Blue Period: The World of Art

As an artist, it is hard to get recognition from others, especially in media. However, a few months ago, a manga got an adaptation for an anime representing artists and the struggles we frequently go through. There are a few animes that talk about art, but this brand new one was a hit among many viewers, gathering a large following.

Blue Period, or (ブルーピリオド, Burū Piriodo) is originally a manga written and illustrated by Tsubasa Yamaguchi, eventually coming out with an anime premiering on September 25, 2021, in Japan, but released internationally on October 2, 2021. She graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts, the same university that the main character applied for. She created a one-shot back in 2013, “She and Her Cat” before she launched Blue Period in 2018. The anime/manga is about a delinquent, Yatora Yaguchi, a fairly well-known student that excels in school to everyone’s surprise. However, he lacks the motivation to find an interest and often deals with frustrations. On a walk with his friends, he would find himself staring at the landscape of Shibuya, mentioning how everything looks blue to his friend. He would then pick up a paintbrush, hoping he could convey his emotions and thoughts onto a canvas for a class assignment. Later on in the story, as he was standing in the hallways with his friends, one of his classmates, Ryuji Ayukawa, passed by, who would invite him to the art club. Ryuji Ayukawa is a fellow classmate of Yatora, but isn’t on good terms with him, but will eventually become close friends with him as the story develops. They are also a genderqueer character with many misconceptions about their gender. However, the author never fully stated this information but is heavily implied in the anime and manga. The characters and the story in Blue Period didn’t fail to disappoint the audience with its different perspectives on art along with the failures and passion coming from each of the characters.

If you are looking for interesting characters and story, I highly recommend Blue Period, especially if you’re an artist, since it covers topics of an artist’s life very well. However, many fans are not happy with the anime itself so I would recommend reading the manga instead because the anime adaptation doesn’t express the manga’s true story and intentions very well, along with its low budget movement of the characters. But if you’re still interested in both, then you can watch the finished anime on Netflix, and hopefully releasing a season 2 continuing the story for anime fans.