Ani-May-tion II: Blue Giant (Dir Yuzuru Tachikawa, 2h, 2023)

Blue Giant won't win any awards this season. Its director, Yuzuru Tachikawa, is an anime journeyman, as so many unsung figures of the industry are: a co-directorial credit here, a directorial credit there, most notably the show-runner on the cult supernatural comedy Mob Psycho 100, and director of one of the many Case Closed detective series films. The film's international release comprised two dates in the US in October 2023, and two in Winter 2024 in the UK. Unlike Makoto Shinkai's latest film, Suzume, and the heavily promoted The First Slam Dunk (which took a remarkable $279 million worldwide), Blue Giant, based on the long-running Shinichi Ishizuka manga, is just another in the ever-increasing number of anime films heading to the West every year. Nevertheless, Blue Giant is worthy of discussion, a visually stunning character study of three young men, led by Dai (Yuki Yamada) bonding over their jazz band, as they aim for the big time.

Jazz and anime have a strangely symbiotic relationship; whilst works like Cowboy Bebop, Durarara!! and Showa Rakugo use various style of jazz to portray the worlds of 22nd Century Mars, modern Ikebukuro and traditional Japanese story-tellers, other series like Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Appolon) depict the world of teen Jazz musicians in the 1960s. Blue Giant, whilst set in the modern day, has a lot in common with the latter: both focus on the idea of Jazz being a dying genre, both centre themselves around a group of young musicians whose lives essentially revolve around their band, both are adaptions of popular manga, with Blue Giant now in its fourth series as Blue Giant Momentum as of July 2023. Both also benefit from having one of the best Japanese jazz musician bringing the music to life, with Sakamichi's score composed by the indomitable Yoko Kanno, against Blue Giant's, by jazz virtuoso, Hiromi Uehara.

Blow that horn: Dai Miyamoto (Yuki Yamada) in full flow.

Blue Giant depicts the journey of largely self-taught saxophonist, Dai Miyamoto, as he aims to be the best jazz musician in the world; he's introduced, playing by a riverbank, in a vignette among falling snow, his mouth bleeding from the cold and effort of playing, his dedication to meeting his far-off goal at once impressive and faintly alarming. The film's visually pared back, but meticulous translation of the manga's artwork is on full display, and whilst the performances throughout the film do rest on captured film rotoscoped into scenes, and occasional use of CGI for the complex mechanisms of instruments, it's a necessary trade-off for the beautifully detailed spectacles that will follow as Dai travels to Tokyo and forms a group.

Arriving in Tokyo, Dai soon makes friends with pianist Yukinori Sawabe (Shotaro Mamiya), at one of the capital's many jazz clubs where they immediately have a rapport, and eventually agree to play together; soon, Dai's (unwilling) housemate and friend Shunji Tamada, (Amane Okayama), joins the group as their drummer, learning as the trio jam together. There is an enjoyable dynamic to this trio, Dai as the virtuoso, largely playing his own form of jazz without training, the classically trained Yukinori, whose backstory is slowly uncovered, and the earnest, but inexperienced Shunji, who is torn between enthusiasm for his new-found passion and worry that he is holding the more proficient members of the group back

Putting the Band together: Dai, Yukinori Sawabe (Shotaro Mamiya) and Shunji Tamada (Amane Okayama)

With the trio, now named JASS, beginning to gel as they look towards their ultimate goal, playing at the prestigious 'So Blue' jazz club, so the film begins to focus more on these elongated musical sequences, in which Uehara's score, and the animation, often fired to a kinetic energy as the camera tracks across the surface of the saxophone, or Yukinori's fingers on the keys, or the crash of stick on cymbal, or otherwise dives into wordless flashbacks as they solo, the camera following this way and that, or simply holding on one of the trio as they play. If the trio are largely left unexplored as people-there's a few scenes in which Shunji discusses his choice with his parents-it is in these musical sequences, especially once one of the group faces tragedy, that their personalities, and their bond in the band, are best shown

But if anything truly stands out in this film, it's the jazz. Despite much of the film revolving around the genre being a dying artform in the Japanese capital and beyond, if this film is anything to go by, it couldn't be in ruder health. The film reveres every aspect of the jazz scene, from the faithful recreation of a "jazu kissa" club, in which patrons listen to records, and whose owner proves to be an important ally to the trio, to the rich scene of jazz fusion in the country, headed by bands like Casiopea and the Shibuya-kei genre, to the range of performers, from newcomers who follow the nascent band, to old hands, some of whom comment, vox-pop style, on the history of JASS, as Dai continues, off-screen to head towards his goal of being the greatest jazz musician of all time. All of this is, of course, topped by the spectacular jazz score from Uehara.

Blue Giant meticulously translates the feel of Shinichi Ishikuza's manga to the screen, but occasionally feels like it's hitting the wrong notes when it comes to the narrative.

Blue Giant is not a perfect film; its narrative structure leans a little heavily upon its jazz setpieces, the character development is largely predictable, and the biggest narrative twist telegraphed for much of the film until it inevitably occurs. It's also, by the by, for a film soundtracked by a female composer, a film that depicts a largely male and middle-aged jazz scene. Nevertheless, Blue Giant is, like its protagonists, a well-executed work by a band of passionate people, creating a visually impressive, and emotionally resonant work that, like its heroes, wants nothing more than to introduce others to the world of Jazz.

Rating: Recommended

Blue Giant is available to stream via Apple TV in the USA, and is available on BluRay via ‎ SHOUT! FACTORY. The manga is available via SevenSeas in the UK and USA.

Next week, and indeed, next month, we begin our longest season to date, reviewing every Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro collaboration, beginning with 1973's Mean Streets.

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