Brave Story is one of the first animes I watched back in the day. Its a complete story in under 2 hours packed with action adventure and drama. It was 2006 and SAO wasnt out yet. Becoming a hero in another world was already a thing but not as HUGE as today. And it also meant saying goodbye to reality for a world full of dangers trying to fulfill your wish. Ive seen it a few times. It never gets old and I keep comparing it to modern isekais. Its a coming of age story for a kid whose reality is kind of sad and the first scene is all about the Surnatural coming into his Reality to give him a chance at fixing his reality by going on a Quest in the Brave World. The animation is really nice I really like the design of the Gates of this new world for example and the whole thing feels a bit Ghibliesque sometimes if Ghibli tried the isekai genre. It does have a few similarities with the Tales of Earthsea the 2006 Ghibli which is an adaptation of a book but still both show new continents through the lense of a newcomer/adventurer and question the concepts of what is Good or Evil and how far people are able to go for what they desire. Theres kind of a Made in Abyss vibe too since its a kid going into a world of adventures and you feel like this will be a kids show like idk Dragon Quest classic japanese RPG stuff right ? Well no this is not a kids movie Wataru will learn the hard way how to survive in this hellish world thankfully helped by many good people along his journey being a good person all the way choosing the path of Righteousness. So yeah this is an anime about learning to deal with reality.. by going into a fantasy world where you live adventures that lead you to Sorry for all the spoilers its really hard to write reviews without discussing how the movie is a big crescendo towards the final scene. The adventure : theres everything youd expect from 2006 fantasy anime and more that makes it very modern in many good ways.The pacing is really good theres no downtime and you really dont see the 1 hour and 50 minutes fly by The drama : this anime really takes itself seriously while also remaining a kids movie. So maybe its more of a teen movie as that is usually when you start questioning and building your identity facing many crisis and becoming a better person sometimes. Reality is used in this anime unlike many isekais today as a place Wataru will return to unless he dies making the fantasy world a momentary adventure to fix his reality instead of a place the mc will live from now on without even thinking of his old world where he was usually unhappy hello konosuba. Also this isnt some typical fantasy anime with idk... tsunderes. This is a very real world with a very real start. What I mean by that is that this was made in the era of .hack//SIGN it can be very depressing but hey thats reality theres no Megumin Aqua and Darkness here its very real issues like his mother is sick his dad is gone his friend is missing and boom a door to another world opens the same that his friend went to so he wants to find him and also fix his... Wait this is exactly the start of Tower of God. Honestly its really worth watching not only to understand where the isekai genre came from but also as a genuinely good movie about becoming a better person.