Blue Giant, vol. 1

Blue Giant Omnibus #1

by Shinichi Ishizuka, Marc Bernabé (Translator)

Dai lleva una vida normal de instituto en Sendai, una ciudad de días calurosos y noches lluviosas. Entre el baloncesto, el trabajo a tiempo parcial y un futuro incierto, Dai nota que le falta algo: la música. Cuando termina el último curso, toma una decisión irrevocable: quiere ser el mejor intérprete de jazz del mundo.

Sin embargo, ¿qué se necesita para ser el mejor? ¿Talento, esfuerzo o un golpe de suerte? ¿O tal vez sólo un amor profundo y puro por la música?

Genres: Manga, Music, Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Seinen, Contemporary

420 pages, Paperback

Published June 6, 2024

About the author

Shin'ichi Ishizuka (Jap: 石塚真一, Ishizuka Shin'ichi) is a Japanese mangaka.

Reviews

[nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cue 𝘉𝘦𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 line: "𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘫𝘢𝘻𝘻?"

Funny enough, this is a lot kinder than Whiplash. It makes me wonder if ambition doesn't have to be so mean and cruel. Can one remain true to character (noble, tireless, enthusiastic) when it comes to becoming a so-called great?

Great moments of puffed up cheeks and wincing eyes to match the clashing clanks of brass you can feel off the pages. Hazy intermixings of exposition that create an unclear position in direction, but it's fine and fun because it's jazz. For all the reasons I love improvisation and being an amateur, this one hits!

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

How did I stumble into reading three graphic novels about jazz saxophonists in a month when I don't even listen to jazz music regularly? This one falls blandly between the excellent Chasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker in California and the godawful Blue in Green.

Here our saxophonist is Miyamoto Dai, a Japanese teenager, who has decided to be the greatest jazz player in the world. Self-taught, he spends every spare minute of his days and nights either practicing his sax on the banks of the Hirose River in Sendai or telling other people how much he loves jazz. And that's the first third of the book. Eventually he gets some chances to play in public. We're told that he's not a great technical player, but he has that certain something which can move certain listeners.

Slow-paced and low-key, this really drags over the course of 400 pages, though there are some nice character bits toward the very end.

I think this might have seemed more dramatic in Japan where a person boldly repeating out loud he is going to be the best at something may be considered a somewhat shocking breach of etiquette.

[Jen13 · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, I read a third of this before I started to enjoy it, but when it hit, it hit! There are some flashback scenes in the beginning that confused me at first, but by the end I totally understood everything.

Dai is a student who discovers jazz in middle school and teaches himself to play sax. Most of this story takes place during his final year of high school. I love Dai's attitude! The boy is so resilient and passionate. This is set up very similar to a sports manga, a young person working tirelessly to pursue their dream. I love the writing and the characters (there are tons of great side characters), and the art grew on me. I especially love the way Dai is drawn while playing his sax.

Even if you don't listen to jazz, (I don't but this made me want to start) if you like sports manga, or coming of age stories, or stories about people overcoming all obstacles to achieve their dream, then you should check out this series.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story! It took me a bit to get into it-there were some flashbacks in the beginning that were confusing and I hadn't gotten used to the art and character styles so everyone looked the same. But by chapter 3 it was all good.

It's such a feel-good story. Dai is a character you can get behind. I think it's rather a wish-fulfillment story. When things get bad (and they don't really) Dai just overcomes it. I smiled throughout the whole thing. I really can't stress enough how much I smiled throughout the whole thing.

I also enjoyed the technical aspects of playing as I played tenor sax in a jazz band so the discussion of embouchure, I was like yep. Dai has little technical skills but can play by sheer practice and listening to the greats on repeat. The way the art portrays the sound works. I enjoyed both seeing the music represented as well as how it was reflected on the character's faces. The way Dai plays is about emotion and how he can make other's feel his emotions and through that their own emotions.

My favorite parts were the flashforwards where people who met Dai reflected on both what they thought of him. it comes across as Dai has made it big and it's a documentary about him. Which makes me so happy

If not clear, I loved this--both the art and story and the fact it's a manga about a tenor sax player. Will definitely read the next

[Emre Sevinç · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this little gem thanks to the recommendation of my brother (who is a sax player like the protagonist). The book brought back so many memories and created new ones. I didn't think it would be possible the draw the intensity of jazz in this manner; apparently it is and I was lucky to experience it. I had a lot of fun with this quick read and cherished the memory of hearing John Coltrane for the first time some thirty years ago, among other things. Things that connect me to this great music tradition, which, in turn, unites me, my brother, friends, and even total strangers.

