Blue Period, Manga Recommendation of the Week!

I knew about this manga for a while now but, I had been putting it off. So I finally check it out a few days ago and I really like it. I haven’t read a manga on painting before so it was a completely new experience for me. Blue Period is different from anything I’ve read so far and I quite liked it. So I decided to make it the manga recommendation for this week!

Welcome back to another edition of our manga recommendation series! This week we are talking about Blue Period! It is a manga about art and I quite enjoyed catching up with it. I don’t know if everyone will like it but, you should at least give it a try cause it is a beautiful series for sure. So let’s get started

Introduction

Blue Period is written and illustrated by Yamaguchi Tsubasa. It started its serialization in June 2017 in the Afternoon magazine. The manga also has an anime adaptation that came out in the fall season of 2021. The anime is pretty decent from what I heard so you can check it out as well. I forgot to mention, the manga is still ongoing, I don’t remember the number of chapters/volumes though.

Plot

Blue Period is about Yatora Yaguchi a high school student who is bored with his daily life. He studies and hangs out with his friends but, he can’t quite find the satisfaction he’s looking for. One day, he is fascinated by a painting made by a member of the art club and he decides to join. He eventually gains more interest in painting and decides that this is what he wants to do in his life.

On the surface, the plot appears to be pretty standard. However, I like Blue Period because it represents a lot of real-life issues we face. Like, parent’s not agreeing with our choices, having to face society and all those kinds of things that come with growing up. It is very interesting to see characters in an SOL series deal with stuff like this. I don’t know about you but, I can’t help but think about what would I do in situations like those. That is one of the reasons why I enjoy SOLs.

Characters

Blue Period has a lot of characters. Yatora is a great protagonist. His struggle throughout the series feels very real and relatable. You feel “connected” to him in a weird way. Looking at him you know, you really understand the importance of having a hobby/outlet in life. The side characters, I wish they were more fleshed out but Yatora is so good that I don’t mind it much.

Art

I mean… It is a manga about art so you know, the art is really good. The art style and character designs are really pretty in my opinion. Seeing this art kind of reminds me of Tite Kubo, it is not as refined as Kubo’s style but it does have similar elements. I definitely the art though, that’s for sure.

Why should you read Blue Period?

Quick pointers on why you should check out this anime:

• Awesome plot
• Great protagonist
• Good art
• Really relatable

Conclusion

Well, that is all for now. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. Blue Period is truly a hidden gem, you should really check it out. With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!!