiced by Eiji Wentz) and he is immediately picked on and bullied by the older 6th graders led by Ishioka (voiced by Akira Ishida) who claim that the haunted building is their hangout and not for anyone else. But Ashikawa has no fear over the bigger kids and returns to the building anyway after school. Wataru passes by and realizes that Ashikawa is being beaten and bullied by Ishioka and his two minions, and even though he is smaller and weaker, makes his way to the building to help Ashikawa. Little do they know that Ashikawa possesses magical powers, summoning a demon to scare off the bullies. Wataru and Ashikawa strike a friendship, but it is not exactly mutual admiration. Wataru is fascinated by the mysterious boy by asking questions about the magical abilities and also who “Aya” is, a name that Ashikawa was calling when they first encountered. Ashikawa says he is envious of Wataru having a good family life, which immediately upsets Wataru. Earlier in the day, Wataru learns that his mother and father are divorcing breaking Wataru’s heart, and on top of that, Wataru returns home to find his mother collapsed in the kitchen, which sends her to the emergency room. Within the span of a day, Wataru is completely lost, but there is some hope, as he learns from Ashikawa that the great gate at the top of the haunted building would lead him into another world called “Vision”. In that world if one is to gather the mystical 5 gems, their destiny could be altered with a wish being granted. But if one fails, the person can never return to their own world. As Wataru is losing his family and he wishes his family to get back together, he decides to enter the gate to Vision, where he meets mythical creatures that would both help him and some creatures that are out to kill him. It is time for Wataru to man up and take on this physically and mentally strenuous journey in a vast world unknown to him… “Brave Story” was originally a serialized novel written by Miyuki Miyabe published in various newspapers between 1999 and 2001. The collected stories were published in 20 volume novels, then as 1000 page hardcover books, softcover books, and even an easy-type book for younger readers. With the success eventually led to other media, including a 199 episode comic series (2003-2008) that changes much of the novel’s points such as Wataru being slightly older, and an alternate comic series that paralleled the movie’s storyline. To say the animated adaptation of the novel does have differences as well, considering there was no way that 1000 pages of story could fit into a 2 hour film. “Brave Story” has similarities to western fantasy stories such as “Harry Potter”, “The Neverending Story”, “Star Wars” - the story of a young boy finding an alternate world that changes his destiny. The environment of Vision is filled with vast forests, never-ending deserts, enormous castles, colorful villages, and mysterious caverns. The world of Vision has much in common with the worlds in Japanese RPGs such as the “Dragon Quest” or “Final Fantasy” series. The world that Wataru must journey through is everything that a fantasy world has to offer, which for a novel, comics, and video games is wondrously entertaining and intriguing for exploration. But for a 2 hour standalone movie, it is absolute overkill. With the series of movies mentioned above, they had multiple films to reveal how vast the world and universe was through subsequent sequels. “Brave Story” tries to cram too much into a single film that if you blink you may miss where the characters are and what they are doing. One minute Wataru is running away from monsters, the next he is in the large plains, the suddenly in a large tree where a circus is taking place, etc. Once in the land of Vision, pay attention because things happen at a rapid pace compared to the “real world”. Also sharing a similarity with Japanese RPGs is the recruitment of “friends”, as Wataru befriends Master Guru Lau (voiced by Shiro Ito) who provides him the sword for his journey and his class as “hero apprentice”, the green lizard-like water tribesman Kee Keema (voiced by Yo Oizumi), the catwoman Meena (voiced by Chiwa Saito), the baby dragon Jozo, and the Highlander leader Kattsu (voiced by Takako Tokiwa) are all such characters that help along the journey. In addition there are other elements familiar to video games such as powering up of the sword with each gem found, the characters battling their shadow selves, and the heartbreak of seeing one of the supposed friends betraying the main group of characters. The characters and plot points of “Brave Story” are quite fun and fascinating to watch, with each character having specific traits and quirks, and an engaging main plot with additional subplots coming unexpectedly. But again with so much information, so many characters and subplots being introduced, it is almost a headache to keep all the details together. It’s like you need a map to figure out who everyone is and where everything is. (Though the “Collector’s Box” does offer a guide map. Please see the “Packaging” section of the review.) On the surface it is a children’s fantasy film, but there are also darker adult themes such as divorce, suicide, murder, and war, with some elements possibly going clear over young children’s heads