When you start to collect jazz albums, a dealer will immediately tip you off that you need to get the Japanese import of certain albums. Japan is always described as a place where Jazz is fully appreciated. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and other cut live records there. Do the local musical kids of Tokyo want to be jazz stars too? Blue Giant is an animated film about three young men that want to be a tight jazz unit. Director Yuzuru Tachikawa and his own unit make the music come alive as they perform at clubs. The movie arrives on Blu-ray and digital platforms in April. Here’s the press release from GKIDS and Shout! Studios:
| GKIDS Presents THE CRITICALLY ACLAIMED JAZZ ANIME FILMBLUE GIANT ON BLU-RAY™ AND MAJOR DIGITAL PLATFORMS ON APRIL 30, 2024 |
| View Trailer Here: |
BLUE GIANT | Official Trailer – YouTube
On April 30, the critically acclaimed anime film Blue Giant will be arriving on Blu-ray™ and all major digital platforms, from GKIDS with distribution from Shout! Studios. Special features on this much anticipated release include a Q&A with Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara, as well as trailers & teasers. Blue Giant is available for pre-order now from GKIDS.com, ShoutFactory.com, Amazon.com, and Apple.
From director Yuzuru Tachikawa (Mob Psycho 100, Death Parade, DECA-DENCE) and based on the award-winning manga by Shinichi Ishizuka, Blue Giant is a moving ode to the power of music and the artist, featuring a stunning jazz soundtrack composed by Hiromi Uehara and electric performances with drummer Shun Ishikawa, of the global hit band Millennium Parade, and saxophonist Tomoaki Baba.
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.
Blue Giant Bonus Features
Q&A with Hiromi
Trailers & Teasers
About GKIDS
Celebrating its 15th anniversary, GKIDS is the producer and distributor of artist-driven and award-winning animation from around the world. Since 2010, the company has scored an astounding 12 Best Animated Feature Oscar nominations with The Secret of Kells in 2010, A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita in 2012, Ernest & Celestine in 2014, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea in 2015, Boy and the World and When Marnie Was There in 2016, My Life as a Zucchini in 2017, The Breadwinner in 2018, Mirai in 2019, and Wolfwalkers in 2021. GKIDS also handles North American distribution for the famed Studio Ghibli library of films, one of the world’s most coveted animation collections with titles Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and others; as well as the critically acclaimed television series, NEON GENESIS EVANGELION.GKIDS also hosts ANIMATION IS FILM (AIF), an annual LA-based film festival which embraces the highest aspirations of animation as a cinematic art form, and is a vocal advocate for filmmakers who push the boundaries of the medium to its fullest range of artistic expressions www.gkids.com
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About Shout! Studios
Launched in 2003, Shout! Studios is a multiplatform media company specializing in film and TV distribution, development, and production. The company has evolved with the changing entertainment landscape to excel in all forms of content distribution, including theatrical, digital streaming, broadcast and in-flight licensing, physical media, and more. Shout! Studios owns and manages a large portfolio of contemporary and classic feature films, series, animation, and documentaries. The company’s creative acquisition mandate has established it as a leading independent distributor, with partners and properties including Aardman Animations, ALF, The Carol Burnett Show, Stephen J. Cannell Productions, The Johnny Carson Show, the Roger Corman New Horizons Pictures Library, GKIDS, ITV Studios, LAIKA Studios, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (in partnership with creator Joel Hodgson), and Sesame Street, alongside many others. Shout! Kids focuses on live-action and animated kids and family properties including anime, and the company releases genre and horror films and television shows under the Scream Factory imprint. Shout! Studios also produces, acquires, and distributes new films, and operates the acclaimed streaming service Shout! TV and its family of FAST channels. Shout! Studios is based in Los Angeles, California. For more on Shout! Studios, visit ShoutStudios.com
