Dai Miyamoto’s life changes when he discovers jazz. He picks up a tenor saxophone and practices every day. After leaving his hometown, Sendai, he pursues a music career in Tokyo with help from his friend Shunji. One day, Dai plays passionately from the heart and convinces talented pianist Yukinori to start a band together. Along with Shunji, a beginner drummer, they form the three-piece band, JASS. With each live performance, they get closer and closer to their dream of playing at So Blue, the most famous jazz club in Japan, in hopes of forever changing the world of jazz.

Based on the manga by Shinichi Ishizuka, Blue Giant from Yuzuru Tachikawa is a moving ode to the power of jazz with original music by HIROMI.

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Video Quality

Blue Giant arrives on Blu-Ray from GKIDS with a stellar 1080p transfer in its original aspect ratio. This feature delivers magnificent detail in the club and within the city which the animators have brought to life in an exciting way. Each space is filled with distinct traits that make it feel more authentic and visually complex. The character designs are impeccably rendered as you follow them along their journey. The transfer executes every discrete change in atmosphere with stability including no jagged lines or color bleeding.

The thrilling animation style utilized for this tale is replete with lush detail and texture. Every scene delivers a cavalcade of fantastic imagery that makes you grateful there are still some artists playing in 2-D animation, even if there are some digital enhancements. The colors are vibrant and saturated well with complex hues engaging the senses. Highlights are properly maintained, and black levels are quite deep with no trace of compression artifacts or digital anomalies. GKIDS continues to do great work in the HD space.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray goes all out with a terrific Dolby Atmos track along with both a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 option and an LPCM 2.0 track. All three tracks are presented faithfully here in their original Japanese with optional English, English SDH, and Spanish subtitles. When you have a narrative centered on music, you want these sounds to explode out of the speakers and envelop you in a sonic swirl. Thankfully, this is the case as the diegetic music and the score aid the journey as it elevates the audience with the surround sound presentation.

The height channels are tremendously helpful when it comes to showering you with sounds from all directions. There is also a nice presence for the rest of the sound design bringing some natural texture to the world. Dialogue comes through perfectly clearly without being drowned out by any competing elements. The environmental details in the surround channels are effective as the sounds transport you into this narrative. GKIDS delivers a first-rate presentation with this one.

Special Features

Q&A with Hiromi: A 16-minute interview with the composer at the Japan Society festival in which she discusses her background, what moved her to make this project, the way in which she is not boxed into a genre, the act of composing the songs, adapting the music from the comic, and more.

Trailers & Teasers: A four-and-a-half-minute collection of Japanese trailers and teasers is provided here for the film.

Final Thoughts

Blue Giant is a welcome exploration of the medium of Japanese animation that goes beyond the fantasy or romance angles that typically break through for Western audiences. The narrative is grounded in reality, but it uses animation to conjure the feelings that music evokes in a visual manner. This allows to reality to feel a touch more magical as you follow these characters and the bonds that form as they create art with one another. It is a very beautiful story that delivers a range of emotions that all land with the intended effect. GKIDS has released a Blu-Ray with a terrific A/V presentation and welcome supplemental interview. This is worth seeking out for newcomers to anime who want a more grounded story that appeals to adults. Recommended

Blue Giant is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: GKIDS and Shout! Studios have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.