The Big Problem Blue Period Fans Have With The Anime Adaptation
When creators decide to adapt written works onto the screen, they are taking on no small feat. Oftentimes, creators have plenty of pressure from the already established fanbase behind these works and must attempt to reach the fans' expectations. While undergoing the monumental task of translating the page to screen, creators have to decide which details of the story are important enough to keep, which could be a deciding factor for fans of the original work.
This is just the same for manga to anime adaptations. A manga that is massively popular doesn't necessarily mean it will translate well into an anime. Key elements like animation style and story pacing could make a huge impact on how an adapted anime is received, and they're are plenty of other reasons why fans prefer the manga over the anime, or vice versa.
One anime adaptation that seems to have fans preferring the manga is Netfllix's recently adapted "Blue Period." The series, originally created by Tsubasa Yamaguchi and released weekly on Afternoon Magazine, is the story about high school student Yatora Yaguchi who unexpectedly finds his calling in art after stumbling upon an inspiring painting (via Anime News Network). Although the anime only has two episodes available on Netflix at the time of this writing, fans are already having major issues with the adaptation.
Blue Period anime skips over the art processes loved in the manga
Imagine a story about a boy making art but the actual art-making scenes are instead placed second to relationship drama. This is what has many "Blue Period" manga fans angrily taking to Reddit to discuss. User Environmental_Case54 wrote: "Now OK so I'm upset currently about the anime ... they skipped so much of basics that the manga actually talks about and teaches the audience about art and how people make it. I understand that their going to cut things out BUT that doesn't makes sense for this story."
Another fan, photoshopuser1, had similar feelings and responded, "...The anime appears more focused on drama between characters and less so on the act and internal dialogue of drawing and painting.... It misses that aspect of the manga so far. I love Blue Period because it's focus is in the artist's journey but the anime so far is meh."
Plenty of "Blue Period" fans agree that the anime adaptation has had a rocky start, but that sentiment could change in the upcoming weeks as new episodes are released.