Blue Giant

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Creating a manga about music is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks for any artist. After all, mangas are seen, not heard. Which is why the music itself is often downplayed, while the appeal of these types of mangas is to see how music can affect people and their life.

With all that said, blue giant still does a terrific job at depicting jazz music, it often spends pages or even an entire chapter depicting a performance. With thick line works emphasizing the intensity. And a great focus on both the performer and the audience's face and body parts to show us the power ... of music. Although we can't hear anything, we can imagine it.

The main character, Dai Miyamoto is very simple. He fell in love with jazz and aim to be the greatest jazz musician in the world. Simplicity, however, doesn't mean bad. Although he can come across as being naive for how optimistic he is, it's that same quality that I think a lot of people can sympathize with. People probably wouldn't know the magic of jazz and the point of playing saxophone for hours in the snow, but people will understand his drive and his love for the art.

If I have to be honest, throwing away the topic of jazz, this manga is not really special. The art is above average, the character designs are non-inspiring, and the story is just a cliche came-of-age tale. So why did I give it a 10?

Whenever I see Dai practicing beside the river, I always think back to myself. How I once had a wild dream and worked hard for it. Just like many others, I had to give up due to reality. Yet here's a person who picks himself up no matter how many times he falls. A boy who's persistent about his goals. That drive that is communicated to me is perhaps the reason I fell so in love with this manga.

If you are as lost as I am, not knowing what the goal of your life is and living the same minimal routine. Then blue giant might be the manga that reminds you what putting your blood, sweat, and tears into something was like.

Edit: I read the manga in madarin, which is fully translated. The English version is not.

After reading the first volume of this manga, I remember telling myself of the mistake I made. Enter the One-dimensional character who only cares about Jazz and basketball and has literally nothing else to him. Every chapter after that was remarkable and "Blue Giant" has become one of my favourite manga.

Story 9.5/10
The story isn't groundbreaking or anything new. A guy falls in love with jazz, decides to start playing the tenor and ends up being a god at it. What makes the story so good is both witnessing Miyamoto's ironclad passion for jazz and seeing how the characters around him react.
Dai also goes through some ... beautiful development as he transforms from a boy to a man in both heartwarming and heartbreaking fashion.

Art 8.8/10
This manga's art isn't anything groundbreaking. The character designs are well-drawn and the environment gives off a life like ambiance. If I had to compare it to anything I guess I would recite the works of Asano Inio (Oyasumi Pun pun guy). Despite that, this manga has the most memorable panels and is well-drawn in the most important moments.

Characters 9.9/10
God, I love these characters. All of them seem like real people with normal lives and normal experiences. The only flaw I had was the minor inconsistencies of certain characters that kind
of confused me. Dai's friends and mentors keep him down to earth and are just as important to the story as he is (not Individually but to the supporting cast as a whole).

Overall 9.45
tl:dr This is a must-read for all of mankind. Even if you hate jazz.

Now you see, this is why this type of manga series would need an anime adaption is because I am not able to god damn hear what the main character Dai is playing like it felt in my head that he was only playing “epic sax guy” the whole time I’m seeing his performances. I mean the art and character development was decent. Dai does seem like an ambitious young man who has a goal to becoming a proper jazz musician and plays basketball in his free time. I really this type of character development in a coming of age story like this one. ... In the manga world, we almost ever see a high school kid performing a saxophone solo, so this is a refreshing change from the pile of mangas I usually read.

If you don't mind not hearing the music, read this manga; nevertheless, if seeing the characters play instruments with no sound bothers you, I suggest you search for anything else to read.