Brave Story

Brave Story (ブレイブ・ストーリー Bureibu Stōrī?) is a Japanese fantasy novel written by Miyuki Miyabe. It was serialized in various regional newspapers between the November 11, 1999 and February 13, 2001 before being published in two hardcover volumes by Kadokawa Shoten in March 2003. The story of the novel follows 5th Grade student Wataru Mitani as he stumbles upon "Vision", a fantasy world, after his parents divorce and his mother attempts suicide. The novel is available in the English language by Viz Media. Brave Story has spawned into a substantial media franchise. The novel was adapted into a manga by Yoichiro Ono and Miyabe herself, who wrote the new story for the manga, which was serialised in Shinchosha's Weekly Comic Bunch. Shinchosha collected the chapters of Brave Story in twenty tankōbon volumes and released them from April 2004 to May 2008. In the manga version Wataru is slightly older and already in high school. In 2006 the novel was rereleased in two new editions, a three volume softcover version of the earlier hardcover release intended for mature readers and a light novel version marketed for younger readers. These were intended to create interest in the animated film adaption by Gonzo released in Japan by Warner Bros. later that year on July 8, 2006. The film was nominated for "Animation of the Year" at the 2007 Japanese Academy Awards and also released on home video in Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Taiwan and Germany. The novel was loosely adapted into three video games: Sony Computer Entertainment's PSP game, Brave Story: New Traveler; Namco Bandai's Nintendo DS game, Brave Story: My Dreams and Wishes and Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 2 game, Brave Story: Wataru's Adventure.