What a beautiful beginning to a story about art and the power it has to bring people together and help them grow.
Aoyama is just drifting through life until a chance encounter with a famous and renowned suibokuga/sumie/ink art artist that takes a liking to him and invites him to become his apprentice. Aoyama knows nothing about ink art but is intrigued enough to try. This is how a story about art, relationships, and life experiences begins.
It's definitely a slow burn type of story, but I enjoyed the beginning and I look forward to following along to Aoyama's story.
The art style is pretty standard for this kind of story, but it helps set up the emotional moments and display the beauty of ink art perfectly.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha for the early read intro to this great series!

I would like to thank Kodansha and Netgalley for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest review. This is about a young man who is kind of adrift in life till he meets a famous painter who specialises in ink painting amd it unlocks something within him. First of all, i'm not an expert on art but i think the art in this manga was so beautiful. I related to the protagonist and i am looking forward to learning more about him in the later volumes and i also think that the supporting characters are definitely interesting as well. This is the second manga i've read which focuses on art, the first being blue period. This manga focuses on ink painting and i got the basics but it doesn't really go all out to give details on how ink painting is done or its history and i think people wilm appreciate the fact that it's not so iinfo dumpy in that aspect. It's probably preserving that for later volumes and rather focuses on the characters for now. I really loved it and i cannot wait for the later volumes.

For those that are interested in arts, specifically Ink Painting, I definitely recommend looking into this series.

Focusing on Sosuke Aoyama, a young man living on his own in a barren apartment, he takes a part-time gig helping to put together an exhibit on ink painters; as he's preparing to leave he meets a very friendly older gentleman who takes him to eat and shows him around the exhibit.

As the older gentleman and Aoyama discuss the art and what each creator might have been trying to show, Aoyama shows the older gent that he isn't just an ignorant person to the arts. Eventually, Aoyama learns that the older gentleman is a well-known ink painter, Kozan Shinoda, and is offered an apprenticeship working under him and becomes rivals with his granddaughter, Chiaki.

I loved the developing friendship/rivalry between Chiako and Sosuke, how generally you think of the term 'rivalry' as a fight, as arguing and complaining between the other, as down-playing your rival's good points or abilities; and generally Chiaki feels that way towards Sosuke, towards his ignorance of everything ink-painting as he's 'never been involved' in the style while Chiaki was immerged at a young age. But after meeting and talking to Sosuke, her views and feelings change towards him and she helps mentor him as well.

I went into this with almost no expectations, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it! The art style seems to match the ink paintings that we see throughout, and I am SO intrigued to see where this story goes!

Stunning! I love how the characters, story, and art all flow together so seamlessly and present a work that conveys such a wistful, yearning vibe. I don't know anything about ink painting and yet I came away from reading this manga feeling like, at the very least, I had a greater appreciation for the medium. Being told from the perspective of a total novice made the introduction into the world of ink painting feel really natural and easy to follow. I tend to focus more on characters, and I loved meeting all the main characters in this manga, especially Sosuke. This is an amazing start to a series because it gives you just enough to get you fully invested in the characters and leaves you wanting to know more.

It is rare that I feel so strongly about a manga series but this one really moved me. We follow three people Kozan Shinoda, Ayama-Kun, and Sen'ei. Kozan is a master of ink painting and he has been unofficially teaching his granddaughter Sen'ei for years. But, he stumbles across a lost soul, Ayama-Kun, and the art of ink painting helps Ayama to learn to live again. This manga is in black and white but you can still sense the color the illustrator wants you to. Honestly, I'd highly recommend this series and can't wait to get access to the next volume in the series!


* I received The Lines that Define Me, Volume 1 by Hiromasa Togami and Atsunori Horiuchi #TheLinesthatDefineMeVolume1 #NetGalley

4.5, rounding up cause I thought it was cute (5-stars on Goodreads)

A sweet but meaningful read and I feel more educated on ink-painting now! The beginning of this manga really hits hard, it establishes the main characters, the beauty of ink-painting, as well as begin the emotional heartbeat of the story. I really like how the characters are written - they grow as you read more, and you learn something new about them every chapter, and I love that they have depth to them and they're interesting. I can't wait to see how this manga plays out, and I want to continue following this story - as I want to unravel more about the characters as well as learn more about the beauty of the art. Also, the manga art is wonderful and is refreshing to see - the characters are beautiful and the ink art is just as pretty! It is a perfect slice of life manga that would work as a really good palate cleanser.

