Gamera the Brave

Gamera Films
← Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris	Gamera the Brave	None →

Gamera the Brave Alternate titles Little Braves: ~Gamera~ (2006) Directed by Ryuta Tazaki Producer Yoichi Arishige Hirohisa Mukuju Written by Yukari Tatsui Music by Yoko Ueno Distributor Shochiku Company Ltd. Rating Not Rated Box office ¥410,000,000 Running time 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes) Aspect ratio 2.35:1

Gamera the Brave (小さき勇者たち～ガメラ～,   Chīsaki Yūsha Tachi ～Gamera～, lit. Little Braves: ~Gamera~) is a 2006 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Kadokawa Pictures and the twelfth in the Gamera series. The film is the first Gamera film produced by Kadokawa Pictures after they purchased a percentage of the remaining assets of Daiei Motion Picture Company, the original company responsible for the Gamera films. It was released to Japanese theaters on April 29, 2006.

While Gamera the Brave is counted as the fourth entry in the Gamera Heisei series, it does not share continuity with the previous three films.

Plot

In 1973, Gamera self-destructed to kill a flock of Gyaos, which were attacking a small village. One of the survivors was a little boy. Thirty three years later, the little boy has grown up and owns a small restaurant in the Japanese coastal town of Iseshima. He has a son named Toru.

Toru's mother has recently died in a car crash, and this is his first summer without her. When playing on the beach with his friends, he sees a strange red glow emanating from a nearby rock formation. He decides to investigate it. Toru finds an egg lying on top of a strange red rock with patterns carved into it. When he picks up the egg, a baby turtle hatches. Toru names him "Toto", which is what his mother used to call him.

Toru takes Toto home but keeps him a secret from his father who doesn't allow pets in the house. The only people he tells are his friends and his next door neighbor, a girl named Mai who is slightly older than Toru and looks after him. Toto soon reveals himself to be no ordinary turtle, as he flies and shoots fireballs from his mouth. Mai begins to suspect that Toto is actually the son of Gamera and she tries to convince Toru that keeping him is not a good idea. Toru tries not to believe her, reasoning that Toto can't be a Gamera; otherwise he would be 200 feet tall.

Toru can't bear the thought that Toto might be a kaiju. But soon Toto starts to grow and quickly becomes the size of an adult turtle. Too large to hide, Toru and his friends move Toto to an abandoned shack on the beach to keep him. Unfortunately, one day Toru comes up to check on Toto and realizing he is gone, is devastated.

Meanwhile, off the coast of Iseshima, many bizarre shipping disasters have been occurring. No one knows what is happening, or what is causing the disasters. As Toru is sulking over the loss with his friends, tornado sirens begin blaring. Heavy stomping is heard, and soon the dinosaur-like monster Zedus appears.

Zedus eats several people trying to run away. Out of no where, Toto appears and is much larger. Sporting tusks, Toto is ready for battle. Toto gets pummeled in his first battle, falling victim to Zedus' long, piercing tongue and the government shortly arrives to capture and investigate him. In order to combat this new menace, they hook Toto up to a machine which feeds him a liquid version of the strange red stone that Toru had found the egg laying on, which scientists theorize gives Gameras their power.

Zedus attacks again, and a newly revitalized Toto flies out to battle him. Zedus uses his agility and long kicking legs to his advantage to put Toto at a disadvantage. Toto needs to eat the stone his egg rested on if he is to truly become a Gamera. Unfortunately, Toru had given the stone to Mai earlier for good luck for her hospital operation. From a news report Mai also knows of the stone's power, and all these children create a courier service where one child delivers the stone to another, always repeating the words "For Toto!"

The stone eventually gets to Toru, who runs into the evacuated city to give it to Toto. His worried father catches up to him and tries to stop Toru out of fear that he will be killed if Toto self-destructs like his father did in 1973. Toru's father eventually decides they might as well continue as they are already in a perilous situation.

They go to the top of the building where Zedus had lodged Toto earlier, and after a short monologue, Toru throws the stone into Toto's mouth. Toto breaks out of the building, now a fully fledged Gamera. Toto then flies towards Zedus and tackles him, knocking him off the building. Toto tears off Zedus' deadly tongue, and blasts him with a fireball, killing him. The government surrounds Toto to study him, but Toru stalls them long enough for Toto to escape. The film ends as Toto flies into the sky and Toru says "Sayonara, Gamera."

