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Blue Flag, Vol. 5

(青のフラッグ #5)

Kaito

4.39 · Rating details · 696 ratings · 74 reviews

An unexpected love quadrangle with a dash of unrequited love as two classmates, a boy and a girl, begin to fall for each other when each of their best friends have already fallen for them.

It’s the last year of high school, and love is in the air. Romantic feelings that have been building up over years of friendship come to light. When Taichi’s classmate Futaba asks him to ...more

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Paperback, 216 pages

Published December 15th 2020 by VIZ Media LLC (first published September 4th 2018)

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Average rating 4.39 ·

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· 696 ratings · 74 reviews

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Feb 06, 2020 Vanessa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-stars, graphic-novels-comics-manga

the messages in this series are always so GOOD

nothing but love and respect for Mami (and Shingo who is the best best pal)

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Feb 04, 2020 Kate rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: physical-shelf

I love all of these kids but Mami? Mami has my goddamn respect. we stan

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Nov 25, 2020 Shae rated it it was amazing

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! ...more

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Apr 30, 2020 Carol Flores rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: manga

I’m not really sure why but this volume feels like it’s all over the place. On the first half, we get to see Futaba and Taichi trying to work in their newly relationship since they’re both quite shy to begin with. In addition, the author focuses on what is the meaning of male/female friendships and how they can get troublesome to say the least.

To be honest, I don’t really like Mami, not even after she explained her share of drama. Also I don’t think Futaba and Taichi can really work as a couple ...more

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Jan 18, 2021 Cassidy Hall rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

i loved this!!! mami’s character is everything and her backstory was really interesting.

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Aug 24, 2020 eri b.❀ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: graphic-novel, lgbtq, stars-5

"I hope that the image you hold of me in your heart is what I believe to be my ideal self."

I'm crying all of this was perfect. rtc but I love everyone and Mami deserves the entire world. ...more

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Mar 31, 2020 Franzi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: manga, brilliant-writing, brutal-cliffhanger, rep-lgbt, fave-characters, read-2020, fave-2020

from this day on, this is a mami stan account and I will accept no slander😤

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Sep 25, 2020 Julie rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned-manga, manhwa-manga-graphic-novels, lgbtqia, read-graphic-novels-manga

This volume weirdly was heavily focused on Mami, but I still really liked it. I liked all the points she made and I liked her character. She was annoying at first, but now I feel bad for stereotyping her lol. Like that one dude needs to fuck off and leave her alone seriously. I really want to know what this dude is going to say to Toma though. I like his character too (I honestly can't remember his name, but he's Mami's long haired, tired-eyed friends lol). How is all of this going to end?? ...more

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Dec 07, 2020 Rebecca rated it really liked it

Shelves: lbgtq, manga

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 did 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 ...more

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Dec 23, 2020 Mark Evans rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Mami is the absolute worst. She’s super attractive, ditzy, brash, annoying, and spends her time snarking at Toma’s friends while pursuing him incessantly. Everything we’ve seen painted her into a very specific role - a conniver who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted.

And as we lift the curtain on this volume of Blue Flag, it turns out that all of that was a very specific authorial trap. There has been no indication that Mami was anything more than a total mean girl trope and you’d be fo Mami is the absolute worst. She’s super attractive, ditzy, brash, annoying, and spends her time snarking at Toma’s friends while pursuing him incessantly. Everything we’ve seen painted her into a very specific role - a conniver who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted.

And as we lift the curtain on this volume of Blue Flag, it turns out that all of that was a very specific authorial trap. There has been no indication that Mami was anything more than a total mean girl trope and you’d be forgiven for thinking that Kaito was shorthanding her character, much as I did, but you’d also have been so very wrong.

I can’t remember the last time I ever did such a complete 180 on a character, but by the time this was done it is no lie to say that Mami is 100% my favourite character in this series.

Life has been hard for somebody you’d think would have it pretty easy, skating by on her looks and charm, but the fickle nature of children and teenagers is not to be underestimated.

Mami does literally nothing wrong and still gets punished for it. She tries to have male friends, which is not an impossible ask, but it’s certainly more difficult in the hormonal tempest of middle and high school, and it gets her nothing but grief.

The lengths she goes to just to have some freaking male friends are quite extreme and you have to feel bad for her each time it goes wrong. I loved the light this shines on her friendship with Shingo as well - he turns out to be a lot more than he first appeared himself.

Kaito doesn’t make Mami perfect - she’s not using Ichinose exactly, but she certainly has ulterior motives beyond straight friendship, which she cops to. She knows she can be rude and loud, but her point is that she’s a person and not just an expected set of behaviours.

This is all unpacked over some extensive dialogue and, while wordy, I was there for all of it. Mami coming to accept herself just as she is is a stand-out moment in a series of great ones - rarely has the application of make-up felt so satisfying.

If there’s a downside to this volume, it’s the stuff not related to Mami. Now that Futaba and Taichi are dating... uh... are they even dating? It feels like the primary love story of this series is currently forced as all hell (given this volume, I’m now not putting it past the author to veer wildly from this).

Futaba, of all the characters, seems to be getting worse instead of better - she’s even MORE awkward than before and there are hints that she’s looking to change herself to suit Taichi, which is a recipe for disaster. It’s not bad, per se, but it just feels like an accident waiting to happen.

