Blue Giant

Ever since a fateful encounter with jazz music, Dai Miyamoto has dreamed of becoming the world's best jazz saxophonist. After only three years of playing the instrument, he makes the bold decision to move to Tokyo in order to break into the music scene.

When he meets pianist Yukinori Sawabe at a small music club, Dai believes that he has found a kindred spirit he can form a band with. However, the classically trained Yukinori is reluctant to accept someone who makes such bold claims with so little experience under his belt. Yet, when he hears Dai's undeniable skill, Yukinori is forced to accept the offer.

Along with the even less experienced Shunji Tamada, the trio form JASS, a group with a unique sound that might just be able to shake up the stagnating jazz scene.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Miyamoto, Dai Main

Yamada, Yuuki Japanese

Sawabe, Yukinori Main

Mamiya, Shoutarou Japanese

Tamada, Shunji Main

Okayama, Amane Japanese

Yui Supporting

Nomura, Kenji Japanese

Akiko Supporting

Kinoshita, Sayaka Japanese

Amanuma, Kousei Supporting

Kiuchi, Hidenobu Japanese

Mochizuki Supporting

Takahashi, Shinya Japanese

Isogai, Masaru Supporting

Katou, Masayuki Japanese

Uchiyama Supporting

Shinomiya, Gou Japanese

Kawakita Supporting

Aoyama, Yutaka Japanese

Tsunoki, Takuya Producer

Tachikawa, Yuzuru Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Zhou, Haosong Episode Director, Storyboard, 2nd Key Animation, Key Animation

Yamamoto, Takayuki Episode Director

Reviews

Jul 2, 2025

SkyBlue1012

Recommended

I love music and I love anime, so when I saw good reviews for this, I was instantly interested—and honestly, they weren’t wrong.

The art style is beautiful, and the music is amazing. That final song before the band disbanded gave me actual goosebumps. I also didn’t expect the story to take such an emotional turn—there’s a tragedy in the middle of the show. The story really kept me engaged.

Now, my only real issue was with the animation. I’m not a fan of mixing 2D with CGI or 3D—it just doesn’t look right to me. Either go full 2D or full 3D. The blending made some ... of the character movements feel awkward, and the finger movements when playing instruments were especially off. It pulled me out of the moment a few times.

That said, the characters were great. They felt realistic and had natural development. I loved that Tamada got his own solo toward the end. And my favorite character by far is Akiko, the woman at the bar. She supported JASS from the beginning, always helping out quietly. She’s the kind of character who’s hard not to love.

Final thoughts:
Good story, amazing music, slightly disappointing animation. But overall, I really enjoyed it and would totally recommend it—especially if you’re into music anime with a bit of emotional depth.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 7, 2025

LegoC97

Recommended

60-SECOND REVIEWS

It's a shame there's an over-reliance on CGI for some key scenes, because otherwise the musical performances were absolutely enthralling, each one practically a 10/10 in their own right, wrapped around a solid, though not exceptional, story.

It's impressive how naturally this one movie managed to trim down 10 volumes of manga into a 2 hour film, though there are, I'm sure, plenty of B-plots and development that I would have loved to have seen adapted that would have filled out the story and characters. But for one film needing to give all three main characters a bit of spotlight and development, they do an ... impressive job.

What you're really here for are the performances, perhaps--CGI aside--setting a new benchmark for musical performances in anime. If you enjoyed the jazz performances in Kids on the Slope or the finale of Whiplash, give the movie a go. It's worth the price of admission alone for the 15-20 minutes of performances, played in their entirety, which swept me up in sight and sound into a world of melody and color.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 21, 2025

Avinash1999

Not Recommended

I really don’t usually watch this kind of stuff, and I think it’s not my thing at all. I tried to see if I’d like it. Unfortunately, I didn’t.

What did I like about this anime?

The quality of the animation is really high, especially for an anime that focuses on music.
Some of the scenes are visually stunning and great to watch.

What did I dislike about this anime?

The music itself isn’t to my taste — unfortunately, jazz and I just don’t mix.
...
The story pacing is too slow for me, and I’m not a fan of long dialogues. I’d rather read them. The conversations didn’t evoke any emotion in me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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