Just wanted to show some love for Blue Giant (ブルージャイアント), a recent jazz themed manga and anime that I like. A friend tipped me off about a limited release of the movie showing for only 1 day in 1 theater in Central Florida, and boy am I glad he did! What a refreshing, quality anime! It’s really down to earth but also emotional and deep at the same time. The quality of the animation is fantastic, except for the 3D live music sequences (which the director discusses here). And I believe all of the music was composed and conducted by Hiromi Uehara (yes, that Hiromi)!
The manga and story were written by Shinichi Ishizuka (石塚 真一), published by Shogakukan, and ran from 2013-2016 in Big Comic magazine, the spiritual competitor to Shonen Jump. You can actually read the original manga for free on their website!
