Firstly, I would like to start with a thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book as an eARC.

I loved the art for this and the expressions in the art work, I also loved that each of the characters stuck to there ambitions and seemed consistent with there believes. The story is progressive and adorable although this volume also tackles bad reputation and stigmatise one of the males in the group the female lead ignores it. I think the bubbly energy in the female lead is exactly what I needed for a boost of seratonin today. This manga also shows how sometime people can have a problem against the world not just a specific person and conforming to them and believing what one person says doesn't mean your not good enough it just means not enough people have seen your work. I did like this enough to not only continue the series in this manga but also read some more of her work in the future as I think they bring out the characters and feel like they could come to life on the page. I am happy to have found another artist to follow for more content.

A Nico-Colored Canvas (vol.1) is about an artist Nico Sorano. She just started art school and her energetic spacey energy makes her well known in thr school. However not everyone appreciates her non traditional personality.

This was a really cute manga. Nico was a really fun character to follow and all of the characters designed looked nice. The artstyle was pretty and overall this was just a solid manga. Definitely recommend.

Having trouble connecting to these characters. Nico is a bit too diztzy, Nishimo is surly, Togo is very Smarmy. I am intrigued by Mitsuki, but I am afraid she is going to get the least screen time.
I feel like actual art students will enjoy this one though.

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

Nico is off to university to study the arts and immediately runs afoul of Kageiwa, a stern twig of a professor who has no time for her ebullient nature. When she gets beaten down after standing up for a classmate, that’s just a good excuse to do things her own way, as soon as she figures out how to do it.

Imagine <I>Blue Period</I>, except instead of focusing on the struggle of the artist, it raised your blood sugar to dangerous levels and you’d have this story, which has an unhealthy level of spunk and not much else. Now, it gets quite far on spunk and how unflappable Nico is, but this is all the story has. At a certain point the question of where the beef is has to be asked and I still don’t really know.

This is one of those stories where reality is on holiday and a quirky good nature will carry the day and if you’re in the mood for such a story, you won’t be disappointed. It’s as hard not to root for Nico as it is to spend a significant amount of time with her. Moment to moment this volume can be pretty fun, but as a whole it feels lacking.

One of the critical failings of this story is that we’re told Nico is a good artist a lot more than we’re shown she is. The painting she’s forced to struggle with during her first class with Kageiwa is apparently something else, but what that actually is is left to the imagination as we never get a good look at it.

With the story picking up after she gets into university, we’re afforded no backstory on Nico beyond one flashback, so her entire characterization goes from perky to ‘perky but her mom passed away’. What, precisely, she may possess by the way of skills is never truly explained and she’s far too much of a cipher even if she is pleasant enough to spend time with.

There’s definitely an excess of whimsy here - Nico feels like a manic pixie dream student the whole time, especially when she does a live painting session that takes a real turn to the absurd that I admit is pretty good, if utterly unrealistic. This is the only part where the painting stands out in any meaningful way too.

Her relationship with a fellow classmate who is as expertly skilled as Nico is quirky is nice, but this story has no especially interesting male characters. There’s a slick con man type, Togo, whose motives are left nebulous, and he’s absolutely irritating the whole time. He’s smug to the point of detestable and woefully underdeveloped for the role he ends up taking.

Nico’s head butting with Kageiwa is the crux of the volume, but he’s just the typical hard-ass professor trope. He’s an appointment to dean away from shutting down the frat in <i>Animal House</i>. It’s also one thing to be a dick, but some of the crap he pulls off in his class is straight up abusive. Again, we’re just given these characters and told to take them as they are and just go.

When Nico sticks up for somebody and decides to put on a show, literally, to turn things around, it’s pretty nonsensical, even if they do decide to name check a historical event to justify it.

There’s just something missing here. It’s good enough and I didn’t hate it, but it completely falls apart under any scrutiny and, for various reasons, none of these characters are particularly enjoyable to spend that much time with. By the end I can honestly say I didn’t really care what happens next.

3 stars - good intentions and all that, but the final product is merely okay. Once Nico has been strange and bouncy the first time I feel like this story’s basically said anything of interest, so I don’t see myself reading another one.

OMG! I loved this story! The main character was vibrant and funny, and the situations she got herself into were so ridiculous they were fun and heart warming.
I cannot wait for the next instalment!

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

A Nico-Colored Canvas, Volume 1 by Nao Shikita is a lovely shojo and slice-of-life manga. The story revolves around Nico, who is from a little-known island and now attending an art university. On her first day, she shows up late, but unknowingly becomes a star thanks to her eccentricity and optimism. Along with a weird cast of characters, it's up to Nico to make the best of her first year at an art university.

Overall, A Nico-Colored Canvas, Volume 1 is a delightful and funny manga that will appeal to fans of Princess Jellyfish or Blank Canvas. One highlight of this book is the artwork, which is top-notch. The characters are drawn beautifully, and the art is stunning to look at. Another highlight of this book is the main character, Nico. Nico is such a refreshing character. She doesn't know when other people are making fun of her. She looks at everything through a lens of naivete and optimism. If you're intrigued by the description, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in June!

Its a coming of age story of a girl going to art school. She's talented, but a total classic 90's shoujo air headed zero common sense heroine. She's brash, kind of embarrassingly loud, and lacks some social skills. Sure she's not from the "mainland," but it brings on some cringe. I personally like grounded mature main characters, but that's my personal touch.

This manga is the inspirational manga that's fluffy and helps when in a down mood.

Overall this manga has a cute plot. Nico is an energetic spacey girl with dreams of being an artist. She finds herself challenging the structure of her art university and teaming up with new friends to create a rival exhibition for the 'failures' that will show on the same day as the exhibition of the strict teacher that cast her and her classmate aside.

Nico is pretty dingy but in a sweet protagonist sort of way. She's often times clueless but puts a lot of heart in to what shes aiming for and doing. The side characters didnt have much build in Vol1 but they may get more attention in future installments.

Big thanks to Kodansha Comics for the e-ARC of this manga. This review is being given honestly and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This one wasn’t as great as I thought it would be. I really liked the premise but not only did the story not hit but the art wasn’t to my taste either. I still enjoyed it but was definitely disappointed.

So this is a story of a girl that wants to be an artist but doesn't like the rules established by this one teacher in the university. Her plan is to make a competing exhibition to show off her talent and other "rejects" talents. It was quite interesting to read and I do wanna know how this story will go after this.

I do kind of feel like some of the side character were just not developed or like the story could be better written. Like I feel the story is just a tiny bit incomplete.

I got an arc from netgalley.

My gratitude to Kodansha Comics and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this series in exchange for an honest review.

Nico Sorano is a small-town girl with big dreams in life who recently enrolled in a big university to study Fine Arts. Because of her pure soul, determined free will, and wild nature, she was kicked out of Kageiwa's class after a screening issue. Inspired by Monet's determination to be beyond greatness, Nico arranged an exhibition of failures or rejects. She found another ex-classmate of hers that didn't pass Kageiwa's class, Nishinomori, and proposed her planned exhibition in order to let Kageiwa see what extraordinary talents he's about to miss... A delightful original piece. It is unlike any other—a Nico-colored canvas from cover to cover. Nao Shikita painted a truly exquisite series to bring into life the soul of a divine artist. What's more, are the expressive and reminiscent dialogues that spark vivid colors into the entirety of the book.