Blue Period (2024)

Watch Blue Period for Inspiration, but Don’t Expect Perfection

Blue Period tells the story of Yatora, a high school student excelling academically but feeling unfulfilled in life. When he unexpectedly discovers a passion for painting, he embarks on a journey to pursue art despite the challenges ahead.

First off: as someone unfamiliar with the original Blue Period manga or anime, the story was entirely new to me, so I may view it differently than fans of the source material.

The Good: The soundtrack is fantastic and fits perfectly with the film's emotional tone. There were some creative choices I found intriguing, especially the use of CGI to visualize the main character's imagination—it added an extra layer of immersion. The storyline includes some inspiring, motivational moments that stick with you and the artwork featured throughout the film is absolutely beautiful.

The Not So Good: At times, the story felt a bit predictable, following a familiar path. It’s also clear that this is an adaptation, and unfortunately, some characters don’t get enough screentime for their motivations to come through clearly. As a result, their actions can feel underdeveloped, which makes it harder for the audience to connect with them. In my opinion, the directing and editing were occasionally uneven, leading to some awkward transitions. Lastly, while some actors stood out with strong performances, others didn’t quite hit the mark.

Overall, Blue Period delivers an inspiring coming-of-age story with stunning visuals and a solid message, though some narrative and pacing issues hold it back from fully reaching its potential.

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Minority Misrepresentation

After viewing the picture, I wanted to read the original source. Surprisingly, the film conveyed a very complete picture in 2 hours. Yes, this is a movie, even though the script contains a plausible life of a schoolboy who is mired in a feeling of emptiness, despite the slight fabulousness, in life there are miracles when in a year you can become someone.
The picture is of high quality in technical design: paints, light, color, angle, special effects, sound design.
Psychological side: the theme of emptiness in the human personality, hiding oneself in the box of a socially useful/pleasing personality. Lack of confidence in your abilities due to various circumstances.
Accepting yourself and your personality in the environment....
All this, to some extent, the hero is restoring a picture called “I”, but I don’t think that the process has a final version.
I really liked this whole part and I’m ready to re-watch it for this BUT!

I don't know if this is a feature of Japanese cinema or what, but the representation of minorities here is grossly flawed.
First, the main character deadname a transgender person. The heroine clearly identifies herself as a woman, so the “otomen” version is excluded by itself, secondly, in the original source she also positions herself as a woman. But then the manga and the film begin to have problems.
I started looking for an interview, although she did not go into detail, but the mangaka seemed to have outdated wording of descriptions and understanding of the “phases” of transgender people, rather, at what age does awareness begin in connection with modern access to information. The heroine is not a child and clearly distinguishes herself based on this.
I could not understand why throughout the entire film she did not directly express to the hero that she did not like it when he deadnamed her. Moreover, they already had a dispute about psychological constraint. The characters had quite a few opportunities to discuss this issue, but it was neither made nor corrected in the film.
What is even more highlighted in the film is that the hero and she, like twins, almost seem to go through the question of establishing themselves as individuals in a social environment, with the struggle to do what makes them alive. Her drama was even very intensified by the moment when she could no longer follow the path that her beloved grandmother had chosen for her, but not she. And in a strong scene where the hero and she reveal their soulmate to each other, the hero deadname her.

Reading the reviews, I realized that such mistakes in films, when it is clearly visible that the creators did not even bother to clearly find out from the representatives of the minority themselves whether they are representing them correctly, misinform the audience. And without understanding anything on the topic, they mix their personal views or rumors with labels and partial lies about minorities, confusing the viewer.
Which is why some argue that this is an otomen, while others explain that this is a transperson. After all, the author herself and the filmmakers mixed all these concepts in one. When she communicates with the hero, otomen. When she introduces herself as a woman, she is already a transperson.
In my opinion, if cinema today has decided to use the most vulnerable part of the planet’s population for the sake of highlighting drama, then this cinema should, at least for the sake of respect, consult on the correctness of representation. And not to imagine how they heard from third parties, analyzing such a sensitive issue through their heteroconsciousness.

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