but hitting heavier for older audiences. Although mentioned that the middle fantasy section does have its shortcomings with the overstuffing of information, the ending is a great emotionally satisfying finale that makes up for the middle act. At least there is the option to rewatch the film on DVD or Blu-ray and it is one that is never boring. There is so much going on that the second or third viewing will have elements viewers may have missed on first viewing. The film of “Brave Story” was animated by Gonzo, the animation studio famous for the series “Hellsing”, “Samurai 7”, “Full Metal Panic!”, and “Afro Samurai” among others. Known for their mix of traditional 2D animation mixed with 3D, “Brave Story” is one they highly experimented with occasional 3D environments and effects while characters and most environments were animated with traditional cell animation. The studio debuted in feature length animation in 2006 with 2 films: “Origin: Spirits of the Past” and “Brave Story”. “Origin: Spirits of the Past” was released theatrically by Shochiku in Japan (and also happened to be the very first Japanese anime film to be theatrically screened in China) and “Brave Story” was distributed by Warner Brothers in Japan. With a major international studio behind the marketing and releasing, “Brave Story” was given a huge marketing push as well as a larger scale budget than “Origin: Spirits of the Past". The sound was mixed at Skywalker Sound, the film was scored by English electronic artist Juno Reactor (AKA Ben Watkins), and the orchestral score was recorded in Slovakia, utilizing international resources which are things rarely done for Japanese productions. Marketing for the film was heavy in Japan, with dozens of tie-in advertisements, product placements, TV specials, video games, reissues of the books, international screenings at festivals, and a large summer holiday scheduled opening theatrically in Japan. But even with a huge marketing budget, the film only grossed approximately US$20 million at the Japanese box office ranking 15th in the top grossing Japanese films of 2006. A far cry from the largest grossing Japanese film of the year, Studio Ghibli’s lone critically panned “Tales From Earthsea” which grossed US$76 million, while far ahead of the highly acclaimed animated film “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” which only grossed US$2.5 million due to the independent distribution at very few theaters. Although “Brave Story” was nominated at the Japanese Academy Awards for Best Animated Film, the award surprisingly went to “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”, the lowest grossing yet most acclaimed animated film of the year. “Brave Story” was sadly quickly forgotten about in the anime world with no sequel films to be made, no more video game sequels, and the comics ending 2 years later. Internationally, Warner Brothers sold off the rights to various distributors including Optimum/Studio Canal in the UK, Madman in Australia, Kaze in France, etc. but unfortunately never had a distribution deal in the United States, losing a huge potential audience. Note this is a region A locked Blu-ray which can only be played back on region A or region ALL Blu-ray players
Video
Warner Brothers Japan presents the film in 1080p, in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio in the MPEG-2 codec. This was one of the first Japanese Blu-rays to be released back in 2006, when MPEG-2 was the standard codec. Even with that in consideration, the Blu-ray image looks very good (though not perfect), improving upon the transfer of the Warner Brothers DVD releases. The DVDs had a problem with edge enhancement, but luckily the Blu-ray shows none of it, with clear solid lines in the animation, nice colors, and sharpness coming directly from a digital transfer. It’s not a giant leap forward from the DVD but it clearly looks better than the NTSC DVD. Compared to the stellar looking Blu-rays of Gonzo's other film from 2006 “Origin: Spirits of the Past”, this Blu-ray looks weaker. The runtime of the film is (112:01).
Audio
The audio is where Warner Brothers Japan drops the ball on the Blu-ray. There is only one audio option: Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Considering the DVD editions had both a DTS-ES 6.1 and a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX track, it’s plain strange that the Blu-ray would only have the lesser Dolby Digital track as the option. Again, this was an early 2006 Blu-ray release, but it still leaves no excuse especially since DTS was considered a standard for Blu-ray specs. There is no lossless audio option sadly, which defeats the purpose of the Blu-ray upgrade in the audio department. On the plus side, the 5.1 EX track is very full, as the film was mixed at Skywalker Sound. Minor details such as rain, wind, school bell chimes are clear, while explosions and music take full use of the surround speakers and dialogue is always clear and easy to hear. There are optional Japanese subtitles for the film. What? When the Warner Brothers Japan DVDs offered English and Japanese subtitles, why did they opt to leave the English subtitles off of the Blu-ray? Another big minus point here to leave out the non-Japanese audience from enjoying the film in high definition.
