An Introduction to Blue Giant’s Captivating Characters and Artistry”

An Introduction to Blue Giant’s Captivating Characters and Artistry.                            What was the 2023 film that you most enjoyed? It was a crazy year for film. I saw a lot of big foreign films and independent animated movies at the time, but none of them bothered me as much as this one did. For those of you who are not familiar with the series, allow me to introduce you to Blue Gaint. A movie about friendship, music, and self-expression. Directed by Yozuru Tachikawa, the man behind my favorite anime, Mob Psycho, this award-winning manga from Syniche iShizuka is brought to you by Studio Nut—yes, that same name you may be familiar with from the Tanya the Evil saga—and is a typically stunning, incredibly motivating, yet painful real film that will quickly draw you into its story and inspire you.

This story started with fresh out of high school, Dai Miyamoto moves recklessly to Tokyo without any job, housing, or real plan in order to pursue his dream of becoming the greatest jazz musician in the world. Shortly after arriving, he forms a band with Yuki Nori, his old classmate and pianist, whom he meets at a jazz club. The two of them set out to establish themselves in the Tokyo jazz scene while overcoming personal and artistic obstacles.

Dai Miyamoto, main character

Dai Miyamoto, who plays the saxophone, is similar to Goku in that jazz music is his life. He starts off terrible but keeps working himself to exhaustion every day to get better and better. Whether it’s raining or snowing, there is always music and no plan. Presently consists of three sections, and the movie adapts.

In the first, which is 10 volumes long, to turn all of this into an appropriate length yet cohesive film, a lot of things needed to be cut, or unfortunately, most of Dia’s development is sacrificed or relegated to being part of a montage. Because of these, he is not very dynamic for a protagonist, but we are still made very aware of his struggle to get where either we see him in practice or through comments made by the supporting cast. What will have you rooting for him as a character is his passion, confidence, eagerness to spread, and love of jazz music and the way he is inspiring the people around him to be the best version of themselves.

A rising star piano artist – YOKI NORI

All of these characteristics, along with his determination, will make a humble guy like D a rising star. Yuki Nori, who is a piano teacher’s son, began playing the instrument at the age of 4. Anyone who claims to see him perform can tell right away that he is incredibly gifted and a superb technical player. He plays to save, which is a problem because you can’t get very far in anything without taking some risks. He is so used to receiving the price that when this harsh reality hits him, he is put in a crisis that only he can get himself out of.

 Shunji Tamada – A Drumb artists

Yaki Nori shares D’s enthusiasm for music, but for a while, he prevents himself from enjoying himself when he plays the keys because he is afraid of making a mistake, which is boring. Shunji Tamada is a soccer player at his college, but when he sees that his teammates don’t have the same passion for the game that he does, he quits. He is inspired by D to play jazz after he does something as simple as keeping tempo for him on a soda. Can this seemingly small moment change his life? Tamada has a strong interest in drumming, but talent doesn’t always follow from desire.

When the three of them start performing as a band and sharing their music with the city, DY, and his friends earn some royal fans. The people you see at their earliest performances show up at every other big event, and the fans develop attachments to the trio. And are a gig part of the reason why the Tokyo of this film feels so alive, speaking of which, the city is always beautifully drawn, but I will say 80% of the time the animation isn’t going to wow you. It’s relaxed and still really good, with plenty of beautiful and creatively composed shorts throughout its runtime, but as viewers, we like to compare art between anime, and of course, some movies look way better than this does most of the time.

However, I am not sure exactly what we would compare it to because there is no reported budget for Blue Giant at the moment, and speaking of budget, it is a little obvious that in some scenes, money and time were a bit of a concern. Occasionally, during the performances, characters are swapped to CGI. The animation is flexed mostly when characters are playing their instruments with everything they have, which means that most of the time they spend playing, the visuals become so stunning and expressive that they will take you out of this world. This is where the budget is blown.

SOUNDTRACK 

BlueGiant was scored by Hiromi Uehara. She’s one of the best jazz musicians alive. She performs her songs with a playful, almost infectious energy. She’s just having fun and wants her audience to do the same. This translates to the soundtrack of Blue Giant; it’ll make you feel relaxed, hopeful, sad, and joyful. It is just a vibe and so skillfully crafted. You remember how I told you that Tomata sucked at drums well during the songs that are performed by the band? The drums are intentionally played rough, and they get better in quality over time. 

THEME

Image by – Blue Gaint Official

 Why is it called Blue Giant? Well, the color blue is closely associated with jazz, which means this is a genre that was born from blue’s music after all. There is lots of usage of what are called blue notes, which are played or sung at a slightly different pitch than what is standard for the song being performed for expressive purposes. Also, one of the most successful jazz record labels of all time is called the Blue Note Record Label. Blue is associated with imagination, inspiration, freedom, trust, and confidence, among other things. All of these are themes that are touched upon in the films. Blue giants are usually the brightest stars, and this is what D is; he is the blue giant that outshines all others with his presence on stage.

CONCLUSION

Blue Giant is a perfectly placed film. There isn’t a single wasted moment during its 2-hour runtime. If anything, I think the movie could use some more minutes just to fully flesh out the D character a bit more for everyone who hasn’t read the manga. The story might not be the most complex thing in the world, but it’s very effective and will draw you in with its slice-of-life format. For a film about three dudes playing jazz, a relatively niche genre of music by today’s standards, it finds a way to be relatable for almost anyone. D, Tamata, and Yuki Nori’s determination and hunger to improve themselves in one word are inspiring.