I'm not one for art analysis, and this manga really doesn't help me. What it does well in character depth, lacks in its analytical abilities - I don't get a good understanding of ink-painting, and it doesn't make me resonate with it. I still don't understand how Aoyama, Chiaki and Nishihama came to love ink-painting other than their mutual connection to Kozan-san - but that may be because I don't see the message behind ink-painting and its beauty will unravel with the manga.

Overall, it's a good read if you like slice of life mangas and would like a palate cleanser!

(This review was also crossposted on Goodreads)

This was a really interesting one. I've never read a manga about art before (at least not one that wasn't about the art of making manga). I also don't know anything about ink painting, but it looks beautiful. This manga actually succeeded in making me interested in the topic, while I also wanted to learn more about both Aoyama and Chiaki.

What a beautiful book. I can tell this is going to be a great manga series. This book does what I think manga can do the best: make a great story out of a topic you would not think would be interesting. In this case, ink painting. This manga made me interested in the specific topic and also interested in the characters right away. I am intrigued by the main character's background, the relationship between him and his rival, and the mysterious other apprentice. The art itself was beautiful as well as in ink painting within the manga. One thing I loved is the author was able to develop the girl rival from being a cliche cold woman to an interesting well-rounded character. For a manga first volume, that is pretty rare. I am excited to see where this one goes and read more!

This is such a great start to a new series. Looking forward to learning more about Chiaki and the others. I love the descriptions about ink art because it's something I know next to nothing about. Looking forward to the next volume.

I was allowed to review another of Kodansha's titles and, again, this manga was really good. The story follows the life of Sosuke Aoyama, a college student who, one day, meets Kozan Shinoda, a famous ink-painter. From then, Shinoda-san sees something in Sosuke that Sosuke himself doesn't seem to catch, but this little something brings him to take Sosuke as his apprentice and dream about him winning the Kozan award, one of the most prestigious awards given to the best ink-painters. On this same path is Kozan's granddaughter, Chiaka, also an ink-painter. When Chiaka has grown to master ink-painting since a young age, Sosuke knows nothing about it. But Kozan is sure he is going to beat her granddaughter and win the competition. But is this award the only thing to win in Sosuke's learning, or is there something more?

There are those mangas that simply make you have a good time, experience things you haven't had the chance to live yet, or those which you'll never be able to live once in your life, but there are also those mangas that make you ponder over things in life. These are mangas that are full of life lessons, and I believe these are the most precious ones. The Lines that Define Me is a very simple manga—the story is pretty trivial: two people coincidentally meet and happen to have things in common. But there is something in this manga that is simply beautiful and which makes it so important. At least, that's what I felt. Not only were the drawings beautiful, the plot as well was wonderfully written and captivating.

For young writers or writers in general, who know how important a word is in a sentence, I think this story will speak to us all. It shows the value of each little thing we do, as a simple line, and what is hidden behind it. Of course, some might be more important than others but, in the end, there are those people in our lives that will appear and see these things in us that are not even visible to us. This manga was about all that. I think that is the reason why I liked it so much.

I really liked the main character, Sosuke Aoyama. I've found that he was a bit different to all those male protagonists manga-lovers usually find in shojos. Now, I wouldn't say The Lines that Define Me is a shojo, perhaps a seinen, but there surely is some romance coming soon. And Sosuke shows more vulnerability than the male characters I have recently read about. Chiaka, on the contrary, is full of anger and passion for what she does, to the point she seems easily frustrated when she doesn't create what she imagines in her head—this also leads her to blame others, like Sosuke. But, deep down, she is someone who cares and who has 'to be tamed', not in the sense of being controlled, but of being known better. She doesn't give her trust easily, especially when it comes to ink-painting, for instance. As for her grandfather, Kozan Shinoda, I think he was cute since the beginning! I'm really curious to see how he is going to help Sosuke find himself and become happier with himself.

