#ty for the question btw sorry my answer is super long if you message me ever uhm... i talk a lot here bc i can;;

[deductivisms]

if you read the blue giant manga what do you think about the movie ending??

I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS LMAO

... short answer no spoilers? i like the movie ending a lot / the changes they made really suit the film version !!

long answer all spoilers

i'm the type of person who considers something "good" if i think it's moving and it definitely helped that you could hear the jazz in the movie adaptation -- like.

you get this really crappy rendition of first note at the beginning of the movie, it sounds unpolished (by design ofc), tamada is fighting for his life but even dai and yukinori are still kind of grappling with each other -- this doesn't make it bad and it does have its charms (the composition itself is very nice; s/o to first note which is one of my most played songs of 2023 according to my spotify wrapped LMAOOO--) but when you compare it to the last rendition of first note it's LIKE ?!?!??!

after yukinori returns from the hospital and is only able to play the piano using his left hand -- which of course calls back to his first encounter to Dai, who saw him performing using only his left hand

i thought it was crazy

i also thought that them having the disbandment conversation directly before the performance - which would be their first and last as a trio at So Blue - elevated the emotional weight of the scene to levels that i thought was kind of mean 😭

like i'd read the manga so i was anticipating the accident and the disbandment but when that bit was altered for the movie i was like UM!??!?!!

it was.

really good and i like that it felt like a true end to JASS as a trio and also tamada's tears before the performance had me like AUAUAUGUGHVHHGG---!!!

... that being said i do think the original manga ending is emotional in its own way too

in the movie, yukinori still suggests disbandment because dai still wants to continue on with his aspirations as a saxophonist and there's no guarantee that his hand will heal up the way it's supposed to -- they're also both aware that jazz bands don't stay together all the time, it's the nature of the genre and goes hand in hand with the 'in the moment' nature of jazz

that part isn't different but what is different is that tamada chooses to stop playing the drums on his own -- he's already noted that he'll never be able to play on the level of dai or yukinori, he's satisfied to retire; during his last performance with dai, he likely realized that dai was only going to get better and better and he was there during the conversation with yukinori wherein yuki explains that he can't and refuses to stop dai's momentum, and tamada likely draws the same conclusion

that being said, the fact that JASS was unable to perform as a trio upon a stage that they aspired towards is tragic in itself

unlike in the movie, they don't end off together, and dai's bandmates essentially walk away from him

furthermore you get to see dai's reaction to their disbandment, and it's one of the rare instances where he's upset - his own aspirations have separated him from two people he cares about, who have been with him from the beginning

it's like ??!?!?!? idk ishizuka is nuts for that

i think the movie ending suits the film adaptation given the fact that performances are animated and able to be heard (that piano solo in first note still makes me tear up HAHA,,) while also lending the film to a more standalone feel -- i think given the performances that the film would have felt incomplete if they hadn't ended together

but the manga ending is also good as it is because it lends itself to the fact that blue giant has sequel manga, dai's journey isn't over, and he's set to keep going!!