Movie Review: Blue Giant

That’s Jazz!

So says Dai Miyamoto, the main character of Shinichi Ishizuka’s manga and film Blue Giant. An aspiring jazz musician, Dai travels from his hometown of Sendai to big city Tokyo with little besides his tenor sax. Upon arrival, the first thing he does, even before finding food or lodgings, is to seek out an isolated area and start jamming on his saxophone. Over the course of the story, he is joined by Yukinori Sawabe, a prickly but brilliant pianist, and Shunji Tamada, an old friend who is a newcomer to both jazz and the drums. The unlikely band hits the pavement, seeking out any gig they can find, with the goal of becoming the youngest band to perform in “So Blue”, Tokyo’s premier jazz club. That’s just about the whole premise of the movie. Covering volumes four through ten of the ten volume series, the film wastes no time in telling its story. As someone who’s read the manga several times over, I went in with an idea of what the movie would likely be attempting to cover. It had already been made clear that this movie was all we were going to get, and I was worried that we’d end up with another case of an amazing story being stripped of all it’s nuance and rearranged into a passable ninety-minute to two-hour movie. There was also the copious amounts of janky cg in the trailers adding to the stress. The film was animated by Mappa (Attack on Titan: The Final Season, Jujutsu Kaisen, Yuri on Ice), a studio with some fantastic series under their belts. I’d been burned before though, and I tried to keep my expectations low. As long as they did justice to the music and certain key moments, I would have been happy. And so, with a heart full of cautious optimism, I walked into the cinema... and was absolutely floored. On paper, the movie was exactly what I though it was going to be, but the team making the movie did that so remarkably well that it exceeded my wildest expectations. 

Credit: Studio Mappa

Don’t Stop Walking

Let’s start off with my biggest gripe. Most of Dai’s growth happens in the first three volumes of the manga which cover his middle-school and high-school years in Sendai. There we see him fall in love with jazz and slowly grow into the impressive saxophone player that he is by the time he arrives in Tokyo. Unfortunately, because most of his arc happened off screen, he can come across as flat. Fortunately, the team making the movie clearly understood this and put more of the focus on Tamada and Yukinori. We are given a couple flashbacks of Dai’s past to get just enough of an understanding of who he is and what he’s all about. It does undercut the ending a bit when the focus reverts back to him and the choice he makes at the end. Without the full context of the manga, it’s hard to convey the weight of his decision. Tamada and Yukinori, in many ways, are the stars of the show. Tamada was present briefly in the early manga but does not begin his arc until the time in the story covered by the movie. He is Dai’s best friend from middle-school who moved to Tokyo. Now in college, he suddenly finds Dai sleeping on his sofa. He becomes caught up in Dai’s passion for jazz and joins his band as the drummer. His arc centers around the pressure he feels as a newbie compared to the remarkably skilled Dai and Yukinori. He continues to push himself and his drumming gradually morphs into something incredible. Yukinori wasn’t introduced in the manga until volume four and so the audience sees his arc in its entirety, and he is very much the crux of the movie. An arrogant asshole with skills developed over his whole life to back it up, he quickly recognizes Dai’s ability and commits to forming a band with him. He is much less welcoming to Tamada and berates his drumming throughout the movie. As much as Tamada’s story is about him being lifted up, Yukinori’s arc is about him being humbled and learning to pour his raw emotion into his playing. The chemistry these three develop is the emotional core of the movie. They live and breath jazz and passion is the glue that holds their band together even in the face of terrible adversity. Most side characters and subplots where cut out of the story to focus on the three protagonists, and the film is the stronger for it. I wanted to see these guys overcome the odds, and I felt the highs and lows of their journey along with them. 

Jass

Credit: Shinichi Ishizuka

The Music of Storytelling

Of course, no movie about jazz could be complete without an amazing soundtrack. All original music in the film was composed by jazz songwriter and pianist Hiromi Uehara. Known for her experimental melodies and lightning-fast piano playing, Uehara was the perfect fit for this film. She composed both the score and the original songs played by the band. The manga showed the characters listening to and playing many jazz classics, but the movie mostly shies away from them, likely due to licensing issues. There are four original songs played by “Jass”, the band formed by our trio, and each of them is fantastic. I’ve been listening to the album non-stop since I left the theater. I can’t say for certain whether the songs were played in their entirety, but if not, it was close. When the band first started playing, the animation switched to CGI. I’d prepared myself for that and decided to ignore the clunky animation and simply enjoy the music. That was proven unnecessary about halfway through the film when after about a minute of CGI, the animation suddenly switched back to hand drawn and I was treated to one of the most extraordinary visual experiences of my life. The animation becomes stylized and frenetic, matching the music perfectly. As the tempo keeps increasing, the animation becomes even more bananas. It fully pulls the viewer into the music and has them on the edge of their seat as they see just how far it goes. It proves crucial to maintaining the momentum of the film throughout the long musical numbers and conveys the characters to the viewer just equally as much as the dialogue. Despite the film being about forty percent instrumental pieces, the story never lags. In fact, the songs tended to be the most action-packed parts. The movie also took the liberties of adding visual motifs that appeared throughout the film and compliment the music. The one which occurred most often was the image of a flame whenever Dai played. It would flare up as he played, illustrating the “heat” of his music. It reaches it’s peak in the climax of the story as we find out just what the titular “Blue Giant” actually is. 

Credit: Studio Mappa

This Ain’t Nothin’ 

For the most part, the film adapts the manga faithfully, even if it streamlines the story. The best way I can describe the movie is as a “greatest hits” album. It doesn’t give you the entirety of the story. Instead, it shows you the highlights and hopefully lures you into the larger narrative. The only significant change is towards the end, during the climax of the film. It ends up fundamentally changing the arcs of our three protagonists as well as the emotional arc of the whole film. I’m still torn on the decision, but I’m leaning towards it being the right one for this version of the story. Considering the increased focus on the main trio, the original version may have felt unrewarding. I ended up coming out of the theater feeling too good to get upset at the studio having their cake and eating it too. 

All in all, I found the film enjoyable to watch. It’s a fast-paced story about people pursuing their passions wherever they lead. I’m a sucker for that kind of the story and I ended up crying for most of the third act. I definitely plan to see it at least one more time before it leaves theaters, for the music sequences alone if nothing else. Now, would I recommend the film? It’s always hard to wholeheartedly recommend a thing to a newcomer when I have the context of the original version coloring my perception. My personal score, for whatever it’s worth, would be a 7.5/10 for the film (not the manga, which is a 9.0/10 in my opinion) and 11/10 for the soundtrack. (Seriously, the music kicks ass.) The story is shaky and a bit rushed, but the characters are earnest and their struggles feel real. If you’re a fan of jazz or interested in movies with killer soundtracks, then this movie is absolutely for you. If you’ve read the manga and want to hear it for yourself, then why have you even waited this long? If you’re looking for a fast-paced slice-of-life film without a single fight, then you’re also probably going to have a good time with this movie. Maybe like me, you’ll come out of the movie thinking the same two words our protagonist leaves us with:

That’s jazz.