adapted from a manga, an anime celebrates jazz through a superb musical score

“Blue Giant” is Yuzuru Tachikawa’s fourth animated feature film. This Japanese musical film delves into the world of jazz and follows the first successes of a trio of teenagers.

Blue Giant, in theaters on March 6, is the first adaptation of the eponymous work by Japanese mangaka Shinichi Ishizuka. The feature film of Yuzuru Tachikawa takes up the strong visual identity which brought the music to life through the pages and finally offers a jazz score to the manga series.

Whether it’s rain, wind or snow, Dai plays the saxophone on the banks of a river in Sendai, his hometown. The young 18-year-old musician dreams of becoming “the best jazzman in the world”. He then left the region of his childhood to reach the capital and try to make a name for himself.

In Tokyo, he moves in with his friend Tamada and meets Yukinori, a talented young pianist. Despite the latter’s reservations, Dai’s talent manages to convince him to play with him.

Yukinori and Dai are quickly joined on drums by Tamada, as passionate as he is inexperienced. Together, they form the Jass trio. The pianist, the saxophonist and the new drummer now live for one goal: to perform at So Blue, the most famous jazz club in Japan.

A great jazz film

The soundtrack of Blue Giant was composed by the famous Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara, winner of a Grammy Award for best contemporary jazz album.

She performs her compositions alongside tenor saxophonist Tomoaki Baba and drummer Shun Ishiwaka, a sparkling trio which gives this musical film its notes of nobility.

The two-hour film includes around fifteen minutes of live music, an eighth of the plot in total. Lhe concert stages provide crazy energy: they are rproduced in 3D using the “motion capture” technique which allows to record the positions of the performers of the pieces to control a virtual version.

While Blue Giant offers relatively expected animation, the film soars during moments of musical performance, offers almost psychedelic images. Faithful to the original work, the film adaptation is music for the ears, but also for the eyes.

The story of an ascent

Blue Giant is anchored in the very traditional genre of “coming of age”, a story that depicts the passage to adulthood and focuses on formative events, sometimes in a slightly too sentimental manner. Through a swarm of flashbacks and visions of the future, the film paints a portrait of the rise of Dai and his comrades. The trio of friends set off together, but the film never loses sight of their respective stories and shows the privileges, the odd jobs, and the sacrifices.

Musical film close to Japanese mangas which immerse the reader in basketball or football fields, Blue Giant also has something Whiplash by director Damien Chazelle. Bandages and drops of sweat, everything is passion and surpassing oneself. If Dai wants to awaken the jazz of Tokyo, this adaptation undeniably awakens a little jazz in the spectator: the desire to listen to some standards or perhaps even to play the drums.

The sheet

Gender : Animation, Musical
Director: Yuzuru Tachikawa
Actors (original voices): Yûki Yamada, Shôtarô Mamiya and Amane Okayama.
Original music: Hiromi Uehara
Duration : 2h
Exit : March 6 2024
Distributer : Eurozoom
Synopsis: Dai Miyamoto’s life changes when he discovers jazz. He then took up the saxophone and practiced every day. He leaves Sendai, his hometown, to pursue his musical career in Tokyo with the help of his friend Shunji. Playing with passion, Dai one day manages to convince the talented pianist Yukinori to start a band with him. Accompanied by Shunji who starts on drums, they form the Jass trio. Over the course of the concerts, they get closer to their goal: to perform at So Blue, the most famous jazz club in Japan, with the hope of changing the world of jazz forever.