Blue Period is the story of second-year high school student Yatora Yaguchi who is studies hard but spends a lot of time playing around with his friends but he’s really just jaded with life. And then he sees an artwork by one of the art club members, has a chance conversation, and has his own first attempt at using art to convey an idea.
He’s discovered a real love of art but still isn’t sure what he can do with it in the future and he knows his parents aren’t necessarily going to understand his sudden desire to go to art school. These first two episodes have him really discovering art, starting to learn how much hard work and study is needed, connecting with the art club and really trying to speak with his mother about his future.
Blue Period is on Netflix and as of writing only two episodes were available.
Watch or Drop? Rules
Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.
- The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
- I’ll watch as much as it takes to make a decisionas to whether the anime will be added to the watch/review list or dropped and forgotten. For good.
First Impressions of Blue Period
Blue Period kind of caught me by surprise. The opening sequence with Yaguchi and his friends watching a soccer game before spending the night out didn’t do much to grab me but I kind of felt we were supposed to feel disconnected as the character they kept focussing on didn’t seem to excited by what was happening either. Watching more, the opening episode does an excellent job of establishing Yaguchi as a character and where he currently is in life through a range of visual choices as well as his expression and language.
By the end of that first episode I was thoroughly hooked and watched straight on to episode two. This ended up being far more emotional than expected and honestly my biggest disappointment is that there isn’t another episode already available to watch.
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Blue Period Series Positives:
Pretty much everything about Blue Period could fit into a positive. Each scene and sequence so far has served a purpose for either fleshing out the characters or progressing the story (though given the slice-of-life nature this is more just exploring the character and his choices rather than any kind of driving plot).
Nothing has outstayed its welcome as we’ve moved between Yaguchi with his friends, trying art, conversations with the art teacher, interactions with the art club, sequences at home, images of Yaguchi working hard on his art, and so on. That every scene seems beautifully put together and has some purpose has just made it a delight to be immersed in.
I think one of the best things in Blue Period is Yaguchi isn’t instantly brilliant at art. Sure he is decent but he doesn’t have the knowledge or techniques and isn’t necessarily familiar with all the tools so he’s really having to work for every improvement. It fits in nicely with both his complaint (and Mori’s) when he was called a genius in episode one for getting good grades at school when in fact he’s studying hard. Mori, the third year art student who inspires Yaguchi inadvertently, also has an issue with being called talented when she’s also working so hard at her art.
Equally the scene where Yaguchi really talks with his mother about art and why he wants to do it is just emotionally moving and I hadn’t actually expected him to speak with her so honestly.
But pretty much everything in these first two episodes is solid so picking a favourite moment or scene would be really quite hard.
Blue Period Series Negatives:
There really aren’t any clear negatives to Blue Period other than perhaps the slow pace (which it is a slice-of-life so viewers had to be expecting).
Yaguchi’s ‘friends’ at the start are probably a low point in that they don’t really seem to connect with much else that is happening, but I think that was kind of the point. They aren’t really supposed to.
It’s kind of clear I’m stretching for bad things to say as Blue Period has given us a pretty well executed opening.
Verdict?
Blue Period is definitely one I will continue with this season though given it is on Netflix it will be a wait for a few episodes and then binge rather than a weekly watch. That will also probably help me stay hooked given I know my own impatience for slice-of-life stories when I watch them episodically.
Still, Blue Period is perhaps one of the better series I’ve tried in the Autumn 2021 season so far.
Images from: Blue Period. Dir. K. Masunari. Seven Arcs. 2021
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Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James
If there is a low point for me it is that there’s no history of interest in art. I don’t believe that’s how humans work. We don’t go along our mundane lives and suddenly discover a passion for something we’d never even thought of before. There’s always foreshadowing, always a hint of what might come.
Unless he has a history of suddenly getting obsessive about things, I don’t buy that part of the narrative. The change was too radical and too quick. People who pick up obsessions that quickly also get bored and drop them as soon as the novelty wears off.
He seemed to have a basic knowledge of art, earnings, and artists though hadn’t focused on it because he hadn’t seen a point. I don’t disagree with you given it does seem like he might run out of steam if the novelty wears off but I also didn’t find his sudden curiosity or interest a problem.
Not so different from my take… I missed the role the friends played, nice catch. And it occurs to me that it’s telling how they’ve completely vanished in the second.