Does Blue Period Capture the Art School Experience? – This Week in Anime

Yatora Yaguchi has recently abandoned the well-worn academic path to pursue his artistic dreams. But wanting to be an artist is much easier than developing the skills to accomplish his goals. Does this highly emotional drama capture the essence of teenage artist angst?

This series is streaming on Netflix

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.
Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.

Steve

Nicky, I don’t know about you, but I sure am ready to talk about some happy little trees.


Also the entire impetus behind all feats of human creativity. You know. Light fare for discussion.

Nicky

Question: If all the trees are supposed to be little and happy then why the heck am I crying so much?

Aww, don’t be so blue! And I mean that very literally because the title of this week’s show has that color covered.

That’s right, because the centerpiece of this week is the ever colorful Blue Period. A story about a young man trying his damnedest to get into the art college of his choice.


Also here’s something to be happy about, I believe this is the first time we’re actually getting an anime released by Netflix WEEKLY!!

Yeah I’d heard good buzz about the manga. And I like art! Can’t make it, but I sure do like it.

And imagine: all this because he really liked a girl’s interpretive painting of Shrek.


And more seriously, it’s my unfamiliarity with the creative process behind painting that attracted me to Blue Period. I do have some art history education, but, like you said, the painful, nitty gritty work of creation—of honing a skill, failure by failure—is its own kind of illumination. Doing a thing is really important to understanding that thing. But watching an anime about doing a thing can also be pretty good.

Yeah, I personally enjoy a lot of “Hobby Anime” for the same reason, though some of them may focus on different mediums. They’re all about trying to get the viewer to understand the passion and drive into making and doing different things. In Blue Period, it’s notably not just a hobby. Yaguchi is going from having absolutely no destination in life to basically training for a 5k with little time to prepare before he has to cross the finish line into his school of choice.

It’s a classic bildungsroman hook, and the premiere does a really good job of setting it up. Like, I remember being a teen and suddenly having Thoughts for the first time. You want to just dig your hand into your brain, pull them out, and slap them onto a piece of paper. If only it were that easy.



It’s also very important for the premiere to establish that Yaguchi is moe as heck.

Oh yeah, the friend group he starts with has kind of a somewhat toxic fratbros energy like a lot of teen boys that age, but Yaguchi deep down is naturally a sensitive soul. His interest partially stems from trying to find an outlet to express that sensitivity beyond the normal grind of daily life. Despite being a punk who skips class, he’s also a good student and so far has stuck to walking the path he’s been told and not really straying from it. He first assumed sincerity was for chumps who couldn’t get by in the world. So him just off and deciding that he’s going to drop everything and pick up a sketchbook is really the first time he’s shown any sort of agency towards his own life.

I mean he couldn’t have picked a better inaugural art teacher than Saeki.


Now there’s someone who knows how to work with teen boys.

She’s a really enjoyable old lady, and she has a delicate touch when it comes to addressing Yaguchi’s concerns. I’m actually a little jealous because when I was trying to figure out how to get an art education, it really felt like I was doing a lot of it by myself. But Yaguchi gets tons of advice to keep pointing him in the right direction. However, that doesn’t make learning how to grow as an artist and a person at the same time any easier. The lady who becomes his teacher in prep school is also good. And by that I mean, TALL.

God, I love Oba. A (pretty big) criticism I have of the series is that it tends to focus too much on Yaguchi’s interiority at the expense of interesting supporting characters, but his teachers at least feel both like mentors with heft to their personalities. Even when their art lessons feel like a “The More You Know” bit, the weight of their years of experience comes through in their genuine concern for nurturing their students’ potentials.


I really like this line too, because the series is about Yaguchi growing up into a adult, but doing it in a way that feels true to him. And yeah, it’s cliché, but art is important for retaining some of our childishness in a good and necessary way.

