Blue Period

**Blue Period** (ブルーピリオド, *Burū Piriodo*?) is a manga written and illustrated by Tsubasa Yamaguchi. The series has been serialized in Monthly Afternoon, Kodansha's seinen manga magazine, since June 2017. The official English released was announced by Kodansha in November 2019 and the translated edition of Volume 1 was published in October 2020.

## Volumes

So far, the series has been collected into 13 tankobon volumes.

*Main article: Volumes*

## Adaptations

### Anime

An single cour anime television series adaptation by Seven Arcs was announced on January 19, 2021, and premiered in October of the same year.

*Main article: Blue Period (Anime)*

### Novel

On 23 October 2021, A novel spinoff of Blue Period was announced. The first volume was released on October 28 of the same year.

*Main article: Novels*

### Stage Play

A stage play adaptation was announced on Nov 19 2021 and stars Okamiya Raimu as Yatora Yaguchi. Showings started from March 25 to April 3rd in 2022.

*Main article: Blue Period The Stage*

## Reception

In 2019, the manga was nominated for the 12th Manga Taishō and the 43rd Kodansha Manga Award for Best General Manga. In 2020, the manga won the 13th Manga Taishō and the 44th Kodansha Manga Award for Best General Manga. It was also nominated for the 24th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. 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.

# Monthly Afternoon

Afternoon Magazine Issue 2018, 07Afternoon Magazine Issue 2020, 01Afternoon Magazine Issue 2021, 03Afternoon Magazine Issue 2021, 07Afternoon Magazine Issue 2021, 11Afternoon Magazine Issue 2022, 02Afternoon Magazine Issue 2022, 10Afternoon Magazine Issue 2023, 09
## Collaborations

### CreepHyp x Blue Period

On *12 November 2019*, CreepHyp - a well-known rock band in Japan, collaborated with Blue Period to make a 'MMV' (Manga Music Video) of "栞".
The 'MMV' has since been deleted but a copy of it has been uploaded back to Youtube and other proxy sites.

### Yosuke Sugino x Blue Period x YOASOBI x Bourbon

On *20 August 2020*, a collaboration was announced for a commercial for Bourbon Alfort Mini Chocolate with a specially made song by YOASBI - "Gunjo", as the background music.

The first commercial and "Gunjo" song officially released on *1 September 2020*. This commercial stars Yosuke Sugino and an animated Yatora Yaguchi, in B&W. It features coloured paintings that span from the first arc to the Geidai Exam Arc.

Promotional Ad for the First Commercial
A special music video for Gunjo was released a few days later, on *September 4*. It shows manga panels from Blue Period and people painting. The video has subsequently been privated on YouTube but previews can still be found on Twitter.

The second commercial aired on *1 Dec 2020*. Yatora Yaguchi and Yosuke Sugino reprised their roles, with the new inclusion of Ryuji Ayukawa, Sumida, Utashima and Koigakubo. All characters were animated in B&W.

On *Dec 7 2020*, an advertising board ad of the characters in the second commercial was announced, alongside Yosuke Sugino as well. It was said that the ad was posted at train stations of JR East. A follow up post by Ryuji Ayukawa shows the ad in Takadanobaba Station.

A few months later, in *1 February 2021*, a third commercial was released. Yatora Yaguchi and Yosuke Sugino reprised their roles again with the addition of new characters such as Yotasuke Takahashi, Maki Kuwana, Mayu Ooba, and Haruka Hashida. All characters were animated in B&W. It features coloured artworks each student made for the Geidai Exam. A specially drawn illustration was made for this collaboration below.

Promotional Art for the Third Commercial
### ZONe Energy x Blue Period

On *29 Nov 2021*, ZONe Energy announced a promotional campaign with Blue Period.  This campaign features Blue Period characters and edited text to promote ZONe Energy on Twitter. On 10 Jan 2022, A longspread train advertisement poster was displayed. The poster includes a new illustration of the prep school students and a special feature; in which the letters in it are made up of peelable stickers, which can be taken for free.

First Promotional PictureTrain Advertisment Poster
### Blue Period Exhibition ~Is Art a Talent? ～

On *24 March 2022*, the first exhibition of Blue Period was officially announced. The exhibition was held from 18 June to 27 September in 2022. Information regarding the exhibition and its many attractions can be found on the Offical Website.

Sponsored by both private and public sponsors, such as TikTok, Warehouse Terrada and Shinagawa City, the event aimed to shed light on new talents and support the future of the artistic world, and original work, as well as reproductions of art seen in the series, were exhibited. 34 students from preparatory art schools created the art used for six collages on display based on their interpretation of the covers of volumes one through six of the manga. A creator audition held through the collaboration of TikTok and the Blue Period Exhibition also lead to original work displayed after judges' discretion. 20 contemporary artists were asked to each create a work surrounding the theme displayed by Yatora's work in *Blue Period*.

The art resulting from the project was displayed at the G1 building in the Terrada Art Complex and sold on ArtSticker. Prompts, inspired by the original work, were given to the artists: *My favorite scenery*, *My most important thing*, and *Self-portrait*. Other groups involved included ArtSticker, Pigment Tokyo, Shinjuku Art Academy and SCRAP, and an admission fee was charged to visitors who wanted to attend.

Below, a few images of the exhibition and a commercial video are displayed :

Art inspired by the series on display at the exhibition.Art inspired by the series on display at the exhibition.Art inspired by the series on display at the exhibition.Art inspired by the series on display at the exhibition.

## References

1. ↑ Kodansha Comics Announces 12 Digital Manga Licenses, 4 Manga Print Releases — Anime News Network
2. ↑ Blue Period Volume 1 on Amazon (English)
3. ↑ Announcement Tweet
4. ↑ Blue Period Manga on Wikipedia (English)
5. ↑ CDJournal News Article
6. ↑ Bourbon Announcement Tweet, YOASOBI Announcement Tweet
7. ↑  First Commercial Video
8. ↑ Special Music Video Announcement Tweet
9. ↑  Second Commerical Video
10. ↑  Advertising Board Ad Announcement
11. ↑ Ryuji's Instagram Post
12. ↑ Third Commercial Video
13. ↑ Announcement Tweet
14. ↑  Tsubasa Yamaguchi's Illustration and For Sticker Peeling
15. ↑ Official Website of the Blue Period Exhibition ~Is Art a Talent? ～ (Japanese)
16. ↑ Twitter Thread with images from the Blue Period Exhibition ~Is Art a Talent? ～ (Japanese) and Twitter Tweet with a commercial video of the same event (Japanese)