Review of Blue Period

I won’t be telling you throughout the review you should read the manga because I think by this point you must have heard that the manga IS much better and that as a matter of fact, you SHOULD read it. However, I do not think the adaptation is the worst thing to ever be created as many paint it to be and I will explain it throughout the review. Does it have its faults? Yeah. Is the source material a lot more meaningful? Probably. But from what was adapted I think the studio did a pretty okay job to fit the first arc in as cohesively asthey could. I don’t think Blue Period is a manga that is easy to adapt if I am being honest, it’s very stylistic and the way art and scenes are drawn in the source material are one of the aspects that really draws you into the story. This is something that is oftentimes very hard to depict animated, animation has a lot of factors and phases to it influencing its execution thus why Blue Period lacked in this department, becoming one of its weakest points.

The story hits home but I don’t think it's a story that everyone will be the target for either. I can't speak for people that dont enjoy art (be it making or seeing it) but I do think it's a story, or at least Yatora’s part, that dwells a lot into the mind of an artist and what it feels like to enjoy, hate, feel and create art. This is one of the things that Blue Period capitalizes on and nails at its core, how much something you feel passionate towards can be something so meaningful and life changing to you while at the same time be an experience that makes you crumble with doubt, self hate and criticism. Art isn't something that is always a “happy” rounded process but it's rather a rollercoaster of emotions that makes you tune yourself to a medium and we really get to see that through the characters, in a variety of perspectives and scenarios that make us know that an artists perspective is always evolving and changing depending on the context and the person in of itself.

As for the characters, Blue Period’s highest point in my personal opinion comes from its very realistic and raw character takes. They are not meant to be a satirical parody to a stereotype or an over exaggerated characteristic; quite the contrary, Blue Period’s characters all feel very real and I am sure that everyone watching can at least relate or sort of connect with someone. Although I do think Yatora’s character development (due to pacing and timing struggles) lacked on the development part, sometimes appearing a bit generic and static (even though I know from reading the manga he is far from that), the best fleshed out character on the anime comes to Ryuuji. Their arc is handled very well, showing us at the right moments their struggles and spacing it out throughout the anime in a natural way that never felt forced. Even though I was scared at first they would rush and butcher their arc, skimming through their struggle with gender, a very important and hardly ever talked about issue in anime, I do believe the execution was done progressively and made Yuka shine above the other characters from the cast.

One thing I do critique in the character aspect that, again, goes linked towards Yatora’s sometimes “rushed” narrative, is the portrayal of Yotasuke. Even though I may be biased here because Yotasuke is my favorite character from the manga and I know this first arc isn't really the one where we delve into his struggles and personal battles, I do think because of the same pacing and animation visual timing moments, his scenes sometimes came off as stiff and that didn't allow the viewer to form a close connection to him as they may have intended to. Yotauske’s character represents a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings with the way we perceive others by their manners and skills, encapsulating someone to a role they might as well not feel comfortable with, and I don't think the theme was quite as successful as it could have been with his portrayal. I enjoyed the relationship he held with Yatora but I do think this is one of the major negative points I would have towards the character aspect.

As for the rest, as I mentioned before, the animation in Blue Period isn't really one of its selling points, and that may deter someone looking for an art focused anime that isn't, well, very artistic. The movements and proportions are sometimes off and this difficults the narrative at times due to the stiffness of it all, but in the end, even with its faults which diminished the effect of certain scenes, I dont think its something unwatchable. The voice acting is pretty good and the music is pretty nice too, fits the themes and atmosphere quite well.

Overall, I don't think Blue Period is a bad anime and it accomplishes its main goals pretty well, which is to bring (hopefully) more attention to the manga and invest viewers into experiencing the beauty within Yatora’s art journey as well as that of the many other characters that create meaningful bonds with the reader as the narrative goes along. I would say, if you have the time to read the manga, go do that first and afterwards come watch the anime and relax watching the moments you enjoyed being animated and the characters coming to life. Blue period anime isn't a masterpiece and I don't think it ever meant to be one, it's trying to tell a story to the best of its abilities and I think for the most part, it was an okay narrative with characters carrying along the tone to its original material.