The Wizard of Oz to create an entertaining, surprisingly adult adventure story whose seams sometime show."Brave Story was ranked fifth on an About.com poll for the best shōnen manga of 2007. A.E. Sparrow from IGN commends Brave Story manga for Yochiro Ono's artwork and he compares them to "some of the more recent manhwa (Korean) titles that have also come out of the Tokyopop camp". Mania.com's Nadia Oxford comments that the " unforgiving landscape" of the fantasy world "Vision" "seems to somehow reflect the mental state of its inhabitants". Scott Campbell from ActiveAnime commends the manga for its "detailed art and involving story". Snow Wildsmith from Teenreads commends Miyabe's "talent for switching between reality and fantasy, action and pathos, humor and seriousness, which helps make her story both more interesting and more believable". Anime News Network's Carlo Santos criticises the manga for its opening plotline by saying it is a "remarkably bland rendition of the "young hero sucked into alternate world" formula, and it's easy to mistake this at first for some kind of lame-duck Rayearth/Twelve Kingdoms clone". Katherine Dacey of Pop Culture Shock comments on Brave Story'' "distinguishes itself from dozens of similar series by fleshing out Wataru’s personal life. Wataru is no swaggering shonen stereotype: he’s insecure, hesitant, and crushed to learn that his dream girl has the hots for someone else." She also commends Wataru's parents sudden divorce "leaving Wataru to comfort his dumbfounded and grief-stricken mother while coming to terms with his own sense of loss. These scenes add an unexpected emotional depth to the story, demonstrating Wataru’s essential decency while providing him with a powerful motive for saving the world: he loves his mother". References External links at Viz Media 1999 Japanese novels 2001 novels 2001 fantasy novels Kadokawa Dwango franchises Children's fantasy novels Contemporary fantasy novels Isekai novels and light novels Japanese children's novels Japanese serial novels Novels by Miyuki Miyabe Novels set in Japan Works originally published in Japanese newspapers Anime films based on novels Adventure anime and manga 2004 manga Films with screenplays by Ichirō Ōkouchi Shinchosha manga Shōnen manga Viz Media novels Tokyopop titles Warner Bros. animated films 2006 anime films Films based on fantasy novels Films based on Japanese novels Gonzo (company) Nintendo DS games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation Portable games 2001 children's books Isekai anime and manga