Long story short, this book made me smile, and who knows, maybe it'll make you smile, too.

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Find yourself something you love as much as Dai loves to blow sax. A lot of passion comes through the pages and I enjoyed the journey to become the greatest sax player in the world. Hope he makes it one day.

[Paul Spence · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who loves jazz, and plays the saxophone, Blue Giant should be in my wheel house. Alas, this volume annoyed me. The basic set up is that a teenager named Dai becomes obsessed with jazz and with learning to play the tenor saxophone.

However, I have problems with the execution. This is a lot like a typical Shonen manga in that the central protagonist has to be the best in the entire world. In music, this makes no sense. Music isn't a competition, it is about making a statement, and connecting with people's emotions. Musicians of various skills levels can make a meaningful musical statement without having to be "the best in world" whatever that actually means in any practical sense.

The book has a naive and almost adolescent view of jazz and playing a musical instrument. Perhaps this works for teenage readers, but it does not work for me. I was excited to read this series and I bought the first five omnibus volumes, but I found reading this to be a bit of a slog, and I do not know if I will continue on.

The art is very good and I liked the use of speed lines to show the wall of sound coming from the bell of the saxophone. I have no complaints about the art, it is the writing that failed to impress me.

[Arsnoctis · Rating 2 out of 5]

L'edizione italiana di J-pop fa venire voglia di continuare a leggerlo, l'approccio alla musica del suo protagonista fa venire voglia di usarlo come ariete.

In questo volume ho trovato una double splash che mi ha fatto venire voglia di stare lì a fissarla, dunque non mancherò di far notare a chi volesse provare la serie che i suoi disegni sono molto ben fatti e potrebbero piacere, per esempio, ai fan del segno di Urasawa. Cosa voglio aggiungere però è il paradosso alla base della storia: se il jazz è soprattutto trasmettere emozione - e devo dire di essere concorde con questo - come può un uomo diventare il migliore nel suonarlo? Non c'è pagella che possa stargli dietro, nè classifica, nè prova cronometro. Ho il dubbio che andando avanti costui riesca a darsi una regolata e a prendere meglio coscenza di sè, ma come in "Blue period" in anni recenti, io non sarò lì a leggere l'esito dei suoi fortissimo.

2.5 arrotondato per difetto.

[Nicholas Dehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find this to be a masterful manga; the author has excellent control of the page at all times and guides the reader to feel exactly how they are supposed to. The art is beautiful and the linework to emphasize Dai’s music is especially profound. I love a lot of details of the story; how Dai’s father is so supportive, how his brother bought him his sax, how Dai fits in with his friends but is clearly a little bit of an odd fellow, the basketball scenes, how so many characters are introduced already that become important or seem very likely to become important later on, how Dai’s ability to express himself through saxophone overshadows his lacking technical skills, how much he cares about his best friend and his boss, etc. I greatly enjoyed these first volumes and am excited to continue!

[vanda 𐦍༘ · Rating 4 out of 5]

this series is really great - chapters are short, but the art does a lot of heavy lifting in conveying emotions. this serves the same flavour as sports manga telling a tale of starting from the bottom to raise up to the top. there are little bonuses that are included in each chapter which imply that dai did make it big - they are short interview segments with people who knew dai from day one, reminiscing about how he got started as a musician which i think it’s really endearing

i am on chapter 25 (volume 4), and i will drop this manga for now bc it has inspired me to reread sports manga (aka blue lock, aka knb)

[Brett]

The way a good series will have you invested in the most random things… like “I NEED this boy to become the best tenor sax player in Tokyo. Let’s his trio play at the elite jazz night club PLEASE 🙏 “

Picked this up because I thought the movie was so charming, and a lot of that comes through here as well. But the super dynamic panels with only “doot toot doobie doot” type sound effects are too funny. That’s jazz, baby!

[MilesTeller Shirtless · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jazz! Nothing like it, baby. Unfortunately, there are plenty of things like this book! Lots of manga cliches, poor pacing, and nonsensical character moments. Written for children, but also about jazz. You kind of have to respect it!

