A review by writingmidnight96
Blue Flag, Vol. 8 by Kaito

emotional lighthearted sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

So, I find myself a little torn at the end of this series. On the one hand, I did love the journey, and the portrayal of our main characters and their classmates as they navigate the complicated emotions of the drama going on around them feels very genuine and very real. Both the good and the bad of the class interactions feels true to age in this last book especially. I understand that part of the point of this book is partially to convey a romance where characters actually make attempts to talk through their emotions and find ways to articulate the sticky feelings that people normally ignore in this type of story. That hesitation is usually what leads to the endless will-they, won't they (When dear god will they) cycle that is stereotypical to this genre. So, on the one end, I really appreciate the character interactions here.

On the other hand,
Why, for the love of god, can't I see Toma and Taichi be cute on screen together? Yes, technically they are together in the last chapter, but that POV sneak around made me feel a bit cheated.
It feels like the thing that bothers me - characters not being allowed to kiss until the last chapter - being achieved through different means. For a romance novel there is a stark lack of couple behavior in all four corners of the love pennant square.

I was also super torn about Masumi being married to a man at the end. I'm not normally someone who is bothered by characters shifting sexuality or ending in heteronormative relationships if they are bi, but Masumi's dialogue - throughout the series, but in the earlier chapters especially - seemed to imply that she felt no attraction to men, and I had sort of assumed that we were working with four different sectors of the sexuality spectrum and how that affects the way characters interact with each other, (Gay - Toma, Bi - Taichi, Straight - Kuze, Lesbian - Masumi). It's not the end of the world or anything that she wound up with a man in this series, but man it did bug me just a bit that Masumi didn't get a lady at the end.


That said, I like the honesty that for the most part the characters grow up and stay important to each other but less close. I think it's kind of honest that the only two who end up together weren't the two in the high school relationship.
The ending feels really honest, and while I wish we'd had more time to see the relationships shown in the last chapters reach their final forms, I'm not disappointed with the outcomes of any of them.