Blue Period

This will be my first review, but if anything, Blue Period is the perfect place to start. It was fascinating, immersive, and engrossing to read about the high-school student, Yaguichi Yatora, who fell in love with art. To follow him from scratch as he challenges himself to become a better artist.

The thing about this story, is that it's so relatable that it hurts. Passion, love, frustration, desperation, and fears; all captured beautifully through these characters that are so real to me. To see them fall in love with something, but knowing that it can be both a blessing and a curse to feel so deeply for it, was emotional. I am no artist, at most I only sketch as a hobby, but this feeling is universal no matter the passion.

There was a point where some characters have to give their dreams up because being an artist is not always ideal. It's harsh, expensive and unfortunately, not always a successful path. It's a reality that is painful to admit, and I found it fitting that it was addressed as such, but a sad one nonetheless.

The art style of this manga is incredible. The facial expressions, body language and atmosphere used in Blue Period are able to convey such detailed messages to the readers that it leaves me breathless. More than once have I been able to emphasize strongly with characters just by what they're expressing through the panels, and with the amazing story writing, even felt stressed or frustrated LIKE them. Like, I was incredibly stressed for Yaguichi during his exams and had to pause to take a nervous breath when he started to freak out, haha!

Overall, Blue Period is an addictive read, and I implore everyone to try it out before dismissing it outright.

This is my first review, but I’ll do my best to put into words why I love this work so much. Maybe it’s because I just finished reading the available chapters so I’m really fired up right now, but I really believe this is a 10 for me. To put it simply, I’ve never resonated with a work as much as this manga. As someone struggling with art, planning to attend to art college, but never being nearly as talented as their peers, almost all the emotions the protagonist faces. As I read each chapter and Yaguchi faced a new problem, I felt really relieved that I am in fact, not alone, and that I too can achieve what I want. Seeing him fall in love with art, which I feel I haven’t yet, makes me remember what I should be doing with my art. Just reading this made me feel really great about myself as an artist and more determined to improve. At this point I’m just rambling about myself, so I’ll try to end this quickly. The manga has extremely beautiful artwork (Kudos to the mangaka for including work from other artists as the character’s artwork) and expresses such raw and pure emotions. I am blown away. I’m pretty biased so I don’t know if I could recommend this to anyone who isn’t an artist, but I’d say give it a shot anyway. Thank you Yamaguchi Tsubasa!! Really excited to see how the rest of the story goes :)

A true hidden gem.

Blue Period is focused mainly on the discovery of the protagonist's true passion: art. The manga tries to introduce and explain what art is all about and give some viewpoint. With that, Yatora finds in art the excitement he was looking for while searching for what he wants to do for life.

Despite not being an art student, rather a frustrated one, I find myself being continually identified with the protagonist, his path to improve his skills and all the challenges that entails fully devoting himself to art. Not only because of the joys of fulfilling the objective of what you wanted to demonstrate with a painting, but also because of the limitations and the downs when the frustration and the famous "what is missing? what do I lack?" appears.

Blue Period contemplates the path of an art student from scratch, and it also has varied and inclusive characters with whom you can easily feel identified. It captures the milestones of a beginner trying to enter art school in careful detail. In fact, it's actually pretty grounded and realistic with some great characterization. The only negative part that I find positive in the story at the same time is the perseverance of the art professors who accompany the protagonist and the other characters along their path. Taking into account the current educational system, I find that a little bit surreal but splendid at the same time.

Every time I read a chapter I want to draw so badly, and if you also are an art lover like me, you will probably love this story.

Blue Period is absolutely breathtaking. It follows an exploration into the art world by a novice who has to improve his skills at a rapid pace. Every chapter focuses on a different aspect of studying art (emotional or technical) and how our MC overcomes these challenges. Where this manga truly shines though is in its sincerity. I haven't researched at all but I definitely got the notion that this mangaka had studied art in this way too-- many scenes had details so meticulous that they could only have been drawn from real life experience.

The characters, relationships and story all feel real and not like cardboard cutouts of anime/manga tropes at all. This really impacted the overall tone of the manga and it felt like I was taking the journey alongside the main character.

Also, I need to mention that the challenges that the MC goes through really echoed my own experiences. Society's view of art, following your passion, family expectations, etc and more are explored in this manga and I know that if you're an artist you may relate to it as well. And even if not it's a damn good drama and you might learn a thing or two about art along the way (I know I did!) After reading this manga I always want to draw! 10/10 from me!

Since Blue Period received an anime adaptation, I decided to write a short review for this.