That said, 5 stars straight on through, because Mami turns out to be the best thing to happen to this series when I thought she was the worst. To have my expectations used against me like that is a brilliant trick and I respect how well it’s pulled off. Loved it. ...more

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Apr 15, 2020 Aleksandra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: manga

4.5

Excellent Mami content. She was rather a background character in the previous volumes but here she shines. I love her voice, I love her presence in the story. I love how strong she is, she is who she is and she is happy to be herself.
This volume presented a lot of necessary conversations about gender roles, gender stereotypes and the assumptions people make. This manga's target audience is teens and kids so I'm so so pleased to see those discussion on the pages.

Mami and Shingo friendship is s ...more

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Dec 16, 2020 Gretel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: manga, yaoi, shoujo, romance

There they go again, humanising the "bitchy antagonist" and making her likable. How dare. ...more

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Dec 06, 2020 Online Eccentric Librarian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, arc, manga

More reviews at the Online Eccentric Librarian http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

Each volume of Blue Flag has a main plot and a sub plot - the main plot forwarding the quadrangle aspects while the sub plot will focus around a theme. With 5, the focus is about how we deal with the concept of friends who are different genders. The boisterous personality of Mami showcases that dichotomy nicely as we learn more about her here.

Story: The fireworks are amazing, Ichinose gets birthday wishes, and a very ...more

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Jan 13, 2021 Kat Viola rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Where do I even begin with this fantastic series. Honestly, I read this all in less than a week, but saying that I read it doesn’t do this series any justice. I DEVOURED this series.

I couldn’t get enough of it.

To say that it’s about a love square should be a crime.

This series goes into the heartache of feeling like a burden; the burden of having everyone else’s goals for you on your shoulders; the feeling of being an absolute liar to yourself, just to make everyone else feel proud of you; the ...more

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Feb 01, 2021 Tuna rated it really liked it

This might be the weakest volume by far as, beyond the first chapter or so it doesn’t really advance things much for the main characters. Sure we get characters actively dating but they’re both so head in the clouds that they don’t do anything laugh out loud.

Mami gets much of the focus here and while she does make a sort of statement about the need to normalize male-female friendships, it just feels a little strange to do here when the main characters are in male-female friendships, and along t ...more

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Oct 19, 2020 Kerstin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: manga, mlm-rep, wlw-rep, lgbtqia

Vague spoilers //

Mami is right about people having double standards when it comes to boys and girls being friends and she should say it!! I really like how this volume gave a seemingly one-dimensional and annoying character depth and a backstory. I didn't expect this at all and I'm pleasantly surprised.

Throughout the first part of this, I was sitting there thinking "Please be bi, please be bi, please be bi" RE: Futaba and Taichi. Looks like I'll have to keep doing that for at least a while.

One m ...more

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Dec 18, 2020 Evelyn rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned-manga, finished-manga-series

1. Taichi and Futaba are freakin' adorable.
2. My heart hurts soooo much for Toma and Masumi.
3. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for writing a character like Mami. I will admit, I thought she was just going to be the annoying girl who won't give up on the guy who clearly doesn't want to date her, but this character is SO much more interesting.
4. Another brilliant cliffhanger ending (view spoiler) ...more

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Jan 08, 2021 MangaEnchanted rated it really liked it · review of another edition

(4 stars)

Although I did enjoy this instalment it felt a little underwhelming compared to previous volumes.

Something I liked about this one was the fact that it challenges your thoughts on perceptions of not only how we view others but also our perception of ourselves and how sometimes that view can get lost in the opinions of others.

I’m undecided on whether or not I like certain characters as their Maori es are still somewhat questionable to me, but it will be interesting to see how the friendsh ...more

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Oct 08, 2020 mydarlingreadsbooks rated it liked it

Shelves: gn-manga-manhwa-webcomic

I can’t believe they’re dating ugh.
Ok Mami what’re your plans???
Miami always gets seen as the girl everyone wants and when she makes fiends with a guy everyone suddenly thinks she’s interested in them. She can’t just have friends who are guys.
Mami is spitting FACTS what a girl.
Yeah what is wrong with the fact that boys and girls can’t be friends and the moment that a girl acts kind to a boy and spends more time with them it’s seen as romantic interest and not just platonic.
Mami my girl you’ ...more

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Feb 05, 2021 -moonprismpower- rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Before this volume, I didn’t really like Mami. I literally thought she just a pretty mean girl put in the story to cause drama... But after reading her backstory, I realized how biased I was. Life isn’t black and white. There are no “villains”. We are all here doing the same thing... LIVING! And there’s no wrong way to live! So let’s stop being judgmental a-holes and be nice to one another...

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Nov 01, 2020 Sara rated it really liked it

Read more graphic novel reviews at www.graphiclibrary.org.

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 Yag ...more

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Dec 11, 2020 Kaitlyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I’m really glad we saw a different side to Mami and she has all my respect, absolute queen. but I do wish we saw more development from Futaba and Taichi tho, this relationship either needs to work or Toma needs to make a move!!

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Feb 20, 2021 Theresa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

5 stars for the whole series so far!!

it’s seriously so good, so wholesome!!! i can’t help but root for all the characters :’) also did not expect to like mami that much but she was great in this volume.

can’t wait to see where it goes from here

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Aug 11, 2019 Chiara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Amazing🌟

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Apr 14, 2020 Verity Moon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Such realistic portrayal of complex human emotions!

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May 26, 2020 Kurtis Burkhardt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: manga

Really good manga, Really great story and awesome art! Lovedd this👌😻😁

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Jun 10, 2020 Malin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: bookshelf

Second favourite manga series. It's perfect, period. ...more

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Jul 29, 2020 Andy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The way the themes of identity have been explored since the beginning of the series have been done with respect and maturity, something surprising but welcomed.

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