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Blue Giant Review

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First up I have to say that the movie poster is incredibly impressive. This looks really sharp all the way through. I just read through the manga recently so it’s pretty fun to be going through the adventure again in an animated format. Naturally the task of taking on such a big manga series in one film is a pretty intense one so there would have to be some cuts. This is inevitable in pretty much any adaption and I can say that the film does a good job. While I tend to prefer the manga version in nearly every change/divergence, I do think the movie had the much stronger ending. It’s an ending I had been expecting to occur in the manga as some kind of twist but then it just never showed up. So the movie gets some serious props there.

The film starts off with introducing us to a boy named Dai who declares that he will be the best Jazz musician in the world. Jazz is something that he takes incredibly serious. Dai considers it to be the most intense kind of music and so he bets his life on this. He leaves home with some pocket money courtesy of his older brother and heads off to Tokyo. He must now find a way to play Jazz and earn some money because he can’t freeload off his friend Tamada forever. Dai meets an expert pianist named Yukinori who has some sweet skills but is not always the friendliest guy around. They still need a drummer though which is where Tamada comes in but of course the guy is a total rookie. Does he have what it takes to help them out?

So the movie is skipping everything before the Tokyo adventure although we get some moments as flashbacks. I think this makes sense since Tokyo is the heart of the journey. As for what the big change at the end of the movie is, I can’t say that so you’ll need to watch it for yourself. What I can say is that you will be listening to a whole lot of Jazz here which is definitely the point. In the manga there are a lot of speed lines but you can’t really picture it in the same way. Now we know the author’s intent. I thought they did a good job but of course I don’t know much about Jazz. To me it sounded really good though and it can definitely be a calming piece.

If I had any slight nitpick it would be that Dai doesn’t sound quite as loud as I was expecting. In the manga there is a big emphasis each time he plays on how loud his style of Jazz is and it absolutely blows everyone away. In the movie it’s just not super loud like that but maybe I would need to hear a normal jazz song with standard volume to really see. As a casual, I was entertained by all of the music which is the point though. Even in universe Dai wants to be able to play for everyone, including people who have no idea what Jazz even is after all so that makes sense.

Dai is a fun main character. I would say in the movie they make it more of a shared lead compared to the manga though. Tamada and Yukinori really go blow for blow with Dai in terms of screen time. Dai can almost seem a bit colder in this version as he is quick to let everyone be by themselves to work out their problems. It’s a far cry from the average main character who always wants to cheer everyone up. Dai has absolute confidence though which is important for the position. For example a tone point he explains how whenever he plays, he plays believing that he is the best in the world and that’s how every athlete has to be. He leads by example in that way.

As for Yukinori, I would say he is toned down to be less of a jerk in this version. So he still has his edge but he isn’t seen nearly as crazy. He’s still the best character I would say. He’s always a lot of fun and his skills are definitely the real deal. It makes sense since he has been playing for over 10 years by this point. His skills should be that much better than everyone else’s. He goes through a lot in the movie but never gives up on his piano.

Then we have Tamada who definitely has the toughest time here during the concerts. He has to try and learn really fast the whole time. Perhaps a bit too fast relative to the other two characters but at least they do show that he is still making a lot of mistakes. He is improving but isn’t going to be an overnight sensation which makes sense. The guy was really nice to let Dai stay over for so long too so he’s easy to root for. He’s a very down to Earth character who really enjoys music and gets really engaged with whatever he is doing.

The supporting characters generally don’t have as much time to do things. The movie is around 2 hours which is definitely impressive but that also just shows you how much ground there is to cover here. The characters have to play through a bunch of shows after all and are always on the move. The lady who let them play at her bar was definitely solid though. I liked the owner of the number one jazz spot in the world because he hasn’t fully succumbed to being old. He decides to give Yukinori a chance which was definitely cool.

The main characters get to meet a whole lot of helpful people and it’s nice to see just how pleasant everyone is. You don’t have a bunch of random bullies running around or anything like that. All of the people here just want Jazz to continue growing and so they are doing their best to support the up and coming musicians. It does feel like succeeding on Jazz will be a tremendously hard job and one that will not work out for most but you hope Dai will be able to pull it off. Being on your own is absolutely a lot tougher than when you’re in a band after all.

The animation style isn’t my favorite though. There is a lot of CG for the musical scenes and while they use a lot of trippy effects to make things more exciting, there is also a lot of recycled footage in those. It’s certainly artistic and I think the approach in general is clever to keep people interested for those who are not super into music. I just think a more standard style would have worked a little better. Either way the soundtrack is certainly good and so is the writing. It’s a fairly low key kind of film but one that keeps your attention all the way through.

