Blue Period (
Japanese: ブルーピリオド,
Hepburn: Burū Piriodo) is a Japanese
manga series written and illustrated by
Tsubasa Yamaguchi. The series has been serialized in
Kodansha's
seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon since June 2017 and has been collected in fifteen tankōbon volumes as of November 2023. The series is licensed in English by
Kodansha USA. An
anime television series adaptation produced by
Seven Arcs aired from October to December 2021. A live-action film adaptation is set to premiere in Japanese theaters in August 2024.
By November 2021, the manga had over 4.5 million copies in circulation. In 2020, Blue Period was awarded the 44th
Kodansha Manga Award in the General category and the Grand Prize of the 13th
Manga Taishō award.
Premise
Yatora Yaguchi is a fairly popular student who excels in school, but secretly grapples with feelings of emptiness and frustration. When visiting his high school's art club he is inspired to pursue art. He eventually aspires to attend the
Tokyo University of the Arts (TUA) after he graduates from high school.
An academically gifted and diligent student whose friends are disinterested in school. After developing an interest in painting from his art club senior Mori, he is set down a path to attend art school.
Yatora's friend and fellow art-club member. Yuka considers themself to be a non-conformist and indifferent to the opinions of others. Throughout the series they struggle with pressure from their family.
Another of Yatora's classmates from prep school. Her entire family attended TUA, and as a result she often struggles with feelings of inadequacy, despite being a highly talented artist in her own right.
Maru Mori (森まる, Mori Maru)
Voiced by: Mayu Aoyagi[6] (Japanese); Triya Leong[4] (English)
Yatora's senior in his high school art club. To Mori art is a spiritual activity, and her pieces often incorporate images of religion and prayer. It is one of her works that spurs Yatora's interest in art.
Yatora's teacher at prep school. She continually provides Yatora with valuable criticism and advice on how to overcome personal and technical obstacles as he continues with art.
A friend of Yatora's from high school. He performs poorly in school and has a keen interest in sports. He is shown to care deeply about his friends.
Koigakubo (恋ケ窪)
Voiced by: Shinichiro Kamio[6] (Japanese); Chris Tergliafera[4] (English)
A friend of Yatora's from high school. He is tall, quiet, and intimidating on the outside, but over time reveals his sensitivity, dreams, and emotional character to Yatora.
Another of Yatora's friends from high school. He does not apply himself academically but is very interested in girls and highly devoted to his friends.
Blue Period is written and illustrated by
Tsubasa Yamaguchi. The series began in
Kodansha's
seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon on June 24, 2017.[8] Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on December 22, 2017.[9] As of November 22, 2023, fifteen volumes have been released.[10]
In North America,
Kodansha USA announced the print release of the manga in November 2019.[11]
An
anime television series adaptation was announced on January 19, 2021.[41][42]Seven Arcs is animating the series, with
Koji Masunari serving as chief director, and Katsuya Asano serving as director, with scripts by
Reiko Yoshida, character designs by Tomoyuki Shitaya, and music by Ippei Inoue.[43][6] While the series had an advanced streaming debut on
Netflix on September 25, 2021,[44][45] it aired on television from October 2 to December 18 of the same year on the
Super Animeism block on
MBS,
TBS and other channels.[3][b] Netflix is streaming the series on a weekly schedule outside of Japan since October 9, 2021.[45] Omoinotake performed the opening theme "EVERBLUE," while Mol-74 performed the ending theme "Replica".[45]
"Our Color Blue" Transliteration: "Oretachi no Aoi Iro" (
Japanese: 俺たちの青い色)
Shūjirō Ami
Shūjirō Ami
December 4, 2021 (2021-12-04)
11
"The Start of the Second Exam" Transliteration: "Niji Shiken Kaishi" (
Japanese: 2次試験開始)
Kuniyasu Nishina
Yasunori Ide
December 11, 2021 (2021-12-11)
12
"When I Started to be Dyed in Color" Transliteration: "Irozuki Hajimeta Jibun" (
Japanese: 色づき始めた自分)
Shin'ichi Fukumoto
Koji Masunari
December 18, 2021 (2021-12-18)
Film
A live-action film adaptation was announced on April 2, 2024. The film is directed by Kentarō Hagiwara, with scripts written by Reiko Yoshida, and music composed by Yūki "Yaffle" Kojima. It is set to premiere in Japanese theaters on August 9, 2024.[5]
Reception
By November 2021, the manga had over 4.5 million copies in circulation.[48] Volume 14 was
Kodansha's 12th highest first print run manga volume of 2023–2024 (period from April 2023–March 2024), with 145,000 copies printed.[49]
The series ranked fourth on
Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2019 for male readers,[57] 14th, along with The Fable on the 2020 list;[58] and 15th, along with Bōkyō Tarō on the 2021 list.[59]Blue Period ranked 16th on the 2019 "Book of the Year" list by Da Vinci magazine;[60] it ranked 19th on the 2020 list;[61] and 24th on the 2021 list.[62] The series was also one of twelve manga series to make the 2021
Young Adult Library Services Association's top 126 graphic novels for teenagers list.[63]
Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network gave the first volume a B+. She praised its coming-of-age narrative and characters (specifically the adults), while criticizing it for being too informative at times.[1]
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Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2022. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.{{
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