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diff --git a/content-org/reviews.org b/content-org/reviews.org index f5b0eeb..2e3aaeb 100644 --- a/content-org/reviews.org +++ b/content-org/reviews.org @@ -2420,7 +2420,7 @@ Fill her up, please. It's very good as a TV show nevertheless. -* Anime and manga [6/6] :@reviews: +* Anime and manga [5/7] :@reviews: :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_HUGO_SECTION: reviews/anime_manga :EXPORT_HUGO_PAIRED_SHORTCODES: image @@ -2900,8 +2900,7 @@ They are, in very small doses. Oshii certainly did! -** DONE Armitage III (1995) -CLOSED: [2024-12-01 Sun 23:43] +** TODO Armitage III (1995) :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: armitage-iii-oav :EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :abstract My review of the anime @@ -2990,6 +2989,100 @@ As it stand, I wholeheartedly recommend /Armitage III/ to anyone exploring the g Just don't come in expecting one of the greats. +** TODO Blue Giant (2023) +:PROPERTIES: +:EXPORT_FILE_NAME: blue-giant-2023 +:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :abstract My review of the movie +:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :rating 4.25 +:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :image reviews/covers/blue-giant-2023.jpg +:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :reviewSection '("Anime movies") +:END: + +I can not call myself a jazzphile. +I have no sense of rhythm, my knowledge of music theory is abysmal. +Yet, it is my favorite type of music. +My love have been ignited by works of ShinichirÅ Watanabe, which I still find surprising but both, /Cowboy Bebop/ and /Kids on the Slope/ are the cornerstone of my music journey. +And now, we've got a love letter for jazz in the form of /Blue Giant/. + +The movie in based on manga of the same name, which I have yet to read. +It tells the story of Dai Miyamoto, musical prodigy whose only goal in life is to be the best at jazz. +After 3 short years of practice, he moved to Tokyo where is journey to fame is begging. +Here he meets a genius (of course) pianist Sawabe Yukinori, and is soon joined by his friend, Tamada Shunji, who just discovered his loved for jazz. +They form a band - Jass. + +And here is where the plot lost me. +I get that Dai is a genius, and I get that mangakas /love/ to show it. +Their heroes work hard (harder than anyone quite often), but they are geniuses. +But 3 years? +This is only unbelievable, but also an insult to the cats of the past who spent their entire lives mastering their craft. +Coltrane was still learning harmony after he has already made /A Love Supreme/! + +So ok, /Blue Giant/ is not realistic. +The story is only a way to show the love for jazz. +So, if you can't stand listening to the wrong notes, this is not a movie for you. +We've got the dedication, the friendship and all that jaz... stuff. +But you'll find better stories quite easily - and here the director, Yuzuru Tachikawa, had only 2 hours to tell his story. + +If you, however, have love for jazz - oh, are you in for treat! +The soundtrack is breathtaking - it was written and performed by Hormi Ueahara, a world famous jazz composer and pianist. +/Every/ piece the band plays is simply amazing. +The main piece, First Note, is a marvel in itself. +So yeah - the soundtrack alone is worth the admission. + +But that's not where jazz ends here, as it is the begging and ending of everything. +/Kids on Slope/ may have used it to tell the story, but here is *is* the story. +Rarely do we hear about anything else, but fear not. +Very basic knowledge of musical theory and jazz structure is all you need. +It will elevate some moments, but even without it you can enjoy the emotion. + +Because that's what the movie teaches us. +Jazz is deeply technical - very often it's considered to be a genre by musicians for musicians. +But the soul of jazz is not rooted in technical adept, but in emotion. +You have to loose yourself in the performance to truly appreciate it. +It's not rock, where the live performance is close to what you get on the CD; every time the band performs a piece it is a new piece. +Never will you hear the same arrangement twice, because then it would not be jazz. +Not a dull moment for the casual listener, but the musicians are experiencing it on a different level. + +Anime always tried to show more than tell, and here it's not different. +I simply love how they showed artistic getting lost in the moment, in between the notes. +It's loud, it's expressive, it colorful. +It's never the same as it was before. +It's close to perfect - if it wasn't for the CGI. + +Enough praising the should of the movie, let's talk about the movie. +It's a modern anime movie. +2 hours, not action scenes, and a significant budget. +The movie looks great for a drama. +Outside of the improvisation scenes, everything is /good/ - not /great/, but goot. +Sadly, it all falls apart when the camera starts moving. +When the camera is static, everything is fine - but something is very off they allow it to move. +Shadows are strange, movements are too smooth, and so on. +Most of the times it was bearable, but on few occasions it was strongly distracting. +Later in the movie, we see another band playing on a jazz festival. +The shadows on shirts move like in real life, but cell shading flattens it. +This clash is quite terrible. +Luckily, only few scenes suffer from this. + +Story wise, we're seeing a short period of life of Dai. +From the very begging we know he will make it big, as the action time is intertwined with a documentary from the past. +It all works great, because we're having any drama here. +The team bonds, they play better and better today, their trajectory is going great. + +And then, out of nowhere - drama. +Not spoiling anything, the finale of the movie tries at drama and fails. +I may even say it's close to being so improbable, that it may just be laughable. +The characters make it work, somehow, but the my enjoyment of the movie dipped significantly. +Everything would be better without /that/. + +But as it stands, /Blue Giant/ is a wonderful love letter to the dying genre. +The story is between nice and bearable, but never bellow that. +Personally, I waited for the movie for 2 years and I left satisfied. +Not wowed, but the movie left a huge grim on my face. +I'm afraid my enjoyment was fueled by love for jazz, so take it with a grain of salt.za:w + + + + * Games [0/0] :@reviews: :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_HUGO_SECTION: reviews/games |