Blue Giant (2023) User Reviews

Beautiful animation when it isn't CG

[qthemoviegoer · 8/10 · 24 April 2023]

I went in watching this film after reading a few chapters of the original manga in English. My Japanese level is medium but I could still understand the majority of the film. The story skips most of Dai's journey through high school as he ventures to Tokyo to embark on being the best jazz player.

The jazz performances sounded amazing in the cinema, and the accompanying animation was mostly fantastic, especially the abstract scenes. However, the computer-generated animation that was intermixed in these scenes were distracting and I felt they did not convey the same complexities, movements and emotions of the characters when they were non-cg animated. I probably would've rated it even higher if this issue was overcome.

Just about the passion

[kachuntseng · 8/10 · 28 September 2023]

There are no much of the back story of the band members. The main Sax player want to be the number one player. A lot of Manga and Anime spent a lot of time to explain the reason/ motivation. But i just like this movie that they are more focusing on the values/ Attitude while they are getting to their goals.

Being jealous of others? Be conservative because of risk avoiding? Worry about the band member will depart?

That's all real in this world and we couldn't just solve your problem by friendship and working hard. It is an honor to see this anime show us people found their way to excel and choose their path.

Masterpiece.

[neil-26246 · 9/10 · 1 July 2023]

As a film featuring music and focusing on relatively niche genre, the performance and interpretation of jazz would naturally be the attention. Regarding this, the only I can say is impeccable. Every time the tenor saxophone is blowing fiercely with blue fire, I can feel the energy overflowing and penetrating through my skull until the backend so that my hair stands. Wild but sleek graphics, realistic depiction of life of artists, delicate storytelling that tugs at the heartstrings, and last but not the least, the powerful and passionate jass, all add up to not only the climax of the show, but also of the kind.

'SLAMDUNK' of Jazz Music!

[dlwoqls · 10/10 · 14 September 2023]

It's more than 'five-star-movie'. It is one of a kind and best music animation ever. The passion and emotion of this movie makes my heart beat. It is the first time that such an emotion has been felt since Slam Dunk. Japanese animation seems to be upgrading its value by expanding its scope to the art world. If you look at the original work, you can know the past of the main character, Dai, so please refer to it. In particular, the fact that Hiromi of the Grammy Award-winning jazz list participated in both music director and piano performance makes my heart race. I am serious about jazz enough to make up a quarter of the movie with music alone.

Beautiful and emotional

[hedgehoggy-56394 · 9/10 · 9 October 2023]

I absolutely loved this movie. The music was catchy and fun to listen to. The animation was stunning. Even when the animation was less detailed, it was still easy on the eyes and not distracting. The only animation feature I didn't like was the drumming techniques. The stick grips were a bit off, with the drummer holding them in a fist instead of a more refined grip. Other than this, the movie was wonderfully pleasing to my eyes and ears. I especially liked the group's final performance of the movie, since it showed growth for all the characters, allowing them to prove that they'd adapted and worked hard to become better musicians.

Blue brilliant

[donmurray29 · 8/10 · 8 February 2024]

Giving this an 8/10 rating

Animation based on manga from Japan about a college student who forms a three piece jazz band and wants nothing less to be number one, and this film is simply brilliant.

You don't have to like jazz, but the music is super, I'll be looking for the soundtrack to this. The colour use is very important in this film, as music and mood are one and the same, each character is dealt with care and fun and we do care about them as the writing is right on and the look works, intense music numbers come, smooth nightclubs and in general, nothing really wrong at all.

Director Yuzuru Tachikawa has done a really great job along with writers NUMBER 8 and Shin'ichi Ishizuka. I am familiar with the manga somewhat, but you don't need to be. It's a real joy of a film.

Blue Giant is a work of art

[calirepublic · 10/10 · 10 October 2023]

I had decent expectations going into this movie because I love music and anime. This movie blew me away in all aspects. The story was beautiful, the animation was mesmerizing during the performances, and the music... TOP TIER! Reading the manga is one thing since there's no music, but with music, this movie does it complete Justice and elevates an already great story even higher. I teared up during multiple instances and that duet/last performance was pure adrenaline hype. I usually like anime movies a lot and they get like 8's and 9's usually, but it really has to evoke certain emotions out of me to get a 10. This one does. Watch it if you haven't already, you will now regret it. Masterpiece.

Is it really good?

[lordgrimmor · 7/10 · 4 February 2024]

It was one of the anime that I really expected because it had the main theme of jazz. But it made me very disappointed in the meat. Ordinary storytelling has only superficial jazziness to the story. Anime about piano in the forest, although it's not jazz, it's more jazz than this one. What I'm trying to say is that it's alive, it's jazzy, this story has it in a sparse and dull way.