Extras
“Brave Story” has been released in Japan in 4 editions: a standard single disc edition DVD, a 2-disc Special Edition DVD, a 4-disc “Collector’s Box” DVD (which is separately reviewed here), and a Blu-ray disc. Unfortunately for non-Japanese speakers, all extras are in Japanese without subtitles. In addition, all extras on the Blu-ray are in standard definition NTSC. Here is the breakdown of extras on the Blu-ray: "Making" documentaries (66:18) The two following documentaries play together continuously as one title, though they can be selected separately in the menu. - "Brave Story: The Five Jewels" documentary This documentary originally broadcast on Fuji TV while the film was in theaters. The documentary pretty much covers everything from the background of Gonzo studios, the animation production behind the scenes, the recording at Skywalker Studios, Oizumi and Wentz at Cannes, the voice recording, and clips from the film along with trailers and TV spots. This is more of a basic overview of the story and production rather than something in depth. in 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 windowboxed, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo - "We Are Not a Pair!" documentary This promotional short documentary created before the Japanese premiere starts as a focus on two of the voice actors Eiji Wentz and Yo Oizumi, but later reveals to be much more, showcasing all the voice actors in the film. Footage includes the voice actors in the recording booth and the actors on stage at promotional events including Cannes speaking unintelligible French. in 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 windowboxed, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Cast Profiles (text) - Takako Matsu - Yo Oizumi - Takako Tokiwa - Eiji Wentz - Miki Imai - Yoshiko Tanaka - Katsumi Takahashi - Rie Shibata - Taro Ishida - Impulse (Atsushi Tsutsumida / Toshiyuki Itakura - Hokuyo (Mihoko Abukawa / Saori Ito) - Shiro Ito - Kirin Kiki - Chiwa Saito - Ayako Kawasumi Staff Profiles - Miyuki Miyabe (novelist) / Chihiro Kameyama (executive producer) - Kôichi Chigira (director) / Juno Reactor (music) - Hiroyoshi Koiwai (producer) / Koji Kajita (producer) - Daisuke Sekiguchi (producer) / Ichirô Ôkôchi (screenwriter) - Hiroshi Shirai (3D director) / Takuhito Kusanagi (character planner) - Yuriko Senba (character designer) / Yoshio Hirooka (cinematography) - Takeshi Seyama (editor) / Yota Tsuruoka (music director) - Aqua Timez (theme performer) - Blu-ray Disc Staff List in Japanese Trailers (6:12) - Teasers - Trailers The trailers and teasers play together continuously as one title, though they can be selected separately in the menu. in windowboxed 1.78:1, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo TV CMs (8:16) - Characters - TV Spots - Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? - Merit Shampoo - "You'll Be a Brave Person" - Fuji TV “Brave Story” was heavily promoted on television not only in TV specials but commercial tie-ins with other TV shows (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire) and Merit Shampoo, in which near the beginning of the movie when Wataru follows his father, a bus with a Merit Shampoo ad is seen. Like the trailers, the commercials all play continuously as one title, though they can be selected separately in the menu. ”Millionaire” and “You’ll Be a Brave Person” are in 1.33:1, “Merit” and “Fuji TV” spots are windowboxed 1.78:1, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Game CMs (4:28) - PS2 - PSP - Nintendo DS The “Brave Story” game TV commercials are presented here. These commercials also play continuously as one title, though they can be selected separately in the menu. in 1.33:1, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Theme Song (3:20) - "Ketsui no Asa ni" Music Video by Aqua Timez - TV CM The theme song by Aqua Timez which plays in the movie during the montage sequence and at the end of the film is presented here, featuring the band performing along with footage from the film. Also presented is a commercial for the song. A big problem I have here and with most anime theme songs in general that they generally don’t fit with the movie at all. They sound like generic idol pop songs or in this case of Aqua Timez, an average pop rock song. With the fantasy world sequences, the electronic elements of Juno Reactor throughout, it seems like an odd choice of a bland rock song to fit the tone of the film, but then again it is almost always a commercial tie-in decision rather than an artistic one. Studio Ghibli is the only animation studio I can think of that does not conform to placing “the-in” pop group or pop song as a theme. But then again even major live action movies in Japan do the same thing very often. in windowboxed 1.78:1, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo "JakaJakaJanken" spot (0:44) One TV spot of “JakaJakaJanken” in which Kee