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

• Directed by   Ryuta Tazaki
• Written by   Yukari Tatsui
• Produced by   Yoichi Arishige, Hirohisa Mukuju
• Music by   Yoko Ueno
• Cinematography by   Kazuhiro Suzuki
• Edited by   Shogo Hirasawa
• Production design by   Yuji Hayashida
• Assistant directing by   Shotaro Kobayashi
• Director of Special Effects   Isao Kaneko
• Visual Effects by   Hajime Matsumoto

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

• Ryo Tomioka   as   Toru Aizawa
• Kaho   as   Mai Nishio
• Kanji Tsuda   as   Kousuke Aizawa
• Susumu Terajima   as   Osamu Nishio
• Kaoru Okunuki   as   Harumi Nishio
• Shingo Ishikawa   as   Ishimaru Ishida
• Shogo Narita   as   Katsuya Aizawa
• Kenjiro Ishimaru   as   Professor Soichiro Amamiya
• Tomoro Taguchi   as   Councilor Yoshimitsu Hitotsugi
• Megumi Kobayashi   as   Miyuki Aizawa
• Toshinori Sasaki   as   Gamera and Toto
• Mizuho Yoshida   as   Zedus

Appearances

Monsters

• Toto
• Zedus
• Gamera
• Gyaos

Gallery

Main article: Gamera the Brave/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: Gamera the Brave (Soundtrack).

Theatrical Releases

• Japan - April 29, 2006

DVD and Blu-ray Releases

Universe Laser & Video DVD (2006)

• Region: 3
• Discs: 1
• Audio: Japanese (Dolby Digital 5.1), Cantonese (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified)
• Special Features: Trailer, photo gallery

Tokyo Shock DVD/Blu-ray (2008/2013)

• Region: 1 (DVD) or A/1 and B/2 (Blu-ray)
• Discs: 1
• Audio: Japanese (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 5.1), English (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 5.1)
• Subtitles: English
• Special Features: How to Make a Gamera Film featurette (37 minutes), trailer, two TV spots
• Notes: The English dub on the Blu-ray has audio synchronization issues. Out of print.

Reception

Despite being considered a failure at the box office, Gamera the Brave was met with mostly positive reception. The film's effects and story were frequently praised, especially the relationship between Toru and Toto. Katsuhito Ishii, director of the 50th anniversary GAMERA short, cited this film as one of his favorites and a tremendous influence on his project. The film currently holds a 6.9/10 on IMDb and a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film has also received its fair share of criticism. Some fans criticized Toto's cute appearance in contrast to the ferocious appearance of Gamera from Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris. Many fans were upset at the film's attempt to move away from the seriousness of Shusuke Kaneko's trilogy back to the kid-friendliness of the Showa era. Gamera's iconic roar being replaced by stock King Kong roars was also a source of disappointment for many.

Videos

Gamera the Brave teaser trailer Gamera the Brave trailer

Trivia

• Gamera the Brave is, according to a Heisei Gamera book titled Heisei Gamera Perfection, part of the Heisei series. Despite this, it does not share continuity with Shusuke Kaneko's trilogy, and is a completely standalone film.
• During a scene involving Toto as a baby turtle exploring Toru's home, he wanders into the kitchen where Toru's father is feverishly cooking. As the father turns, he knocks a knife off of the counter and it lands with the bottom edge sticking into the ground and the point rising up above Toto's head, looking quite similar to a former foe of Gamera's, Guiron. He shoots a fireball at it with an angry expression on his face and wanders away, leaving Toru's father (who never saw the little turtle) to pick up his singed knife with a confused look on his face.
• The Twin Towers where Toto fights Zedus are located at Nagoya Station.
• Some of the roars used by Toto are from the same audio tracks originally used by King Kong in the 1976 remake, performed by Peter Cullen.
• The reason why Gamera chose to self-destruct at the beginning of the film is never specified, although in the novelization "ともだち 小さき勇者たち ~ガメラ~," it mentions that Gamera was unable to shoot fireballs prior to the explosion because Gyaos' sonic beams had sliced off his lower jaw.

References

This is a list of references for Gamera the Brave. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]