is a 2006 Japanese kaiju film directed by Ryuta Tasaki, written by , and produced by Kadokawa Daiei Studio. It is the twelfth and latest installment in the Gamera film series, and serves as the second reboot of the franchise, with the first being Gamera: Guardian of the Universe in 1995 (which was distributed by Toho), as well as the final installment of the Heisei-era Gamera film series. It is also the first entry in the series to be produced by Kadokawa Daiei Studio after the company purchased a percentage of the remaining assets of Daiei Film, the original studio that was responsible for making the Gamera films.
Gamera the Brave stars , Kanji Tsuda, Kaho, and Susumu Terajima, and features as Toto, the newly hatched Gamera. The film was released theatrically in Japan on April 29, 2006, and was distributed by Shochiku.
Plot In 1973, Kosuke Aizawa evacuates his home in Shima, which is under attack by a swarm of man-eating bird-like creatures called the Original Gyaos until a benevolent fire-breathing turtle-like creature named Avant Gamera intervenes to buy time for the evacuation. Unable to exterminate all of the Gyaos, Gamera sacrifices himself in a self-destruct ability to end the threat of the Gyaos for good as Kosuke watches from the shores.
33 years later when Kosuke has matured into adult, his son Toru has a fear of being left alone because he is plagued by memories of his late mother Miyuki and Kosuke having to work hard to support his family. Toru's fears are intensified when he finds his neighbor, Mai, has to undergo dangerous heart surgery. When his other friends, Katsuya and Ishimaru, take him out exploring to try and cheer him up, Toru discovers an unusual egg atop a red stone in the same place original Gamera self-destructed decades ago. The egg, which is revealed to be Gamera's egg, hatches into a juvenile Gamera, which Toru nicknames Toto, after what Miyuki used to call Toru. Toto begins to display remarkable abilities such as high intelligence, levitation, and breathing small bursts of fire; while growing at a rapid rate.
Meanwhile, Toto quickly outgrows the house and is relocated by Toru and his friends to maintain secrecy. Toru also gives Mai the red stone he found Toto's egg on as a good luck charm for her heart surgery. However, after a storm, Toru finds Toto has left his hideaway and gone missing. Concurrently, many shipping disasters occur in the area, the cause of which is Zedus, a monstrous, man-eating mutated reptile.Akihiko Kikawa, Junichi Nakamura, 2006, "これはびっくり!! 大怪獣ガメラ完全解剖図" and "やっぱりびっくり!! 海魔獣ジーダス完全解剖図", Official film pamphlet of Gamera the Brave, Kadokawa
As Zedus soon thereafter rampages through the city, and corners Toru, Kozuke, and Toru's friends, Toto, now significantly larger, intercedes, but he is wounded in the battle and gets captured by government officials. Privy to Gamera's species being benevolent creatures and knowing Zedus would return, the government has scientists who studied the original Gamera work to help heal wounded Toto. Keeping him in a warehouse, they bandage Toto and hook Toto up to a machine which infuses him with liquid derived from mysterious red stones found in the vicinity of the original Gamera's self-destruction, which the scientists theorize give Toto their power.
Mai's surgery is successful and her mother Harumi calls Kosuke and Toru to give the good news, but she also states that Mai keeps muttering in her sleep that Toto needs the glowing red stone. Zedus attacks again and the now near fully-grown Toto goes out to battle him to save fleeing citizens. Toru and his friends determine that Toto must consume the red stone which Toru had found with Toto's egg, a much larger and more concentrated form of the red beads the scientists had used, in order to gain his full power. Kosuke, having seen the damage a battle can have first hand and not wanting to lose his son as he did his wife, initially opposes their efforts to get close to Toto; but comes around to help them after ensuring Katsuya and Ishimaru get to safety.
Mai tries to reach them or Toto to deliver the red stone, but her post-surgery weakness inhibits her. The red stone however, seems to connect to various human children, who come to Mai's aid and relay the stone across the city to Toru and his friends. Zedus, firmly having the upper-hand in the battle, hurls Toto into a skyscraper. Kosuke holds up the debris to help Toru get into the top of skyscraper and Toru, after begging Toto not to sacrifices himself like his predecessor did, throws the red stone into Toto's mouth during the battle. As the power of jet-propelled flight manifests Toto, he fires a charged-up plasma fireball attack down Zedus' throat, killing it in the process.
Toto escapes further government investigation with Toru, Kosuke, and the other children's assistance. Watching Toto fly off into the sky, Toru tearfully bids him farewell.
Cast
Production
In 2002, Kadokawa acquired Daiei Film properties from Tokuma Shoten, and Kadokawa president announced to produce Godzilla vs. Gamera and a Daimajin reboot, following the failed attempt to produce a crossover between Gamera and Godzilla by prior to his death in 2000. Toho eventually turned down the offers, leading to the production of Gamera the Brave after the temporal cease of Godzilla franchise since Godzilla: Final Wars. Zedus was intentionally designed after kaiju from Toho and Tsuburaya Productions; Godzilla, TriStar Pictures' Godzilla, Godzilla-based Jirahs,, September 1, 2023, 平成ガメラ造型写真集, p.174, pp.198-202, pp.208-217, Hobby Japan Varan, Gorosaurus, and so on.Naohiko Mamiya, May 20, 2006, Gamera the Brave Super Complete Works, pp.34-35, p.54, Shogakukan
Despite its popularity, the Heisei Gamera trilogy was highly controversial among executives, crewmembers of the Showa films and even crewmembers of the trilogy itself. Noriaki Yuasa, who died two years prior to the release of Gamera the Brave, expressed his disfavors for the Heisei trilogy and emphasized the importance of differentiating the franchise from Godzilla.Hurricane Ryu, 5 May 2024, ガメラに拘りがあったのは、脚本の高橋二三氏でしたね。ただ湯浅監督も「俺達はゴジラと違う事をやろうとガメラを創ったから、ゴジラと同じ事はやっちゃダメだ」とは話されてました。, X (Twitter)
The trilogy's direction was shaped due to the tendencies of the trio to disfavor Gamera (Showa Gamera) and their preferences of the Godzilla and other Toho franchises, along with their dissatisfaction towards the Heisei Godzilla continuity. Multiple disagreements between the studio and Kaneko's side disrupted the production of Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, and especially the artificial origins of kaiju resulted in a near-dismiss of Shusuke Kaneko and a near-resignation of one of leading producers, and the project itself was nearly cancelled.
