Volume 5 of Blue Flag is probably my favorite thus far. Mami just wants to be friends with people in general and the fact that she is attractive doesn't work in her favor. When she is confronted with this fact, she lays out her opinion on the subject and the characters have an actual discussion about the situation! Fancy that, a real discussion! The art as always is lovely, with clean lines and easy to follow panels. I highly suggest Blue Flag for all teen manga collections.

Blue Flag Volume 5 is a romance drama manga written and illustrated by mangaka KAITO and published by VIZ Media. Blue Flag centers on a group of friends entering their last year of high school who are in an unpredicted love quadrangle. When one of the boys and girls starts falling for each other, they are unaware that each of their best friends has already fallen for them.

Following the previous volume, summer break is over, and school is back in session. Now Taichi and Futuba are slowly transitioning their relationship from friends to something more. Meanwhile, Mami suddenly starts to be unusually friendly towards Taichi, leaving Futuba feeling anxious. Taichi is unsure of Mami’s true intent but feels like he is getting dragged along in her wake. Their situation attracts attention as more people become involved, and soon, everyone is questioning everyone else’s relationships.

In Blue Flag Volume 5 the mangaka, KAITO, uses interesting tactics for storytelling to immerse the readers into the manga. For example, the first chapter opens without any dialogue until the fireworks show concludes. Since the fireworks are loud and they can not hear each other speak, they can’t tell what they are saying. It sets up the environment of the setting that the characters are in for the audience. I thought the absence of dialogue was an interesting way to open this volume. It grabbed my attention and made me appreciate the art in the opening pages.

Speaking of the art, I can not compliment KAITO’s work enough to capture various emotions on his characters’ faces. Whether it is joy, anger, anxiety, or sadness, they excel at illustrating them. It is capturing these emotions that add both insight and depth to the characters and story. It is one of the things that makes Blue Flag such an amazing manga.



For example, in one scene, where Taichi tells Toma about him, and Futaba started dating. While it is brief, the expression on Toma’s face says a lot. It shows that he is caught off guard to learn that his best friend, the boy he is secretly in love with, is dating someone else. But at the same time, he has to push those feelings down and be happy for his friends.

Another thing that I enjoyed in this volume was that it gave more insight into Mami Yagihara’s character. Initially, Mami comes off as shallow; however, in this volume, she turns to be a kinder and much friendlier person, especially toward Taichi and Futaba. While some characters assume she might have a sinister ulterior motive, she is actually trying to be comfortable with who she is as a person. Even a chapter focused on Mami’s flashbacks and her inner thoughts were a great way to give more insight into her character and motivations. This volume shows a side of Mami that is different, and honestly, I did not expect to see it, but I am so glad KAITO developed her character in this way.

Additionally, Mami’s character introduces an interesting topic to the series, can men and women be friends. KAITO does a great job of working this topic into the story in a way that feels genuine as it touches on the discussion of male and female platonic relationships. Mami doesn’t want boys to want or love her because she is a girl. She also doesn’t want to be hated by other girls that assume she will steal their boyfriends. She wants to be friends and accept that she is deep down and not who people perceive her to be.

Lastly, this volume introduces a new challenge for Taichi and Futaba as the characters are having some trouble trying to navigate their new relationship dynamic. Neither of them has ever been in a relationship before, so it is new territory for them to go from being friends to dating. I’ll be interested to see if or how they learn to overcome this challenge in their new relationship as the story continues to progress.

This volume is a great example of what makes Blue Flag an amazing coming of age story. Blue Flag Volume 5 has captivating storytelling, beautiful l storytelling, and it touches on real-life issues and topics in a genuine way. This volume also introduces some new challenges and changes to relationship dynamics that I am eager to explore more in the next volume.

It was almost too easy to hate Mami when she first came into the story. Now in the fifth volume Kaito shows us that if we <i>did</i> hate her we were just falling into the same old traps that girls like Mami, pretty girls who get along well with guys, have been subjected to forever. When Mami asks Taichi and his gamer friends to help her start playing a game, everyone gets all up in arms about her trying to "steal" Taichi from Futaba or "using" Taichi to get to Toma. Later, when one of her male friends asks her out, revealing that he's broken up with his girlfriend to date her, Mami is furious, because this is just the same damn thing she's had to deal with ever since the world decided that she was "pretty" and that that meant she had to be a man-stealing she-whore.

And you know what? That's as true as it is unfair. Mami shouldn't have to dress down to avoid negative attention, she shouldn't have to avoid people she wants to be friends with because of the assumptions others make about her, and the scenes where she gets that all out, right there on the page where so many other similar stories have played out is one of the best things I've read. It's a scream that's been building up for a long time, and it shows that Blue Flag isn't just another try-hard high school manga about growing up.

4.5 because at this point Futaba is annoying me. But I suspect that she's got her own scream building inside of her that will make that irritation go away.

Wow this volume really said: "You thought Mami was the villain? Think again, bitch."

Also... hints to a possible transgender character??

The translation work in this series is SUPERB.

TW: references to sexual assault and victim blaming

This series continues to gut me emotionally. It is so interesting to watch these teens learn more about their romantic preferences as they explore their crushes and relationships. It feels so raw and organic that I can't help but root for their happiness! So ready for the next volume!

It turns out Futaba’s firework show admission to Tai-Chan worked out in the end, as the two decide to start dating. The second trimester starts, and the two have to navigate how to be boyfriend and girlfriend at school. To complicate things, Yagihara has decided she wants to be better friends with Tai-Chan. She has a reputation for stealing boyfriends, so Masumi and Futaba question the two about their budding friendship. This leads to Yagihara bearing her soul about how misinterpreted she’s been her whole life.

Yagihara to this point has been an annoyance, and this volume gives a lot of insight and builds her as a three-dimensional character. Her ultimate motive is still the same as it’s always been, though, and that's to get closer to Toma. She claims she would be fine with just being close friends with Toma before he graduates, but that remains to be seen. Tai-Chan and Futaba's awkwardness continues into their relationship, as the two don't quite know how to be dating but still be at school. Tai-Chan doesn't want to make his other friends jealous that he has a girlfriend, so they have to learn to balance time with friends and time with each other. I'm slightly surprised with how quickly we got into this side of the "quadrangle" being "solve", as the relationship between Tai-Chan and Futaba seemed like the obvious one from the beginning. I do wonder if there will be build-up later to either one of them having feelings for their same-sex best friend who currently have crushes on our leads.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

This review was made possible with a digital reader copy from the publisher through Edelweiss.