[ChandlerF · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t like it at first but figured may as well keep reading and ended up being pretty captivated after a few chapters. One thing I really enjoyed about it was all the name drops of famous jazz artist and correct usage of theory and technique terms

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young man dedicates himself to becoming the greatest jazz musician of all time. It is a bit of a younger read but his optimism and determination made me really enjoy Dai and cheer him on (even if he stinks).

[Jack Saville · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm gonna go play bass now. Be back in 7 hours.

Cover Rating: 8/10
(Wish I could give this 4 1/2 stars.)

[Booby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personally love this manga.

[Jack (Gay) · Rating 3 out of 5]

“But Jazz… it’s kinda intense”

Shounen manga typically peddle a certain kind of moral vision where the greatest sin of all is to play it safe and let go of your childhood dreams. And while these same big ideals painted by big feelings exist in Blue Giant, the author Ishizuki rejects the maximalist tendencies of the genre, seeking to operate on a more grounded positionality. The pulsing, imaginative world-building that propels so many of the largest shounen series is pared down here for a more narrowed, intimate realism that foregrounds more real world anxieties - namely those of economic stability and personal fulfillment- which ultimately allows some truth to seep into the often hollow-sounding platitudes of the shounen genre.

For Dai - a rural high school senior obsessed with jazz - the looming realities of adulthood are swirling together with the last gasps of his adolescence, creating a suffocating frustration with the path laid out for him and his classmates. The reader alongside Dai are consistently reminded of the brutally narrow economic parameters teens encounter, with the “responsible life” - often a corporate life defined by tedium and fetishization of seniority - being drawn as the only escape from certain economic catastrophe. However, Ishizuki finds the security offered by the “responsible choice” to be just as precarious as the life of a jazz musician. Jazz is simply more honest regarding the risks. Despite endless preparations, many of Dai’s friends do not pass their college entrance exam. The creeping force of automation - the antithesis of the freewheeling jazz - causes both Dai and his adult boss to unexpectedly lose their jobs. Blue Giant shows that the world is fundamentally unstable so why not swing big? If you miss, at least you live in poverty doing something you love rather than slowly being eroded by the grinding machinery of late-stage capitalism.

However, one must wonder how much of this argument holds water coming from a world-renowned mangaka. Certainly it worked out for him, but practically it will not work for most. Very few will ascend to the rank of professional artist. Instead, the vast majority of readers will be relegated to appreciators of art like Dai’s disaffected classmates and the townspeople of Sendai. Taken this way, the manga can sometimes feel like navel-gazing, as if to tautologically justify the artist’s and the art’s existence. Nevertheless, through the cult of personality of Dai - who almost feels lab grown with how perfectly calibrated he is for emotional resonance - Ishizuki manages to marshall his stock characters and narrative in a way that glosses over this gaping pitfall and instead catch lightning in a bottle. In fully leaning into the inherent conceits present in the shounen form and an artist’s existence, Ishizuki is able to visually pin down that ineffable quality of jazz that makes it so seductive: its own internal contradictions as a musical mode of ordinary instruments harmonizing together in a way that shouldn’t work but ultimately does. The real alchemy of Blue Giant can be found in how Ishizuki orchestrates these subjects bursting with contradictions - the pursuit of jazz, the posturing masculinity of high school, rural life in the digital age - and creates a coherent narrative. Everything becomes an instrument that he can play with - even the audience’s disbelief is played with, posed to Dai with “What makes you think you can go into That world and win? Where’s your evidence” and then boldly silenced with “I make it. Day after day, I make it myself.” It’s a gambit that would fall apart in less experienced hands, but Ishizuki sticks the landing and delivers a compelling love letter to amateurism in all its fumbling first steps

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewing a Manga volume by volume instead of providing an overarching review is different but I'll give it a try. I gave Blue Giant Omnibus 1 five stars because it hit the main key points for me; plot, character development, writing, setting/theme and overall memorability.