The plot of Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, in which Gamera's destructions of Shibuya made children to cry and forced their parents to leave theaters,, July 20, 2010, Daiei Tokusatsu Movie Encyclopedia: Daikaiju Fantasy Battle Gamera vs. Daimajin, pp.56-57, Newtype, Kadokawa Shoten and the proposed plot for "Gamera 4" (in which Gamera furtherly brings destruction), aside from the financial situation of Tokuma Shoten and the death of Yasuyoshi Tokuma, were the major factors of the demise of the continuity.
Executives and crews of Gamera the Brave were aware of the popularity of the Heisei trilogy, Kadokawa Daiei's financial insufficiency, and the risks to fail by rebooting with a completely different series; taking a different path from the trilogy was controversial (pros and cons were comparable within Kadokawa) where a number of stakeholders had suggested to produce either sequels to the trilogy or its prequel or a side story, or similar films. However, executives emphasized the importance to recover the ideology of the franchise and to extricate from the trilogy, with a slogan to "return Gamera to children", and didn't approve such directions, and the producer Yoichi Arishige declared he would not participate if the film was going to become a sequel to the Heisei trilogy.
Gamera the Brave was also aimed to appeal to children and female audiences who were disregarded during the Heisei trilogy era, where the trilogy's increasingly maniac and unbalanced direction especially Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris didn't contribute in expanding the fan base and proceeds of merchandises (by increasing threshold to invite newer audiences), and the 1999 film was particularly shunned by such segments. This tendency has triggered additional concerns among executives about the demise of the franchise by neglecting to appeal to wider audiences among changing markets, further supporting the direction not to produce sequels to the trilogy. To achieve this, the film was also aimed to avoid "standards" of kaiju films (akin to the productions of Showa Gamera films back then), partially due to a slump of kaiju genre itself (including the commercial failure of Godzilla: Final Wars) and the well-received Heisei Mothra trilogy.
Casting for Gamera the Brave was aimed to assign staffs who had not participated in Shusuke Kaneko and Shinji Higuchi's teams for the Heisei trilogy, and was conducted without informing the two. Prior to the filming, , the current president of Nikkatsu who served as a producer for both the Heisei trilogy and Gamera the Brave, summoned Shusuke Kaneko and informed that the new film will be differentiated from the Heisei trilogy, and indirectly requested Kaneko to avoid intervening its production.
The script of Gamera the Brave was redeveloped from one of the original scripts of Gamera: Guardian of the Universe by Chiaki and ,, 2021, Vol. April 2021, p.6, Futabasha which and the one by were written prior to the appointments of Kazunori Ito, and the "Konaka Gamera" was influenced by the 1972 film Daigoro vs. Goliath by Tsuburaya Production, which was influenced by Daiei and Showa Gamera films. Early plots of Tsuburaya's Ultraman Tiga and Digimon Tamers by Toei AnimationChiaki Konaka, Guilmon, konaka.comChiaki Konaka, The tweet on March 17, 2018 were also based on the same Gamera script by the Konaka brothers.ASCII Media Works, 2014, Heisei Gamera Perfection, pp.193-205, p.237, Kadokawa Shoten
Various productions had either major or minor influences on Gamera the Brave; Helen the Baby Fox, Rex: A Dinosaur's Story, Daiei Film's Yokai Monsters, Gorgo, King Kong, the aforementioned Heisei Mothra trilogy, The Yearling and Bambi, a Life in the Woods, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Babe, Star Trek, Kamen Rider Ryuki, and Sgt. Frog.
For its production, advertisement, and distribution, the film had also collaborated with the aforementioned Helen the Baby Fox and Sgt. Frog, and additionally with Oha Suta.
The film was distributed by Shochiku; Gamera and Yokai Monsters franchises have always relied on distributions by other companies ever since Gamera vs. Zigra by the Dainichi Eihai due to the loss of Daiei Film's exclusive theater chains.
Release The film opened at No. 6 at the box office in Japan and became a commercial failure.
Reception Andrew Kasch of the website Dread Central gave the film a score of 3 1/2 out of 5, writing that "Even with its kid-centric approach, Gamera the Brave is guaranteed to please most kaiju enthusiasts, and the new franchise should be enough to fill the empty hole left in Godzilla's absence." Tom Mes of Midnight Eye called the film "an agreeable time waster that introduces the tried and true kaiju formula to a new generation", but wrote that "anyone aged 13 or over will likely be looking elsewhere for their monster movie fix".
In the years following the film's release, a hoax circulated online which claimed that a giant ancient tortoise, shown in photographs being transported on a flatbed truck, was caught in or around the Amazon River. In actuality, the tortoise shown in the photographs was a full-scale, 15-foot-long prop of Toto which was used in the film.