Not every year can boast such a number of full-length anime for every taste: in 2023, there was a spectacle for fans of Hayao Miyazaki and Makoto Shinkai, for basketball fans and for jazz connoisseurs. Yuzuru Tachikawa, perhaps not as famous as the aforementioned directors, although he has worked on many TV hits: from Steins;Gate and Attack on Titan to Death Parade and Mob Psycho 100. And in 2023, he made Blue Giant – a feature-length anime based on Shinichi Ishizuka's manga, which can confidently be considered one of the best projects of the past year, earning a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. What is Blue Giant About? 18-year-old Dai Miyamoto learns about jazz and is so inspired by it that he decides to become the most outstanding musician. Never to be parted from his saxophone again, he leaves at the first opportunity to conquer Tokyo. Of course, no one was waiting for him in the capital, and the popularity of jazz was gradually waning, but Dai was unperturbed: he believed that the passion awakened in his soul could be passed on to others if he rubbed his fingers until they bleed during rehearsals and put his whole self into the sound. Dai's first friends in Tokyo are the arrogant virtuoso pianist Yukinori Sawabe, whom he meets in the toilet of a club, and the humble Shunji Tamada, a former classmate who became interested in playing the drums. Together they form JASS, the most promising jazz trio in Tokyo. Blue Giant Stays True to The Source, But Adds New Inventive Tricks One of the great strengths of the original manga is the constant renewal of the musical scenes, so that we experience each concert as a unique moment. To convey this, the creators of the anime make full use of the possibilities of the animated film format: camera flips and other games in which the image constantly rotates, close-ups of the musicians as they give themselves completely to the music, and little inventions – like the reflection in an ice cube. Blue Giant is not only a great adaptation that captures the essence of the original manga and the charm of jazz music, but also a movie with a soul of its own that goes beyond a simple adaptation, thanks to the team's desire to offer their own visual ideas rather than just copying the manga. This is a project that will please fans of the original work or of jazz, which can be a great gateway to this musical genre and is definitely worth seeing. Blue Giant is Coming to Netflix And you will be able to watch Blue Giant on Netflix very soon – the anime will be released on the platform on September 1st.
Image credit: NUT
