Manga Review | Blue Period: Why We Create Art

Why do we create art? Is it so we can better understand the world, so we can connect with others, so we can feel alive, or so we can bring the wildest figments of our imagination to life?

Well, depending on who you ask, the answer will vary, and Blue Period by Tsubasa Yamaguchi seeks to give various  Art Club students answers to that question.

The story follows Yatora, a high school student, but despite his perfect grades and having tons of friends, he still can’t shake the terrible emptiness he feels inside, until one day he walks by his school’s art room and a beautiful painting catches his eye and finally ignites a passion in him.

He decides that he wants to pursue art and aims to be admitted into one of the most competitive art schools in Japan, and that road is a tough one.

Now, it’s very rare for a story to resonate with me on a molecular level, but everyone once in a blue moon, a story comes along that’s so relatable, that it hits too close to home. With gut-wrenching vulnerability, Yamaguchi manages to perfectly encapsulate the struggles of being an artist--all the self-doubt, comparing yourself to others, and wondering if what you’re doing is a waste of time or worth anything at all.  

However, despite all the hardships, Blue Period captures the joys of being an artist as well.

Yatora finally finds himself able to pour his heart through his art and he’s able to appreciate the world around him more deeply, see it in a whole new light. For instance, Shibuya in the early dawn isn’t just quiet, it’s blue.

There are these surreal, beautiful moments where Yatora imagines himself interacting with his surroundings.  We see him floating in a cityscape as he tries to picture it or we see a painting playfully winking at him. This manga brings art to life in a way I rarely seen done in manga.

Now, even if you’re not artist or even into art for that matter, that’s OK. Yatora himself starts off as blasé towards art and dissing Picasso: like “pfft! What’s so hard about that?”

However, we as the reader discover alongside Yatora that creating art is indeed hard work. It’s a technical process and Yamaguchi highlights this by breaking down and explaining various art technique and theories throughout the story.  So fair warning here, the first volume is exposition heavy, but for good reason.

Not only does this make the manga more accessible to non-artists, but it also helps to hammer in the point that art doesn’t just take raw talent, but it’s the accumulation of countless hours of study, practice, and hard work as well.

And likewise, in the spirit of showcasing the effort put into making art, I think it’s cool that the mangaka credits the background artists who helped with Blue Period. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but this is a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the manga creation process. Occasionally, I’ll hear like Ishida Sui was an assistant for Kingdom. However, that’s after the fact and after the artist achieves success themselves. 

I really wish the practice of the crediting background assistants more standard because for a budding artist to see their name of and work and further get their name out there for future opportunities, that could mean the world. 

Overall, Blue Period is an ode to art and those who make it. It’s a poignant and emotionally driven coming-of-age story about high schoolers finding and pursing their dreams, so whether you’re an artist or not, I hope you can walk away from Blue Period seeing art in whole new light.

Read the first chapter here.

Thank you, Netgalley and Kodansha, for providing me with an ARC of Blue Period Volume 1 in exchange for an honest review.