Granblue Fantasy (グランブルーファンタジー) is a free-to-play, browser-based Eastern RPG developed by Cygames and released in 2014. It can also be played on mobile phones, with apps available on Android and iOS platforms. It has not officially been released outside of Japan, but an English language option was implemented in March 2016. It features a notable collaboration between Nobuo Uematsu (providing some of the music) and Final Fantasy IX artist Hideo Minaba (as the character designer). It's incredibly popular in Japan, with over 31 million registered accountsnote as of February 2022 (gaining about a million every four to six months).
You play as a young man or woman living in a world of floating islands amidst endless skies. One day your home island is attacked by the evil Erste Empire, which is pursuing a mysterious young woman and the Summon Magic she controls. This fateful encounter sparks a grand expedition in a badass airship to discover the mythical island of Estalucia, said to be hidden at "the edge of the sky".
Aside from the main game proper, it has also spawned side products in other forms of media:
- An official Gag Series webcomic/manga titled Grand Blues! exists, and is accessible from the main screen of the game. On the April Fools' Day of 2020, it was announced
that this webcomic series is having a short anime adaptation within the same year. Yep, despite the announcement being on April Fools, it was a real thing planned to be released. - The bi-weekly Grand Blues! video series, called "Grand Blues Channel!", on Nico Nico Douga, in which Nao Tōyama, voice of Lyria, and Emiri Katou, voice of Sierokarte, along with the guest of the week, discuss the game and semi-frequently announce game news and updates. It had a
Channel Hop to Tokyo MX as a TV program, under the name "Grand Blues TV Channel!", on April 2019, with Yuki Ono (voice of Gran, Lancelot, and Sagittarius) replacing Touyama. - A manga adaptation of the main story arc published by Kodansha.
- The manga Granblue Fantasy: Souken no Kizuna adapts the Dragon Knights' side-stories; as of April 2018, it has started the Four Knights of a Fallen Land arc.
- The manga Granblue Fantasy: Gaiden Memory of Ashibuel tells the untold past of Pommern, one of the prominent antagonists of the first arc.
- An anime adaptation by A-1 Pictures premiered on April 2017, though the first two episodes were aired in January, as part of an hour-long special. A second season animated by MAPPA began airing on October 2019. It later received an official dub on Crunchyroll, marking it the first truly official media to be released in the West.
- A Fighting Game for the PlayStation 4 and Steam, titled Granblue Fantasy Versus, developed in conjunction with Arc System Works, utilizing the same essential technology as Guilty Gear Xrd and Dragon Ball Fighter Z, using Unreal Engine 4, the same engine as the latter title. Unlike its parent game, it has been release in many languages including English, its website can be found here. It received a sequel, Versus: Rising, in 2023
- An Action RPG for PS4, PS5 and PC released on February 2024 (once in cooperation with PlatinumGames prior to February 2019), titled Granblue Fantasy: Relink. Also confirmed for release in the West with English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German language options (and an English website here!)
- And many other secondary products, such as soundtrack albums, Image Song singles, and novelizations.
Has nothing to do with Grand Blue (even though "Grand Blues!" *is* actually a Granblue Fantasy 4koma comic and anime adaptation), and also not to be confused with the similarly-sounding Granbelm.
Beware of potentially unmarked spoilers from older stories and events!
