Blue Giant

Very wholesome movie. This is quite literally a work of art for both the visuals and the music….and I don’t even like Jazz lol.

So blue the live was

"Blue Giant" was a pleasant surprise. It's about three friends who love jazz and face challenges together. The animation is lively, the music is central, and it shows how much music can change lives.

It feels rough and uneven, with parts that don't quite fit together well in its animation and story. It moves quickly, sometimes stopping suddenly, which makes these different parts clash unexpectedly, leading to intense emotional moments.

I think I like jazz.

Blue Giant is often gorgeous, with stunning animation that makes incredible use of lighting and shading. The neon red and blue colors burst out of the screen, and the instruments glint and sparkle. During some music sequences, it jumps into more experimental and stylish animation as well. However, when the band is playing on the stage, it will randomly shift to CGI which looks completely off-putting compared to the rest of the animation, the movements looking stiff and robotic, almost as if the band are animatronics at Chuck E. Cheese. I mention this because it happens pretty much every time they are on stage (which is a lot), and the animation is clearly able to make the musicians and instruments look gorgeous if they want, so this was a definite blemish on the animation. In terms of the rest of the movie, I thought it felt like untapped potential. A decent chunk of the runtime is dedicated to them playing jazz, and while the music sounds decent, this didn't particularly do much for me as someone who isn't particularly keen on jazz to begin with. I think Dai, the main character, is the most underdeveloped, often feeling like a blank wall outside of us knowing he is ambitious and hardworking. His two bandmates are more interesting, but even then, Tamada is only given a fuzzy outline of an arc. Yukinori has the most depth, and I did think his arc was the most engaging. Everything else, including the interpersonal drama within the band or their struggles to get noticed, often feels surface-level. This is a movie that is more about the music and the visuals, and I think if you are looking for interesting character dynamics or themes, then there are more interesting movies/shows/anime within the music genre (e.g. Whiplash). For me, the former isn't enough to overlook the lack of the latter which is why my rating is slightly lower.