I'm reminded of a scene in this story where the main pianist is taught that his playing is shallow. Play within the frame Playing in a safe zone. I sat and laughed in my head as to whether they were cursing the script or not because the screenplay is ordinary and trying to be a safe zone like other anime.

I was disappointed with the choice of jazz as the theme of the story, but the narrative uses a young boy who is passionate. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's nothing new about the script. It's like choosing a child as the main character of an anime. Other stories are very dull in the anime world. I can only assume that they don't want to change at all? Because young men sell more than middle-aged people?

The era of anime in Japan has been considered to be in the dark ages for a long time. Many people did not dare to take the risk of doing anything new or artistic. Everyone made commercial anime. Because it sells more than anime that has a complex script and has different and outstanding art.

Ultimately, Blue Giant is just an average anime in terms of script. The visuals are almost good, but their 3D animation is terrible. The jazz music is great but it doesn't help the anime's script. 7/10.

Wonderful jazz score on ok story

[danield10101 · 7/10 · 9 October 2023]

This is a film to see for the music.

The film is scored by the amazing jazz pianist and composer Hiromi Uehara, and every musical sequence is wonderful. The animation is also striking, from hyper-realistic depictions of Tokyo to imaginative representations of the musicians' inner worlds as they explore the space of chords and sequences of jazz improvisation.

On the other hand, the story is trite and predictable, and the characters are absurdly histrionic (as is typical in conventional animé). It also seems more a bit inappropriate that there's only one significant female character in a film so dependent on the musical ability of a woman performer and composer.

Blue Giant

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 2 February 2024]

I very nearly didn't make the 30-mile schlep to my local Cineworld to watch this film but I'm really glad I did. It's not about a whale, no. It's about the aspirational saxophonist "Dai" who heads to Tokyo with dreams of taking over the world. He arrives, unannounced, on the doorstep of his friend "Tamada" looking for a bed for a few days. Needless to say, that few days turns out to be a bit longer and their friendship starts to strain a bit (the visitor snores!). "Dai" visits a small bar and meets the jazz-loving owner "Akiko" who sends him to a live venue where he encounters the pianist "Sawabe" whom he tries to convince to form a band. They are both eighteen but the latter man has been playing for about fourteen years longer than his new friend, so is a little sceptical! That doesn't last long once he hears him play and they soon decide they need a drummer to keep both from straying into the uncontrollable territory that can be improv jazz! Well, it turns out that his "landlord" isn't half bad at beating time with a stick on a Coke can - but can he up his game and turn this duo into a trio good enough to play at the city's most prestigious club - "So Blue"? The story itself is a bit predicable, with a few temper tantrums, frustrations and fallings out but it does illustrate well just how athletic these musicians must be to perform. Hands are covered in calluses and bruises, the sax takes quite a toll on the breathing and at times it's touch and go as to whether they can make it out of the starting block. There's nothing easy about the task they have set themselves nor the dedication and sacrifices it will take to achieve (or not) their goal. The animation itself it a little hit and miss, the CGI works much less well that the hand drawn scenes, but what really works here is the synchronisation with the musicians and that can be really immersive at times. If you are a fan of this genre of music, then you are in for a treat of Coltrane, Stitt et al. The saxophone (Tomoaki Baba), piano (Hiromi Uehara) and drums (Shun Ishiwaka) are unafraid to start off timidly and (especially the drummer) very rough around the edges, but as the story develops and they improve and become more confident, so do their performances until a tragedy tinged denouement that really does get the toes tapping. I'd have to say - there is no point in watching this is if this style of rambling, meandering and frankly rather musically self-indulgent performance doesn't appeal to you, but the powerful mix of frenetically syncopated animation and music I found really quite compelling. Sure, it's a bit long - but it's well worth a watch.

As a non-fan, it's only OK

[utkonos9 · 5/10 · 28 August 2023]

I have not read the comic on which this is based, so I am not really the target audience. Anyway, I watched it and it was Ok.

Good: some of the animation; the piano playing; the characters.

Average: the music (I prefer the less noodly style of jazz, although I do like Uehara); the story (repetitive)

Bad: mix of traditional and cgi. Looks like a video game cutscene at times. Too long (2 hrs with some repeated stuff - they build up to a big gig - perform - build up again...)

I fell asleep for a few minutes, but to its credit the movie pulled me back in. It's not as good as Whiplash, but I think a lot of people will enjoy it.