Blue Giant (2023)

February 17, 2023 (JP) • Animation, Drama, Music • 120m

Overview

High school student Dai Miyamoto has his life is turned upside down the day he discovers jazz. Picking up a saxophone and leaving his sleepy hometown for the bustling nightclubs of Tokyo, Dai will find that the life of a professional musician isn’t for the faint of heart, as he must confront what it truly means to be great.

Director

Yuzuru Tachikawa

Writer

NUMBER 8

Top Billed

Yuki Yamada

Keywords

jazz musician saxophone based on manga anime

Where to watch

Free / Included

Netflix

Netflix Standard with Ads

Rent

Buy

Top Billed Cast

Yuki Yamada

Dai Miyamoto (voice)

Shotaro Mamiya

Yukinori Sawabe (voice)

Amane Okayama

Shunji Tamada (voice)

Yusuke Kondoh

Masayuki Miyamoto (voice)

Mirei Suda

Ayaka Miyamoto (voice)

Kenji Nomura

Yui (voice)

Hiroki Touchi

Tyra (voice)

Yutaka Aoyama

Kawakita (voice)

Masayuki Kato

Isogai (voice)

Sayaka Kinoshita

Akiko (voice)

Hidenobu Kiuchi

Amanuma (voice)

Go Shinomiya

Uchiyama (voice)

Shinya Takahashi

Mochizuke (voice)

