Blue Giant

From the perspective of a professional jazz musician,

Jazz has been a part of my life for the better part of 8 years now and no piece of media, art or animation has ever captured the passion nor love that I have for jazz more than this movie. I watched it on the plane ride to Japan …. AND the plane ride back. This was because on the way there I didn't have an adapter for my nicer headphones so I had to use the provided one. Thus, to me, nothing was more logical than watching the movie properly again on the way back. It's that ... good.
This isn't a review from someone who watches anime often. I'm sure there are multiple plot holes, also after reading the manga, this is comparatively rushed, the use of CGI in some of the scenes felt off BUT NONE OF THAT MATTERS.

The best part of this movie is thankfully the most important part, the music. One thing of note is that the songs and the type of Jazz that Dai and his trio play is not “pure” or conventional Jazz, it’s unbelievably energetic and passionate and is in a subset of its own in this oversaturated genre. I recently talked to a well established composer about the film and even he said it's unlike anything he's ever heard. Hiromi, the composer for this movie, is someone who I have admired for a long time, and I can’t believe I’m saying this but SHE IS A BETTER COMPOSER THAN SHE IS A PERFORMER … If you understand the magnitude of that statement then I salute you. Our main character Dai is technically a "newbie" to Jazz having started his passion for Saxophone quite late compared to others. Yet it is his passion and personality that allows him to perfectly capture the ethos of Jazz and make him the most "developed" character musically. The movie constantly uses him as a anchor for the other two band members to latch onto and grow from. Thus slowly but surely, their sound changes, their feelings and expressions change and the music eventually becomes one big juicy amalgamation of bliss.

The cast of musicians in this film is also brilliant beyond belief. Obviously, Hiromi is on piano and you can hear that in the sheer energy of the piano as with the absence of a bassist, she has to do the role of two musicians not one. The saxophone is done by Tomoaki Baba, who is mostly unknown even among musician circles, heck I didn't even know who he is and that is exactly what makes his sound mind blowing. His sound represents the potential of Jazz, and with Hiromi providing the canvas for his solos, hoooooboy was he absolutely ON FIRE. The drummer, Shun Ishiwaka has to mimic someone who was never exposed to Jazz, however has been completely devoured by it as they can't help but want to play despite their overwhelming lack of experience. It's very endearing to see the drums slowly improving in quality as the movie progresses until the final performance in which things get REAL. Thus the three characters represents musicians at different stages in their journey, with the Pianist Yukinori growing up with music since a young age, Dai at the peak of his determination to succeed and the Drummer Shunji obsessing over his new passion.

When there is no CGI (Thankfully there is not a lot or it's done well in some part), the animation goes unbelievably hard. It's a chaotic, ebbing and flowing, never ending cluster of flashing colour. At some point the saxophone doesn't even look like a saxophone anymore and the music can literally be seen. I wish, and I mean I REALLY wish I saw this on a better screen because god is the animation good during the performances. The way they portray the audiences reactions to the music is exactly the kind of facial expressions I would've liked to have made if I wasn't sitting in economy class next to 5 people.

Anyways I could talk about this for days but I'll leave it here as YOU SHOULD WATCH IT IF YOU HAVEN'T. The movie will release internationally at some point hopefully and I'll probably have to watch it... again. You probably won't enjoy it nearly as much as I did, but I really do hope you give it a try as I wish for more people to exposed to proper Jazz. By that I mean music that embodies the fundamentals of Jazz philosophy and thinking, not some cookie cutter standard or Bossa Nova piece. Hope this review helps ;).

Blue Giant has just set the standard for music Anime.

Post high-school, a lot of us feel lost in life, not knowing what to work on or aim for in the future. Many keep studying at Uni even when it's dull and boring because people assure you that 'you'll have a good future'. BG blows this fear and uncertainty away and illustrates an amazing adventure the band JASS advances through to reach for their ultimate goal.

Protagonist Dai in particular is very ambitious and commits himself to become a musician, leaving his hometown Sendai to walk down a treacherous path to make it big at the ... capital of Japan. Because of the fact that it is set after high-school, its always frightening to think that one mistake could end their careers with nothing else as a back-up - a harsh reality of being a musician. His bravery and willpower to keep moving forward is what made him incredibly inspirational, making every moment of Blue Giant so special.

Their stories make you feel so attached like a fanboy - always reassuring to see the character's success and the band striving towards their dreams despite it being so gruelingly hard. This feeling and the dazzling passionate jazz combines to make an thrilling yet elegant performance that makes you be on the edge of your seat!

Animation for the concerts were on par with demon slayer, ignoring the CGI. Never before was there a performance that makes you immersed within the blazing sparks of heated jazz along with the eloquent sakuga blooming the instruments to life. It truly was a magical experience.

Five fantastic music gigs for ten dollars. 100% worth watching.

Blue Giant had an impossible task set before it: adapting 10 volumes of music manga into a single film, including multiple climactic performances.

The foundation of that had to be good music, and Blue Giant’s is universally fantastic. The players here had a uniquely difficult job, they didn’t just have to play well, they had to act with their instruments. Their performances wonderfully capture the emotions of the characters, and their level of experience. The drummer did a particularly good job, replicating the play of a developing amateur. You can feel the characters’ passion in their instruments; even as they struggle to articulate their feelings towards ... jazz, the audience understands completely.

It had to take some shortcuts. Its visuals are an uneven mixture of good 2D animation, awkward CG, and sublime sakuga. Occasionally, its sound design falters. I can recall a few moments where the soundtrack overpowered the dialogue. Its plot is compressed, the entire history of a band in just two hours. Obtrusive interview clips are spliced in at random. There’s one plot point in particular that’s left field and disrupts the narrative.

Its flaws are numerous, and obvious, but don’t hold back its infectious energy. Love of jazz drips from every second of Blue Giant, the feelings of its creators conveyed in every image and frantic sequence of cuts.

Blue Giant is rough and uneven, its parts are dissonant, its animation rough, its narrative inconsistent. It rushes, gets ahead of itself, stops for a moment, and those dissonant parts suddenly collide in an explosion of emotion.

Much like jazz, its flaws create interesting emotional intersections. That plot point I didn’t like pays off soon after. The CG animation just starts to work out of nowhere.

Out of dissonance and imperfection emerges emotion. That's the soul of jazz, and of Blue Giant.

To compile a list of Blue Giant’s faults would be to miss that soul. Much like the amateur drums of the movie’s band, its faults imbue the finished product soul. In this case, the soul of the art it portrays.

They may not resonate in that way for you, you wouldn’t be wrong for having that experience. But if you love jazz, or artistic passion, hear Blue Giant out.