Blue Period is basically about a student named Yaguchi, who wants to be an artist someday.
What I love about this manga are, it shows the reality. How its hard to become an artist in real life. It also gives you some knowledge about art, like how to draw somethings with some proper methods. Also, the characters in this manga are really good, each of them have a charm, and they are all unique.

This manga is pretty enjoyable so I highly recommend this one to everyone.

Even though you are not interested in art at all, this manga make you want to read it again, again, and again. The plot is surely astonishing with a very good moral lesson at every volume. I recommend this manga by a lot. It is interesting to see the character development and a lot of wonderful and gorgeous paintings that are exist in this manga. This manga has vary characters with their own mindset.

I think blue period. readers will agree to my statement that this manga up to this chapters have never disappoint its readers. I like how every art is so beautiful yet so unique at the same time. Overall this manga is a masterpiece that you must considered to read it.

At the time of writing this review, a well-deserved anime adaptation of Blue Period has just been announced, so congratulations to Ms. Yamaguchi.

Blue Period is an absolute masterpiece. I don't hand out 10s unless I come across something really special, and Blue Period is definitely worth anyone's time.

Even if you don't have an interest in art, Blue Period is guaranteed to resonate with anyone at some point over the course of its story. Whether it be through art, music, craft, even one's personal identity, the desire to create is inherent to humanity, it is the reason we exist as we do today. Blue Period expertly captures all of the joys and fulfillment that comes with creating, portraying it as the means of expanding one's worldview and expressing their true selves.

However, it's not all smiles and rainbows. After all, Blue Period is named after the term used to refer to Pablo Picasso's deep depression. This manga touches on some poignant themes, and not all of them are uplifting. Creating might bring joy to the artist, but with it comes pain, fear, anxiety, and doubt along the way. Yatora experiences some significant roadblocks throughout the story, and he doesn't always pass through unscathed. The same goes for every other character, most notable of which is Ryuji, whose character touches upon themes of sexuality, gender norms, and self-identity.

I'll finish my review by talking about the art: it's gorgeous. Probably to be expected by a manga about art, but the visuals are incredible nonetheless. It has almost a watercolor look which feels appropriate given the subject matter.

MINIMAL SPOILERS

"Art is a language without words" One of the few quotes I still remember from the very first chapter of this manga. As an art student, this manga really felt close to home. It is still below 100 chapters as I type this review, but it will definitely lure you in as it does not only give you a different perspective and knowledge of art but is relatable for EVERYONE, it is not exclusive to the people with the same occupation, or social status of the characters.

ART, simply beautiful and unique. What I love about this is that aside from the main mangaka, different people, or so to say, artists, are involved in making the art pieces of the characters, each of them were credited either beside the panels or at the end of each volume. I really cannot wait to see them in full color once the anime is released. Double spreads were breathtaking each time, and not too mention the curviness of the characters that feels real in an anime/manga way.

CHARACTERS. They are diverse! You would be introduced to different artstyles and behavior of characters when it comes to art. You may agree or disagree with the characters' view of art or not especially for the teachers, but that's what makes it all the while challenging and relatable to understand and realize the beauty of seeing art, we view them differently. Blue Period widened my perspective that not all art is beautiful to us, just like to its characters, they have different attitudes when it comes to art, some are passionate about it, some have zero motivation for it, some are there to show off, and some are there to simply enjoy art.


In conclusion, it is still far too early for me to give a full on review, but for now Blue Period is definitely a manga worthy of your time. A hidden masterpiece.

"𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒊𝒕. 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒏𝒐𝒘." 𝒀𝑶𝑨𝑺𝑶𝑩𝑰 - 𝑨𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 (𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑩𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅)

The story premise is pretty simple. A high-school boy that finally found his calling in art.

But there's one thing that stands out so much, and that thing are the one that make people falling in love with this manga. It's about the characters. The struggles that felt by the characters, not only Yaguichi, the main one, but other side characters too. The author successfully capture the struggles some of student have, and it felt relatable to the reader including me, even if I'm not an art student. The struggle, insecurity, pain of failing, and even the joy of success, the author manages to capture all of it beautifully.

Oh and, the art is also amazing. I like it. I also like the art that drawn for this manga, it's beautiful.

If you like seinen manga with grounded and realistic story, and also don't mind about flawed characters that's not always succeed in everything that they did, this manga is for you.

The story follows a high-school student named Yaguichi and how he falls in love with art. One thing that stands out the most is the relatability which you can have with the characters, knowing you're into something for the love of it and still not being good enough is something that most humans can relate to. Another aspect this manga covers very well is the interaction between characters and how that affects each of them. I would say the rambling about artistic aspects of the pricing of schools is a bit annoying but it's a necessary evil to understand the severity and the work needed.