Slice of Life Mangas can fall flat when it's not well executed, especially those centred around music. This is mainly because music is heard and translating this solely through images and dialogue can be difficult but Shinichi Ishizuka did a magnificent job with this. Not only are the visuals amazing but the gradual way the main character, Dai, and the supporting characters grow is great to see. Just like Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope), jazz as the focal point brought me to this manga. However, the autobiographical style this first volume creates brings this endearing aspect to each character. The initial troubles he had with learning to play the tenor saxophone and getting a gig balanced out the sudden and intense way he fell in love with jazz. I LOVE the familial dynamic that's already been set as well as the way Ishizuka highlights how each passing acquaintance impacted Dai and how Dai later impacted them.

In the beginning, the sudden back and forth in time was jarring and disorientating, but I think Ishizuka fixed that later on with specific artistic queues that let the reader know a flash-forward and flashback was happening.

Overall, I'm looking forward to reading the remaining volumes.

[Joseph B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blue Giant is a seinen manga series about a teenager who believes he can become the greatest jazz musician in the world. This aspiration is the focus the entire series.

Miyamoto Dai is struck by a sudden and inescapable love of jazz music. He gets a saxophone, and begins teaching himself to play it. He spends every day on the riverbank playing for hours. While at others listening to the jazz greats; John Coltrane, Miles Davis, & more. It strikes similar to the ever popular sports manga; a young man spending hours each day training to be the best. Worth noting for international readers; jazz is big in Japan. A manga about this is atypical, but not without a market.

Blue Giant has no fear of taking things slow. The whole first half of this two volume collection is Dai becoming self-taught, before finally getting to play his first gig. Then he finally gets a teacher. The wider cast is solid enough. But the focus is on Dai and his dreams. If you aren't a jazz fan, I imagine you can still enjoy Blue Giant. Like with sports manga focusing on a game you don't care about much. The journey is more about the character, sharing what he loves, and trying to be the best he can be. That said, Blue Giant does feel a tad bit repetitive at times. It spins its wheel, recycling plot beats occasionally in this first omnibus.

However overall Blue Giant undeniably has heart. And that's why I enjoyed my time with it so much. 4 out of 5 stars. There is strong potential for this series.

[Cory · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve come to a point in my life where things seem to stand still or that I arrive too late to something or that I’ve wasted so much time. This manga, while ultimately optimistic in that cheerful way that so many manga are, has a real feel for that. I’m glad I read it and it makes you feel like even though you might not win in life or that you might not fulfill all your dreams and that life has more knockout power than Mike Tyson or George Foreman or even Sonny Liston, you can still live a life. I’m not a jazzman. I still like Charles Mingus though. I know for a fact that many people are like the jazz bar patrons in this book. Affecting sophistication and maturity to cover up the fact that they can throw someone out and shout them down in the most childish matter. But I also know they are not that legendary knockout power of life I mentioned earlier. I don’t think this mango will be one of the Greats we remember. No Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball be this. But I do believe it tells you that a broken heart can keep beating.

[Brandt Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since I found most manga online for free, I really stopped buying any. But Blue Giant is the exception. I found this gem a couple of years ago and was slowly reading it as it was only getting 1 chapter translated a month at its most frequent. This isn't even really my usual genre that I read but it is just so good. I've become enthralled and it has easily become my most anticipated manga.

Once I saw the first 8 volumes available on Amazon . . . I just had to get them. I had to have this story on my book shelf. I'm not a music person and this series, being focused on jazz, doesn't really do lyrics or anything that gives you a notion of what it sounds like . . . but the emotion is carried on through the artwork anyway. You feel the passion and the weight of the music. The author/illustrator do this very well. In fact, some of the best chapters have no dialogue at all.

For me, this is a masterpiece and I hope that the sequel Blue Giant Supreme gets translated soon.

[Yael Alonso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was really looking forward to this, especially since I saw it had won some awards. I love anything about music, specifically anything focusing on the pursuit of music and how it matters, a theme seen in recent films like Soul and others like August Rush.

But this manga, although the concept sounds great, falls short and is rather dull.

We have a character who has never played music before but once he picks up the sax we are led to believe that he’s all of a sudden something great, even with no prior knowledge of any theory.

Now maybe our character has a great ear but that is something that is not emphasized so his “talent” seems like a fantasy.

In the later chapters, reality does seem to kick in for our character as he begins to see that he may indeed not be the greatest but it is not enough to save the rest of the chapters.

Of course this is simply the first two volumes and I have hope that the following ones will pick up in momentum and characterization.

