Manga Review: Blue Period

Spoilers for the first four chapters of Blue Period! Yatora is in many ways a typical high school student, dealing with questions of who he is and what he wants to do with his life. When he hangs out with his friends, he puts on a façade of what he thinks will go over well, afraid (despite his cool exterior) to even admit what he thought of the scenery in town. (“Oh, that’s just what a friend of mine said,” he lies.) But he’s smart enough and hardworking enough to get good grades, even when he naps through some of his classes. Then he has a few chance encounters with students and a teacher in the art program at his school. He discovers that he has some aptitude for drawing and painting—not genius level, mind you. (This isn’t an isekai, after all.) And after investigating his new interest a bit further, he decides to make it his goal to get into the University of Tokyo’s art program.

Review: I’ll admit, “mundane” high school (i.e. without some element of the fantastic, even if it’s just Classroom of the Elite) is not my cup of tea, and I’m not sure I’ll keep reading Blue Period. BUT credit where credit is due! This is a manga about art, and the art comes through in all its nuanced glory. Over and over, several students will be given an assignment, and then we see how each one responds with varying degrees of aptitude and insight. Think about it: the mangaka had to produce multiple images (in a non-manga style, no less) that are not only decent works of art but also reveal the character of the (fictional) artists! That’s a phenomenal accomplishment in its own right.

Kudos also for the characters in the story, most of whom come off as at least slightly more than two-dimensional. The author hasn’t fallen back onto stereotypes too much (even with the token trans character, who had a flatter personality than I would have preferred). No one character has a personality that stands out too much (save possibly the art teacher—she cracked me up!), but even the majority of the secondary characters have just enough texture to make them interesting. The result is a story that engages through its personalities and then gets them out of the way so that the focus on Yatora developing as an artist can shine through.

Like I said, Blue Period is not really my cup of tea, but that’s no critique of it. It’s a solid manga on many levels that will surely appeal to a number of people. You can read it legally for free on K Manga or purchase the volumes on Amazon, the latter of which will make this Curiously Dead Cat a happier Curiously Dead Cat!