Blue Giant Movie Review

Date: 2024 January 27 18:38

Posted by Joe

Blue Giant is a new jazz themed anime movie that's based on the award winning manga of the same name. It follows the adventures of aspiring jazz saxophonist Dai Miyamoto. Thanks to the good folks at Anime Limited the film is due to hit selected cinemas in the UK and Ireland from Wednesday 31st January 2024.

If you're curious about this movie then read our spoiler free review to find out more about the upcoming release.

Full Story

Blue Giant is the latest anime movie offering from Toho Animation and director Yuzuru Tachikawa. The movie is based on the popular award winning manga of the same name.


© Blue Giant Partners

The film follows young Dai Miyamoto's quest to become one of the greatest Alto Jazz saxophonists of all time. The story starts in cold, sleepy Sendai, saying goodbye to his family 18 year old Dai travels off to Tokyo to seek his fame.


© Blue Giant Partners

I'd describe the film as a character driven drama. It's about Dai's journey more than the destination. Blue Giant captures the determined focus of youth, that hunt for the dream, the single minded dedication that goes into obsession for his goal only someone Dai's age has. And that's what captivates you. You're pulled in and are rooting for Dai to succeed .


© Blue Giant Partners

The film is animated to a high standard, with very detailed sets that look and feel like real places. The Tokyo that Dai visits feels real. It's not the glossy idealised version of Tokyo. As soon as Dai arrives, we're shown homeless people and see gritty run down shops as well as nice new places too.


© Blue Giant Partners

We're treated to a variety of different cameras angles, along with nice panning establishing shots top off with many other popular live action movie techniques to make it feel like a cinematic experience (which isn't cheap to do in animation). While watching this I felt it was more like a live action movie and I was starting to question why is it animated at all? Then the music scenes kicked in and all made sense. As a viewer there are many musical performances in this film when Dai and company have to play. It doesn't just capture the musical performances, the film aims to capture the emotional experience of listening to a live music and how music can truly move you. We're treated to manga-style speed lines, fire and explosions even. At high points the images go liquid and abstract to match the music, which is an indulgence for an animator, but also hypnotic to watch. It's a rush almost like a special attack.

The film follows a bit of the Blue Giant manga but it has condensed some aspects so the story can be told at movie length. If you're familiar with the manga, you'll recognise some characters that get more character development on the page appear briefly in the movie. This makes for better story telling in the time frame. If you've not read the manga, the story still works perfectly as a standalone movie.


© Blue Giant Partners

The musical performances are actually captures from live performances of musicians, not just the audio, but them playing the instruments. So the way they move and notes they hit are real. This can be a bit jarring because when the musicians actually perform the animation becomes a bit too fluid. The characters change size a bit to match the builds of the performing musicians. I guess you argue they're switching gears or mode, but it is still a bit jarring.


© Blue Giant Partners

Overall the feel of Blue Giant is authentic. Despite its clear love for jazz, it acknowledges that there aren't so many young people interested in the music, so the bars are closing, it's no longer Jazz's heyday with bars becoming dusty, almost dying. Even so, there's an established order, Dai and company can't just become the greatest jazz musicians of all time they have to earn their place on the stage.

The character design and choices in with the movie give it a retro feel. It has the aesthetic of an anime from the 1990's or early 2000's and this makes it feel nostalgic, much like jazz itself.

Will Dai be able to follow his dreams of making it big on the Jazz scene? Well, you'll have to watch the movie and find out!


© Blue Giant Partners

We thoroughly enjoyed Blue Giant. It does justice to the source material, both the manga and to Jazz music itself. It's perfectly paced and there was never a dull moment. It hits all the right notes!

Blue Giant is due to hit selected cinemas in the UK and Ireland from Wednesday 31st January 2024. It's distributed by Anime Limited.

To find a screening near you visit https://bluegiantfilm.co.uk