ABR

[Somu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall an interesting premise. I think this is one of these situations as a music lover where I feel this would be better as an anime tv series or film. I feel like music is very difficult to translate into a medium like manga, particularly as someone who doesn't listen to jazz I found it even more difficult to connect or understand what was going on musically. It also didn't help that I didn't love any of the characters a lot. Also, the somewhat blaccent ish ways the characters were talking in sometimes took me out of the story because this is set in Japan with Japanese characters. Given even though it's a manga about music too I connected with the characters deeply to the point where the actual lack of music didn't impact me. It also helped that was a genre I am a bit more familiar with. Overall I won't be continuing with the series but when the movie comes out I'll definitely be watching it because this is a very interesting premise.

[Rosa Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this because I’ve been trying to find manga that involved music.
Like I watched Hibike Euphonium and I loved that anime, and ever since I’ve seen that I’ve been trying to find other anime’s or mangas like it.
And at first I was kind of confused and a lil bored but then I got really into it. A little confused cuz I thought he was going to go to a music school, but that wasn’t the case. It’s more like a slice of life but not really type of thing.
He’s got a lot of energy let me just say that. And it seems like he doesn’t because the greatest jazz musician in the future, since theirs like little scenes where the people that he knows are older and telling someone past things. Or maybe he doesn’t and it’s something else. Who knows.
Overall this was a good volume, and when I get the chance to read the second one I can’t wait for it. Hope it’s good.

[Ethan Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming in as a jazz musician reading their first ever manga, I spent most of my time reading Blue Giant picking apart its little pieces of music and artwork, deciphering the personifications of jazz that rested within this unique and new medium for me. Were expressions and personifications of jazz in this work wholly unique and exclusive to the storytelling of manga, or is jazz also some wholly kinetic and cosmic force that extends past the fuzzy pages of these magazines? There’s a lot to love in Blue Giant that spoke to my own sentiments as a jazz musician; from the extreme exclamations and proclamations of musicality to the emotional, cathartic performance sequences, this is truly an ambitious love letter to jazz and a reflection on the way it is inflected and imbibed within modern Japanese culture.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slice of life / coming of age story of a high school kid trying to become the world’s best jazz player. Although it doesn’t do anything that inventive and the mc is a little bland, i found his drive to succeed kinda nice. Although i do wish that the author focused a bit more on how realising you’re not good at something can affect your drive (such as when the mc is kicked out of his first performing gig).

Although it started off a little slow, I definitely grew to enjoy it more as the volume went on. And while the mc does kinda just glide through the bad events, it’s kinda feel-good in that he doesn’t beat himself up about it. Enjoyed, and will probably pick up the next volume if i see it.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was good. I’m not a Jazz fan but I liked it. I saw the movie adaptation a while back and really liked it. I was pleasantly surprised when I found volumes 1-2 at my library. I had no idea the movie started so much later in the story, later in Dai’s journey. I also just found out “Blue Giant” is still going and follows Dai’s career through 4 sequel series. Wow, pretty cool!

Anyway, this one starts slow but about midway through it picks up. I think the later volumes will have a better flow since Dai will most likely be around more musicians, so there’s not as much story time taken with him trying to convince people about his music aspirations.

I really loved the drawing style. The faces and eyes were so clear and expressive. I also liked how Dai’s playing style was drawn.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The challenge of translating music into a medium that isn’t live or video is probably hard but this manga does it really well through the shading and perspective, we get to see Dai from a perspective like were the sound leaving his sax at moments emphasizing his sound. The story isn’t really the main focus here, at least in these first 2 volumes, we’re really focusing more on Dai’s growth as a character and musician which I’m a fan of, since I’m not really sure how they’d tell a non character focused story given that there’s not necessarily an outward motivation like a competition.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how manga can be about anything. This one is just a dude wants to be really good at jazz. I wish more comics were willing to have that simple and basic of a motivation for their characters. A lot of characterization feels a bit undercooked so far but I don’t know, the high points outweigh the low for me. It’s a fun ride.

Also I like how the artist draws the main dude when he’s blowing on the mouthpiece.

[Axolotl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it because the art is really nice and I wanna see how he becomes successful, (because it's really obvious that he will). And while I didn't understand exactly what he played that made people so emotional, or why he touched a girl's chest near the beginning because he was mad at her for saying something negative about jazz (I mean come on man), I'll still be getting the next omnibus because the story as a whole just seems so interesting.