Blue Flag, Vol. 1 (Blue Flag, #1)

by Kaito

[lessthelonely]

REVIEW FOR THE FULL MANGA: 4/5

This one's been a long time coming. Not because I took that long to read this, but because I didn't review this last year and I never gotten around to sitting down and writing a review. Since I would like to keep my 3 posts per week going, here I am to talk to you about Ao No Flag.

I should start by saying that I read this manga knowing a technical spoiler, namely that it features LGBTQIA+ characters. That is the one "spoiler" - if you can even call it that, one sole search about this manga might yield more worrisome results, considering just how much the ending has been discussed - I will include in this review, since I do like to give spotlight to stories that feature healthy representation.

My thoughts on this manga can be summarized to: this is a romance manga written as if it were a mystery, by which I mean it is written as if we were getting through layers and layers, the plot getting thicker and thicker, while, at the same time, you don't even notice the pages flying by. Oh, and cliffhangers. This manga loves cliffhangers, and considering this was published in Shounen Jump, I'm not surprised, as you want to keep the readers coming back for more.

The story has a simple setup, definitely done before but I wouldn't call it overused: three characters meet and A likes B, but then B likes C, which results in A helping B getting closer to C. Since I said I would keep spoilers to the LGBTQIA+ representation, I'm not going any further than that, but the author managed to pump a lot of drama into this simple premise. Sublime conflict, in fact. I don't know if I should call this a sleeper hit, maybe I should, but I do think this manga is well-known and that people really liked this manga.

You get your basic looking main character who you can easily project to but at the same time feel for because of the situation he ends up in, and that is usually the fault in shounen protagonists - the authors make them easy to project into, but they don't add some spice to them, giving them some good internal conflict. That isn't the case here, as Taichi is incredibly present and his personality tends to shine through while also giving the other characters their moments to shine.

We start getting into some iffy ground when we move on to the other main characters, mainly because the characterization is way more rich in one than in the other. Futaba is a shy, clumsy girl - the synopsis literally tells us this -, but I must say you won't find her all that charming (though rarely, if ever, annoying) if you don't like that sort of character. It reeked of not like other girls, and the truth is, while that trope name as shorthand so often that it's lost all meaning, I would actually use it here. Unlike Taichi and Touma, Futaba seems to be there. Almost like she was intended to be so shy and soft that she ended up, without wanting to criticize people who like her, a doormat.

On the other hand, Touma has some pizazz. While his conflict is simple, it does a lot more for him than any of Futaba's conflict, and at some point, I felt like the only reason why Futaba remained relevant was because she was part of an aesthetic the author wanted to fulfill. Which I mean, fair. But it felt very soulless. Futaba had little to no angst, in my opinion, or maybe I just didn't find her moments all that compelling. Taichi had some good angst and Touma as well. Though I'd say Touma's is a bit heavier.

However, I must talk about the ending. I can't really talk much about it without spoiling a little bit, but the truth is that even I found the ending a little bit shoe-horned in. I would've liked more segue. But I do believe the author intended for the story to end as it did, but, for some reason, had to cut the story short. I commend them for doing a job that while iffy, one could recognize as a true ending. There are some problems with it: mainly one character that apparently got retconned (at least, it felt like it, but we can say that's my opinion) and the fandom's reaction.

Don't get drawn away from reading this because people say the ending makes no sense. The ending does make sense, people just got a little too furious, too carried away. If it only boiled down to the ending's rushed nature, I would stay quiet about other people's opinions, but I assure you this ending made a lot of bad takes take their place on the world wide web. Not a good look on them, in my opinion.

All and all, this is a good read.