What she says here is also notable in the context that going into art as a career path. It isn’t really approved of by most parents compared to some more “respectable” careers, like aiming to become your regular office drone. Yaguchi’s parents may never fully approve of his real interests, though he was able to break through to his mom, somewhat. Even those I know who managed to get into a good school or even land a job STILL get pushback from their family for their life’s passion. Yaguchi doesn’t come from a rich family so getting into a fancy expensive private school is out of the question and his best bet is getting into Tokyo University of Art (TUA) but also the one with the lowest acceptance rate in the country.

Yeah it’s nice to see Blue Period not pull those punches. I mean, as a rule, we haven’t really done a good job of constructing a society that rewards following one’s passions, but people in the fine arts probably get the worst pushback. Narratively, though, it makes for juicy conflict, plus it leads to that really sweet scene between Yaguchi and his mom.

While we’ve talked a lot about Yaguchi’s emotional journey, we haven’t shown much of the actual artwork. I really love how Yaguchi’s beginner’s art feels realistic in it’s muddiness! Like the lack of perspective or sloppy shading, and also how he clearly improves over time. I think the anime has done a good job of capturing what’s unique about the different pieces we have to look at, something that surely was not easy to portray for animation. Along with seeing other people’s art and how they compare what that says about them.


Meanwhile, the animation itself is mostly just serviceable? I don’t find this series to be amazingly directed or animated in a way that super stands out but the fact that it does a good job of expressing what’s important makes it good.

It reminds me a lot of last season’s Kageki Shoujo!! since I thought that was “serviceable adaption of a great manga that could’ve used a little more oomf but still hit all the right beats.”

Presentation wise, It’s a little stiff but I think it adapts the character designs really well compared to like Tricornered Window. And again, the moments of inspiration that do hit really hit like Yaguchi feeling his paintbrush become hot like sculpting metal-work when it touches canvas.

Definitely the highlight out of these first five episodes! And the finished product wows as well. Like, almost self-evidently much better than the first painting.

I also really enjoy the OP. The song, “EVERBLUE” by Omoinotake is catchy as hell and captures the upbeat quality as Yaguchi runs about trying to keep up in his new environment.

And anything that reminds me of Sekkō Boys gets a thumbs up from me.

I’ve never carried a portfolio, but I did play upright bass in orchestra, and those things are also a nightmare to lug around, so I bestow upon you my very tangential sense of camaraderie.

Most people don’t see art as physically and emotionally demanding. Especially fine art where you’re standing, sitting, or hunching over for hours until you feel like your eyes are gonna pop out of your skull from looking at the same piece and your bones are gonna all crumble into dust. It’s a big reason I haven’t really done “fine art” like what’s shown in Blue Period since school. There’s even a lot of debate on whether trying to judge new students on their “fine art” skills is even worth it, and I think this is where the other characters come in.

If making a big titty anime figurine for your summer project doesn’t qualify as “fine art,” then frankly I don’t need my art to be fine.


I do wish we spent more time with Yaguchi’s clubmates. The story zooms past most of them, but they seem like a colorful bunch.

Yeah! That is a flaw and might be a casualty of trying to go from manga to anime. But I do enjoy what we get of Mori, Yaguchi’s initial inspiration (possibly crush?), and his former childhood friend Yuka-chan.

I think you can upgrade that possibly to a definitely there, lol. I like Mori, but she doesn’t get to do much besides act as a guiding beacon for Yaguchi’s dreams. And I love Yuka, but hoo boy I wish the series approached her with at least one extra modicum of thoughtfulness and sensitivity.

Yuka is a bit of can of worms as she’s definitely a young person trying to deal with gender. I think the story itself is sympathetic towards her character as a young trans person trying to find herself but it’s definitely messy. The characters are not life-experienced enough to portray that with clarity. The nickname “Yuka-chan” comes from her last name, but she is still often referred to by her first name, which Yaguchi often uses given their proximity. However, it can also be read as somewhat an insult that he keeps doing that. He emphasizes that he doesn’t understand her choices and that can be pretty cringe just like how looking at his bad drawings shows how much he has to learn.

It’s also, again, one of the things that suffers by refracting everything through the lens of Yaguchi’s development. Yuka’s struggles and pains only become relevant when they’re needed to teach Yaguchi something about art. Yuka hasn’t been allowed to be her own character. I’m hoping this improves this time—perhaps with the currently storyline about her skipping prep school—but suffice to say she deserves better.