Overall, Blue Giant is a pretty good movie. It’s one of those titles that can easily appeal to just about anyone. It’s pretty inoffensive and is just about a group of characters trying to do well and move up in the world. It’s definitely an emotional film as well without trying to overplay that card. Not every film needs to be a smash hit or the next sensation after all. It may sound like a back handed complement but sometimes you just want a fairly simple film that will give you a good time. It never drags on or anything and while there is a plot, it’s really all just a vehicle to be listening to really nice music. So all in all, it’s a quality title and I hope it gets a sequel at some point. I’m definitely up for hearing some more jazz.

Overall 7/10

Blue Giant Review

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It’s time for a story about Jazz. It’s not a music genre that I’m super familiar with to be honest. I’ve certainly heard my share of Jazz music over the years and I know the general style of it but I couldn’t break it down into any of the sub genres. Forget telling you if someone is in tune or not. So with this series would I really be able to pull that in? Eh, not really musical stuff isn’t really my cup of tea. I love listening to music but analyzing it is a bit out of my wheelhouse. That said, it’s real good stuff all the way. This isn’t a series you follow for the explosive moments or anything like that but it’s a very chill series all around.

The manga starts off by introducing us to a guy named Dai. He’s initially just your average kid trying to find his place in the world. And one day he finds it, the guy loves Jazz. He decides to be the greatest Jazz musician in the world. This is a fairly lofty goal as Jazz isn’t huge in Japan and everyone tells him its a shrinking industry. It’s also not something that you can get good at in a day. It takes years of skilled precision and timing to get good but Dai is willing to risk it all. He will pour his whole life into this, no matter how much money and time he has to sacrifice. Can Dai pull this off?

Blue Giant makes no illusions about the amount of sacrifice you have to be willing to put in to really gain ground like this. It’s almost painful seeing what Dai and his teammate Sawabe had to do for this. Sawabe basically gave up all of his growing years of hanging out with people and going to clubs to work on his piano playing for his whole life. Dai basically sacrificed his relationships and his chance to hang out with his family for this. They’ve made their decisions and stick to it no matter what. Is it worth it? Well, it all depends on how they feel because it’s not so much about the achievements here as it is that they lived their lives free of all barriers.

The series puts a lot of emphasis on how Jazz is very free music. When you do a solo, it is unscripted. You just play from the heart and play whatever you want with all your strength. Now, don’t take that too literally as it still has to sound good of course but generally speaking it’s not like they’re reading off a sheet of music. You have the main song and then the solos. Dai has a lot of raw talent as he’s great at shooting off his piece but initially he’s not so great at the sheet music so he has to put in the work.

Blue Giant is one of those series that I would say is aiming for hyper realism. Generally speaking I wouldn’t say any of the characters are super likable but none of them are bad guys. Like you wouldn’t see them in competition with any average Shonen lead who tends to be larger than life with a personality to boot. These are people you might run into down the street. You might get along and you might not. They have a lot of flaws, can be combative, and are hard to work with. At the end of the day though, you know they are serious about playing Jazz. So if you watch them on the stage you should have a good time.

Like I said before, Dai sacrifices a lot for this dream of his. I do feel like he made mistakes in how all or nothing he was about it though. Dai fully explains his rationale so it’s not like it’s a mystery or anything. Whether you agree with it or not, at least he is up front about it. Specifically I think he should have gone back home at least a little bit though or talked to the girl that he liked rather than ghosting her for ages. Although in this business, it seems like having a girlfriend probably wouldn’t have worked either way since he wants to spend all of his time practicing and studying. It’s basically an obsession for him. He lives only to play and live Jazz.

Meanwhile Sawabe is very similar but I do think he has the work life balance down a bit better. The guy plays with several bands and has grade A talent all the way. It has unfortunately caused him to be extremely arrogant the whole time though. He doesn’t have the best personality like when he was rude to some girls for no reason or denying someone an autograph. Sawabe does start to get better towards the end though. He is a fun jerk to have on the team though, he absolutely elevates the series with his rivalry with Dai. Sawabe is the only one who can really push Dai to this extent. Perhaps at home, Dai’s teacher Yui could but he can’t do anything during the show. Sawabe was the guy for this and I can’t say I liked how his character arc ended at all. That was definitely not satisfying at all.