So, on the whole, I would definitely recommend this manga. I think that, even though it is not a genre/the type of story manga-lovers often read, I can see people loving this story. It made me think of some famous other titles, like Chihayafuru or some Ghibli studio's movies. On my part, I loved it and I would be very keen to continue this story soon.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Kodansha for the opportunity to review this title!

Thank you to Kodansha and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Lines that Define Me by Hiromasa Togami and Atsunori Horiuchi is the perfect shounen manga about art. It will appeal to fans of Netflix's Blue Period anime or Bakuman. The story revolves around Sosuke Aoyama, who lives alone in an empty apartment. One day, at an art exhibition of ink paintings, he meets famous artist Kozan Shinoda, who he impresses with his analysis of the paintings on display. Then, he is invited to become the artist's apprentice! Will he be able to meet the artist's expectations?

Overall, The Lines that Define Me gives us a relatable hero's journey as Sosuke moves from loner to artist's apprentice. One highlight of this book is the artwork. I usually prefer shoujo manga, because I prefer the beautiful art. Although this is a shounen title, I found that the art style was great, and the characters were beautifully drawn. The ink paintings in the exhibition were spectacular in particular. Another highlight of this book is the focus on the process of ink paintings are created. If you're intrigued by the synopsis, or if you're a fan of books about art, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in January!

Beautiful story, beautiful artwork. I loved the storyline of the college student, Aoyama, who is taken under the wing of a revered ink artist as an apprentice. The artist, Kozan, nurtures both the spirit and the artistic talent of Aoyama. Kozan positions him as a rival to his granddaughter, also an ink artist.

This is a very sweet story about a young man finding a purpose and motivation in his life, as well as a young woman who is learning not to take things for granted. The story does end with a cliffhanger, so I"m looking forward to the next issue.

I am in true awe of this book, and I so desperately want to keep reading and fully immerse myself in this world. It starts off with Aoyama working to set up an exhibition for Ink paintings, and after that, he runs into this old man who offers him food and shows him around the exhibition. After walking around and the old man asking for Aoyama’s opinions on the pieces, he’s shocked to see that Aoyama has an eye for paintings, and immediately becomes intrigued. Turns out that the old man was a famous ink painter himself and decided to take Aoyama in as a pupil to teach him the ways of ink painting.
I became immediately intrigued by this story and captivated by the drawing style of the author as well as the progression of the story. You see these two very different people who are put to compete against each other and see them slowly become friends, and see the hardship each one went through. Chiaki is more hardheaded and defensive than Aoyama, but you can tell she is constantly seeing the approval of her famous grandfather. As for Aoyama, being introduced to ink painting helped him in his loneliness. Overall, I loved the story and cannot wait to keep reading it.

[Thanks to Kodansha and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review]

Aoyama is a soul adrift, slowly getting by at college. Until a part-time job leads to him meeting with Shinoda, a famous painter whose medium is India-ink. Taken under Shinoda’s wing, Aoyama finds his passion for life again and maybe some other stuff besides…

Whoops. I picked this up thinking it was actually a BL title that I’d give a shot to, so imagine my surprise when Shinoda winds up being an elderly grandfather with a mischievous streak a mile wide.

Still, this turns out to be a delight of a book and a real discovery that might not displace <i>Blue Period</I> as the best art-based manga, but is still doing some great stuff. Maybe it’s just the nature of creatives appreciating creativity, but stories like these are often clearly written by people who love art and it shows.

Aoyama starts off as a bit of a nothing, living in a place as sparse as can be imagined, and that’s the point. He lucks into a bento box with Shinoda, which initially is the latter just being nice and soon turns into a tour of an art exhibition, where Aoyama is revealed to have a gift for interpretation.