At least she’s learned the most important lesson one can from art school, though.

It’s frustrating but I can’t say it’s “unrealistic” as it really is a story about the age where you know next to nothing to trying to take in everything about the world. And Yaguchi has pretty much been living under a rock. It’s only now that his eyes are opening up about art and people.

Plus, it’s not like Yaguchi is the most toxic boy in the show.


I say this with the caveat that I love Hashida even though he sucks.

I always like a garbage boy. Though, I’m more interested to see what happens with the OTHER shitty art prep school boy, Yotasuke, nicknamed “Sekai-kun”.

He’s a good egg even if he has never once said a nice thing to anybody.

He serves as somewhat a rival for Yaguchi, because when you’re all going into the same field all your peers become your biggest compadres and your biggest competitors. It really feels like Yaguchi can’t approach anyone without starting to compare their art to his. It’s totally relatable.

Yep! I’m sure everyone has had multiple Yotasukes in their life. There’s always someone better than you, even if it’s just your perception warping things. Specifically, though, I think his and Yaguchi’s relationship is the most interesting one in the show so far. Yaguchi is both attracted to and repelled by him, because deep down, he wants someone, with brutal honesty, to point out the precise ways in which he sucks at art.


That’s the only way you get better, after all.

I also think it’s interesting because it’s implied that Yotasuke has been working as a self-taught artist. He’s prepping for exams in hopes of gaining a real art education and eventually becomes frustrated with the limitations of so-called “fine art.” He thinks it’s designed to appeal to art schools, referring to it as “exam art,” and leaving the prep school all together. It’s potentially a much different perspective from what we’ve gotten from Yaguchi’s experiences with art edu.

I pumped my fist when he made that cliffhanger call at the end of episode five. We gotta get the dream team back together to pull Yaguchi away from his blunder and pull Yotasuke out of his own butt.

Especially after that last spat. Poor Sekai-kun seems very jealous of Yaguchi’s support and success and I’m interested to see how they reconcile that.


Also does anyone think Sekai-kun looks a little bit like Mori esp at “kissing-distance” range? Maybe Yaguchi has a type, lol.

Short tortured artists with middle hair parts and an easily identifiable sense of fashion? Yeah I can see it.
The art world may be made up of a bunch of weirdos, but they’re a bunch of weirdos with a lot of heart.

I want to see more of the characters but just seeing Yaguchi’s personal journey of trying to figure out what it means to make “good art” is a wonderful primer for those who’ve “been there” and those blessed by being uninitiated. Even if it makes me personally want to release a primal scream every 2 minutes remembering how many times I’ve felt the things being shown on screen.

Blue Period, at its best, hits moments that anybody who has ever pursued any kind of art will recognize. Like, this moment here. I’ve been Yaguchi. Elated because someone else who knows their shit thought you did pretty darn good, when the possibility never even crossed your mind. It’s fleeting—his ranking tanks hard in the next competition after all—but this feeling can sustain you for a long, long time.

Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention his other somewhat art rival, Kuwana. She hasn’t done too much but she comes from a long line of artists and has “protégé” written all over her like some sort of curse. Despite this, she seems pretty laid-back.

Any anime girl with a burger is a friend of mine.

Blue Period hits me right in the damn feelings place. I deeply appreciate the show’s sincerity in trying to articulate the process of art in a way that anyone can understand. Many people still see art as a foreign object, but at the same time we can all enjoy and connect to art, be it a painting or a cartoon, in a way that deepens both our emotional and cultural understanding of each other. There’s just nothing else like being sucked in to a good work whether you’re making it or simply observing it!

While I don’t think this is the best version of a Blue Period anime that we could have gotten, it did inject me with the desire to sit down and sketch something for the first time in eons. It’s doing something right.

Well it’s not perfect but If this anime made you want to go out there and murder a piece of paper with nothing but blind passion and fury, I think it did it’s job. Now everyone get out there and kill it!!