Junya Abe

Mika Doi

Ryosuke Higa

Hana Hishikawa

Ikkyu Juku

Misa Kato

Yasuhiro Kikuchi

Hitomi Kitazaki

Naoto Kobayashi

Tatsuki Kobe

Yohei Matsuoka

Karin Nanami

Keita Nishiyama

Shinya Nishiyama

Yuki Okada

Aruno Tahara

Ryunosuke Yamaguchi

Yuto Yamamoto

Katsuya Yoshida

Crew

Yuzuru Tachikawa

Director

NUMBER 8

Screenplay

Hiromi Uehara

Original Music Composer

Hiromi Uehara

Musician

Tomoaki Baba

Musician

Shun Ishiwaka

Musician

Liu Zihan

Key Animation

Yuichi Takahashi

Character Designer

Yuichi Takahashi

Supervising Animation Director

Toshiyuki Komaru

Lead Animator

Takao Maki

Lead Animator

Takao Maki

Prop Designer

Natsuki Yokoyama

Prop Designer

Satoru Hirayanagi

Art Direction

Yoshinori Horikawa

Color Designer

Kasumi Togo

Director of Photography

Masato Takahashi

3D Director

Kiyoshi Hirose

Editor

Tomoaki Baba

Theme Song Performance

Hiromi Uehara

Theme Song Performance

Shun Ishiwaka

Theme Song Performance

John Coltrane

Music

Kazuma Jinnouchi

Additional Music

Satoshi Kimura

Storyboard Artist

Satoshi Kimura

Key Animation

Shinichi Ishizuka

Comic Book

Yuzuru Tachikawa

Storyboard Artist

Iwao Teraoka

Storyboard Artist

Tomomi Mochizuki

Storyboard Artist

Hiromatsu Shu

Storyboard Artist

Yuzuru Tachikawa

Second Unit Director

Satoshi Kimura

Second Unit Director

Hiromatsu Shu

Second Unit Director

Yuki Nishibata

Second Unit Director

Koyo Ogata

Second Unit Director

Mitsuhiro Ogata

Second Unit Director

Takayuki Yamamoto

Second Unit First Assistant Director

Satoshi Matsubara

Second Unit First Assistant Director

Kei Miura

Second Unit First Assistant Director

Toshiyuki Komaru

Animation Director

Takao Maki

Animation Director

Kenichi Shima

Animation Director

Kazuya Miyoshi

Animation Director

Yuichi Takahashi

Animation Director

Vercreek

Key Animation

Saurabh Singh

Key Animation

Dong Chang

Key Animation

DogDog

Key Animation

bs_kim

Key Animation

Aditya

Key Animation

Adam Zheng

Key Animation

Toshiyuki Komaru

Key Animation

Takao Maki

Key Animation

Yuichi Takahashi

Key Animation

Jiang Zhouyong

Key Animation

Fuminori Tsukida

Key Animation

Hiromatsu Shu

Key Animation

Naoyuki Asano

Key Animation

Toshiro Fujii

Key Animation

Shiomi Yamada

Key Animation

Kanako Maru

Key Animation

Katsutoshi Nakamura

Key Animation

Takeo Shutou

Key Animation

Daiki Nagata

Key Animation

Shin'ichi Kurita

Key Animation

Liang Boya

Key Animation

Eiko Mishima

Key Animation

Ai Ogata

Key Animation

Mitsumi Nakayama

Key Animation

Maki Matsuura

Key Animation

Kumiko Onaga

Key Animation

Kazuto Wakayama

Key Animation

Pan Jing

Key Animation

Ryota Azuma

Key Animation

Naoko Minai

Key Animation

Taishi Fujimori

Key Animation

Takuya Yoshihara

Key Animation

Kenichi Shima

Key Animation

Asumi Kato

Key Animation

Kentaro Kawajiri

Key Animation

Serena Koi

Key Animation

Anzu Katsuragi

Key Animation

Toshiyuki Yoshioka

Key Animation

Kanako Awada

Key Animation

Naomi Okita

Key Animation

Nobuhiko Kawakami

Key Animation

Mayumi Nakamura

Key Animation

Akiko Taniguchi

Key Animation

Michiko Notsu

Key Animation

Shinichi Iimura

Key Animation

Hisashi Shimokawa

Key Animation

Risa Suzuki

Key Animation

Yasuhiro Saiki

Key Animation

Kazuya Saito

Key Animation

Chisato Hosokawa

Key Animation

Kaori Ikeda

Key Animation

Shigenori Taniguchi

Key Animation

Ken Yamamoto

Key Animation

Natsuki Yokoyama

Key Animation

Moe Yoshimura

Key Animation

Mayu Murakata

Key Animation

Nana Yamaguchi

Key Animation

Yuka Fukuchi

Key Animation

Niina Morita

Key Animation

Su Shiyi

Key Animation

Tam Hoikei

Key Animation

Akane Tamai

Key Animation

Shiori Asaka

Key Animation

Yuki Arinaga

Key Animation

Sho Uchida

Key Animation

Takashi Yoshiyama

Key Animation

Fumika Kimura

Key Animation

Misa Matsuoka

Key Animation

Ryushi Tokunaga

Key Animation

Sumire Fukazawa

Key Animation

Lu Qiang

Key Animation

Xu Jiafu

Key Animation

Juneng Binggui

Key Animation

Xu Jingyu

Key Animation

coachP

Key Animation

Fei Hung

Key Animation

Wu Guangxu

Key Animation

Sho Sugai

Key Animation

Jeong Soon-an

Key Animation

Moon Joo-yeon

Key Animation

Andy Zhu

Key Animation

Barkarott

Key Animation

Julius de Belen

Key Animation

Vann Oba

Key Animation

Willie Blue Bussell

Key Animation

Yuria

Key Animation

Hiroyuki Horiuchi

Key Animation

Yuji Hosogoe

Key Animation

Surasak Phapijit

Animation

Dong Chang

Animation

Marty Holoubek

Musician

Miho Hazama

Musician

Sayoko Narukawa

Music Producer

Takuya Tsunoki

Other

Shinnosuke Usui

Casting Producer

Shohei Kayaba

Compositing Artist

Mayumi Morisato

Compositing Artist

Yuko Matsunaga

Compositing Artist

Takuya Noshiro

Compositing Artist

Yurika Shinozaki

Production Assistant

Kazutaka Yamanaka

Executive Producer

Eri Isobe

Producer

Mikito Bizenjima

Producer

Kenji Shibasaki

Supervising Sound Effects Editor

Tomonari Tokuhisa

Sound Recordist

Kim Hyun-soo

Background Designer

Naoshi Fujikura

Co-Executive Producer

Shin'ichirô Minami

Co-Executive Producer

Masanori Yumiya

Co-Executive Producer

Ryo Fujita

Co-Executive Producer

Nobumasa Sawabe

Co-Executive Producer

Keiji Ota

Executive Producer

Atsushi Takahashi

Supervising Producer

Reviews

CinemaSerf

⭐ 7/10

February 2, 2024

I very nearly didn't make the 30-mile schlep to my local Cineworld to watch this film but I'm really glad I did. It's not about a whale, no. It's about the aspirational saxophonist "Dai" who heads to Tokyo with dreams of taking over the world. He arrives, unannounced, on the doorstep of his friend "Tamada" looking for a bed for a few days. Needless to say, that few days turns out to be a bit longer and their friendship starts to strain a bit (the visitor snores!). "Dai" visits a small bar and meets the jazz-loving owner "Akiko" who sends him to a live venue where he encounters the pianist "Sawabe" whom he tries to convince to form a band. They are both eighteen but the latter man has been playing for about fourteen years longer than his new friend, so is a little sceptical! That doesn't last long once he hears him play and they soon decide they need a drummer to keep both from straying into the uncontrollable territory that can be improv jazz! Well, it turns out that his "landlord" isn't half bad at beating time with a stick on a Coke can - but can he up his game and turn this duo into a trio good enough to play at the city's most prestigious club - "So Blue"? The story itself is a bit predicable, with a few temper tantrums, frustrations and fallings out but it does illustrate well just how athletic these musicians must be to perform. Hands are covered in calluses and bruises, the sax takes quite a toll on the breathing and at times it's touch and go as to whether they can make it out of the starting block. There's nothing easy about the task they have set themselves nor the dedication and sacrifices it will take to achieve (or not) their goal. The animation itself it a little hit and miss, the CGI works much less well that the hand drawn scenes, but what really works here is the synchronisation with the musicians and that can be really immersive at times. If you are a fan of this genre of music, then you are in for a treat of Coltrane, Stitt et al. The saxophone (Tomoaki Baba), piano (Hiromi Uehara) and drums (Shun Ishiwaka) are unafraid to start off timidly and (especially the drummer) very rough around the edges, but as the story develops and they improve and become more confident, so do their performances until a tragedy tinged denouement that really does get the toes tapping. I'd have to say - there is no point in watching this is if this style of rambling, meandering and frankly rather musically self-indulgent performance doesn't appeal to you, but the powerful mix of frenetically syncopated animation and music I found really quite compelling. Sure, it's a bit long - but it's well worth a watch.

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Blue Giant (2023)

Where to watch

Top Billed Cast

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