Then we have Tamada who joins up with the crew late. He is several leagues below the main two characters since he has only been practicing for months while they’ve been doing this for years. The drum may seem simple at first glance compared to the other instruments but it does take an incredible amount of technical skill and ability. It’s not something you can learn super fast either. The series does make sure to mention that he is several tiers below even to the end but his skills do increase real fast so that he can play with the others. I give the guy props for really going after this even if by the end we do see real clearly that he doesn’t have quite the same drive as the other characters. He was nice enough to let Dai crash with him for a while.

There are also several supporting characters around although they all tend to cycle out after a bit since Dai is always on the move. We have Dai’s older brother who is a great guy. No matter how tough things were, he made sure to look after his little bro. Buying Dai a top of the line saxophone even though it meant going into debt for years was really cool. He doesn’t appear very often for sure but the actions speak very loud. Dai knows that he can always count on him no matter what which is awesome.

Then you have the teacher Yui who is a harsh critic but definitely thinks that Dai has potential. He really helps Dai a whole lot in getting started and rolling the ball over. Without him there then Dai definitely would have taken a lot longer at best or completely fizzled out at worst. You have the bar owner who let Dai and friends practice at her place which was super helpful. There is the girl that Dai liked quite a bit although he definitely messed that one up by choosing Jazz over her. Ultimately you can’t have everything.

Between volumes we get flash forwards where the characters talk about Dai and how they enjoyed meeting him. Usually I wouldn’t appreciate these fast forwards because they’re like spoilers to what is going to happen but since this is a non action series I can let it slide. It’s not as crazy as if this was Naruto or something like that. It’s also sometimes the author’s way of letting us know that a character will not be coming back. Whenever they say something like “I never saw Dai again but I can’t forget the first time I met him” then it’s curtains. A lot of these characters won’t be back and it’s interesting to keep track of that. I bet someone out there probably has a list showing which characters are confirmed to be gone or something like that.

Blue Giant is a very somber series at its core though which is fitting for Jazz. Jazz is a very somber kind of music after all that should move you and some types can even bring you to tears. Throughout the series bad things tend to happen to the characters. It’s not always dramatic things but they do add up. You have the dramatic type moments like a physical injury, the emotional ones like finding out the girl you like has moved on, and then mild ones like flunking an exam or having your instrument break. There are always setbacks and Dai has to get through them.

You are left feeling like this risky lifestyle will come back to bite him though. He can barely make enough money to survive and there is no retirement plan. Can he continue to play music when he’s in his 70s? How will he afford rent? You’re thinking about all this stuff when he’s playing and I would say that’s probably the saddest part of this series in a lot of ways. It feels like a lifestyle that’s unattainable and perhaps that’s why the fast forwards are necessary. We at least know that he won’t be poor with the money he’s making but there’s still the twinge of sadness in that we don’t actually see him in the present. How is he really doing? We just don’t know. Then the manga hits him when he’s down at random points like when someone stole his wallet with his entire life’s savings. That was a heavy blow.

The art is good overall. At times it can be a bit hard to make out and some characters look really similar but it does nail the grit of the songs fairly well. You can feel the effort they are plugging into every play. There are a lot of close ups too. I remember for the accident the scene was surprisingly violent as well to really hit you in the feels. Expect a lot of crying as well with Dai forcing himself through things. We even do get a pretty good fight where Dai knocks someone out so that was cool. I’d imagine he is in really good shape from all the running he does to practice for Jazz.

Of course there are sequel series to this one so it’ll be interesting to see how that continues. There are a lot of ways you can go with this of course but in terms of pacing I wonder how long they want to go before he is considered a true pro. Even by the end of this series, everyone calls him a prodigy with a lot of potential but nobody would call him a pro yet. And that’s considering that he is really playing his heart out right now. How much farther does he have to go in order to cross that precipice? There are only so many ways the artist can draw the intense music after all so I’ll be curious to see how they depict this. Maybe his solos will go on for even longer periods of time with his increased lung capacity or something like that.

Overall, Blue Giant is a pretty good series. I had a fun time with it despite how somber it can be. A lot of the pages don’t even really have much text on them as you’re meant to enjoy the music so they make for quick reads. I imagine that the anime version would be a little more immersive since you would actually get to hear the music. You can try and imagine it of course but again since I’m not the biggest Jazz expert that is a bit difficult. Everyone’s always talking about how loud Dai’s Jazz is and I’m definitely not used to that. Either way, whether you enjoy Jazz or not you should be able to have a good time here. Jazz may be the medium for the story but the themes about trying your best at a near impossible task are fairly universal.

Overall 7/10