Blue Giant is finally releasing in North America. GKIDS is distributing the highly anticipated anime film.
Blue Giant is adapted from the famous manga of the same name by Shinichi Ishizuka. The film will have a limited release in select theaters only. GKIDS also shared the trailer on X (formerly Twitter) and other platforms, with English subtitles accompanying the original Japanese.
Blue Giant follows the transformation of Miyamoto Dai, initially a basketball enthusiast who finds his life changed forever after witnessing a live jazz performance. This musical encounter sparked his passion, leading him to pursue the saxophone despite his lack of training and skills. The conflict in the story stems from whether Dai’s simple enthusiasm is enough to realize his dream of becoming a musician.
Since Blue Giant’s story revolves around the jazz band JASS, the film’s original score was rightfully directed by renowned musicians, including renowned Grammy Award-winning pianist Hiromi Uehara, saxophonist Tomoaki Baba and Millennium Parade drummer Shun Ishikawa. The trio also voiced the story’s band members Yukinori Sawabe, Dai Miyamoto and Shunji Tamada, respectively.
Blue Giant is directed by famous filmmaker Yuzuru Tachikawa, who is known for his works Death Parade, Mob Psycho 100 and Deca-Dence. Blue Giant was made at studio NUT and the film’s script was written by NUMBER 8, who previously did some editing work on the original manga and its sequel, Blue Giant Supreme.
The Hulk is distributed by Toho Animation. The film premiered in Japan on February 17, 2023 and made an impressive mark by grossing a staggering 116,561,020 yen (about 867,600 USD) in its opening weekend and quickly surpassed past the one billion yen milestone. Ahead of its North American launch, Blue Giant has teased a bit about the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2023, arousing anticipation among eager fans.
Blue Giant’s manga was originally published from 2013 to 2016 on Big Comic. It consists of ten volumes and is currently published by Seven Seas Entertainment for English-speaking audiences. The manga was well received and received nominations for the eighth and ninth Manga Taisho Awards. It also won the Grand Prize in the Manga category at the 20th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards. Following Blue Giant’s win, Ishizuka and Big Comic introduced a sequel, Blue Giant Supreme, debuted from 2016 to 2020 and also includes 10 episodes. Additionally, the duo also launched a second sequel, titled Blue Giant Explorer, in 2020. The manga series has achieved a notable total circulation of over 10 million copies.
Blue Giant will launch with a screening in New York on October 6, organized by the Japan Society, where Hiromi will make a special appearance. The two-day theatrical release will take place on October 8 and October 9 in select theaters across North America.
Source: GKIDS