Before we can blink, Aoyama is Shinoda’s apprentice, much to the chagrin of the latter’s granddaughter Chiaki. We are brought along as we learn, as I frequently put it, how the art-sausage is art-made. These parts are delightful - we see the way that Shinoda is drilling the fundamentals into Aoyama and the latter is no prodigy, he just has a gift that needs nurturing. The creation of ink has never been so interesting.

It’s impressive how well this book sells the appeal of black and white painting, even from something as simple as some plant leaves, as Aoyama gets subsumed into this world. We later learn why he might have been searching for something like this too, which is important.

There’s a very real, if slightly exaggerated, theme of how much of the artist is visible in their work, which lets Aoyama get a bead on Chiaki pretty quickly, but if he’s doing art, well, he might be letting some things out himself.

Of course, art is not the artist, and what makes this story so good is the characters and the art, not one or the other. Chiaki initially seems very tsundere, but she really isn’t - she just is who she is and she doesn’t know Aoyama from a hole in the ground. The meanest thing Chiaki says isn’t even directed at Aoyama and she makes that clear, which is a great turn for her. As they interact more she lets her guard down and can be herself more - what a concept!

It’s very plausible that this is all for Shinoda to set his granddaughter up. Some of the things that happen and the lessons Aoyama learns are invaluable to assisting Chiaki later and the way they work together for a live demonstration is almost a thing of beauty. Their future competitions promise a lot in these early moments.

There’s very little that I would say is bad here, honestly. There’s a revelation of another apprentice at the end, which feels like it’s out of a battle manga, but I’m not going to be particularly picky there until I read more of this.

4 stars - I really enjoyed this. I love creative enterprises about creativity itself, plus the conflicting styles and clashing personalities and a person overcoming their trauma. It’s all great fodder and I will 100% be watching to see where it goes.

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for an ARC to read and review.

This is a wonderfully written and drawn story, following a young college student (Aoyama), who is suddenly taken in as an apprentice in Ink art.

Aoyama is awkward and a bit of a loner and appears to be lost. During a part-time job, he meets Shinoda, a famous ink artist. Shinoda sees potential in Aoyama, and convinces the young student to become his apprentice.

It is from here, that Aoyama slowly comes out of his shell (and something that I believe will also be developed further in future volumes)

We are also introduced to Chiaki, Shinoda's granddaughter, who is an ink artist herself. They would become rival apprentices, and an odd friendship is formed between the two.

I really enjoyed this, and am definitely looking forward to future volumes!

Ok wow this was beautiful. The art in each panel was absolutely gorgeous. The story was something that I think any one could relate to. The last chapter was absolutely heart wrenching. I don’t think I have ever been this captivated by the first volume of a manga. The first volumes are normally set up for the story but this one felt very much like it could stand on its own and I’m excited to continue this series.

A story about a teenager taken in as a Japanese ink painting apprentice. It is emotional and elegant, in the same way the paintings the characters create are also emotional and elegant. The main character's loss and grief reflects itself in his works, and those around him strive to understand who his is and why someone who appears so happy on the outside is still grieved on the inside.

I love manga's that show a new skill or hobby I don't know about. The characters are all great even with the possible threat of the new senior apprentice character opening up in the next book. I'm impressed how they managed to convey the ink art within the manga.

The open premise of an old man suddenly happening on an apprentice is a little outlandish though. The generic main character suddenly being in the right place and time is a common premise but I like how they take the time to fully show the time lapse and slow but steady skill of the mc learning.

It ended so soon! And I feel like bawling my eyes out cos it ended so soon!
Thank you, Tokyopop, for the advance reading copy of the manga.

I am still mesmerized with the manga artstyle. Nothing like this has ever been so hot and alive! I am in awe....

I like the plot so much! Do I know something about the enemies to something here?

I can sniff it and feel it coming!

Our guy doesn't know he's being favoured by a very well known artist. And he suddenly finds himself being trained under this artist. Such a previlege for him. Not only that he finds himself as the opponent of the much dangerously talented and beautiful granddaughter!

And it ended. Dang, volume 1. Volume 2, where are you???