Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey, Vol. 5 | By Akiko Higashimura | Seven Seas – It shouldn’t take most readers by surprise that the final volume of Blank Canvas is heart-rending, but even knowing that it will be doesn’t lessen the manga’s impact; Higashimura utilizes a masterful combination of humor, honesty, and heartbreak. Blank Canvas captures so incredibly well the complexity and multifaceted nature of people, their feelings, and their relationships. The series is in large part about Higashimura’s growth as an artist and as an individual, especially the influence of one person particularly important to her development, but through the process of the manga’s creation it’s also an opportunity for her to confront some of the regrets in her life. In Higashimura’s own words, “As an adult, I...

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