Keema and Kattsu play rock scissors paper with the TV audience. The clip has 3 random versions that play. in windowboxed 1.78:1, in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo THX Start-up ad The start-up ad runs when the disc is inserted. THX Optimizer THX video and audio tests. Considering the wealth of extras included in the 4-disc "Collector's Box" DVD set, the Blu-ray presents only a small portion. The missing extras are as follows: "Brave Report" featurettes - File 1: "Film Announcement Press Conference" (10:56) - File 2: "Tokyo International Anime Fair 2006" (18:32) - File 3: "Voice Recording Vol. 1" (17:32) - File 4: "Voice Recording Vol. 2" (18:38) - File 5: "Encountering Brave Story" (7:15) - File 6: "Making of the Other World" (12:28) - File 7: "Slovakia Recording" (11:33) - File 8: "Skywalker Sound Vol. 1" (8:49) - File 9: "Skywalker Sound Vol. 2" (15:31) - File 10: "Cannes Film Festival Vol. 1" (15:36) - File 11: "Cannes Film Festival Vol. 2" (18:45) - File 12: "Slave Story" (13:48) - File 13: "The Novel and the Movie" (6:02) - File 14: "Opening Day Documentary" (9:34) "Making: Behind the Scenes of Anime Production" featurette (29:59) Archives (with text introductions) - Pilot Film (3:37) - Spectacle Machine Group's Circus (Full) (3:06) - Fire Dragon - 3DCG version (3:30) - Image Boards (stills and text) - Character Designs (stills and text) - 5 Deleted Scenes Storyboards (stills and text) Campaign - Premium Stage Opening Visuals (0:16) - Charity Campaign CM (0:31) - IQ Supli - Find 7 Mistakes (3:36) - Poster Design History (stills and text) -- Presentation -- First Poster -- Second Poster -- Theatrical Poster - Campaign Photographs (stills and text) -- Tokyo International Anime Fair 2006 -- Odaiba Boken-O "Brave Land" -- Others "Ki Kiima no soresaemo heion na hibi" short (4:23) Event Report - Completion Press Conference (14:13) - Osaka Surprise Stage Greeting (12:19) - Premiere Stage Greeting 1 (15:34) - Premiere Stage Greeting 2 (10:48) - Smash Hit Appreciation Stage Greeting (7:44) - Odaiba Eiga-O 2006 (12:13) In essence, all the DISC THREE and FOUR extras are not ported to the Blu-ray disc. Space on a single Blu-ray would have been an issue, but if they had put the film itself on one disc with lossless audio, and all the standard definition extras on a separate Blu-ray disc, space would not have been an issue. Hardcore fans have to choose between high definition video or more extras. Or buy both! With the list price of ¥9800 for the 4-disc DVD set and 4743 for the Blu-ray disc, these were not exactly priced affordably for casual fans. (Way to rape the wallets of anime fans, you greedy anime studios!) Another negative point is the authoring of the disc. First of all, the film starts as soon as you put the disc in the player, which was also a common trend with early Warner Blu-rays. Studios should know that just because a disc is inserted doesn't necessarily mean we want to watch the movie itself. Maybe we want to watch the extras instead. Or possibly change the audio or subtitle options. The DVD didn't have this problem and led straight to a menu screen first. Also a problem with the authoring of the extras. Multiple extras play in one title together rather than separately. When the first documentary is played, at the end of the documentary it doesn't revert back to the menu but then continues on to the next documentary. Sometimes this is good, having a "play all" option, but it should have been made an option rather than mandatory. But again, this is an old Blu-ray disc from 2006 so we can give the benefit of the doubt they were still testing things out in authoring.
Packaging
While the 4-disc DVD had a gorgeous box with a map, a booklet, strip of film, and colorful artwork, the Blu-ray is in a standard Blu case with no inner artwork. Since this was one of the earliest Blu-rays out, it seems Warner was just testing the waters.
Overall
“Brave Story” is an epic adventure that is just too much for its own good. Possibly if they had divided the film into 2 parts (like other Japanese novel/manga adaptations such as “Death Note” or “Parasyte”) or had taken out some of the subplots and added more depth to the remaining portions, it could have made a much better paced film. Maybe even a television series it could have had a much better run than a single film. Regardless of the negative points there are a huge amount of positives such as its first rate animation, fun characters, a great ending, and a rewatchability factor. The Japanese Blu-ray offers great picture in high definition but they completely dropped the ball by NOT including English subtitles on the Blu-ray (even though they were offered on the DVD), NOT including the DTS-ES 6.1 track (even though it was on the DVD), and not including all the extras from the DVD release. A little difficult to recommend for those reasons...
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