Blue Flag fits its category well, but it stands out because of the twist in the quadrangle.  It's a nice change, playing for all sides.  But between all the characters, you can't help but feel for them, knowing that they want someone they can't have, yet will cheer them on til the end.  As for what looks to be the main couple, they're extremely cute with a strong chemistry despite this being only the first volume.

ARC given in exchange for an honest review

Okay I must admit this is the first manga that I have ever read...

And consider me obsessed.

Blue Flag follows a boy named Taichi Ichinose who gets asked by a girl to help her catch the attention of Taichi's friend Toma. While helping her out, Taichi develops feelings towards her and thus creates a love triangle between the three of them.

I immediately fell in love with the art and all of the characters. They were all written so well and you could definitely differentiate from them all. Taichi was an awkward and shy teenage boy who could see himself reflected in Kuze Futaba (the girl he was helping to get Toma's attention). I must admit, I hated him at first for trying to change Kuze into being something she was not just to get a guy's attention, but he definitely grew on me. Same could be said for Kuze. I didn't like her at first but I liked her towards the end. She was a very cute character and her character art was just gorgeous. She seemed to be quite emotional which was probably why I disliked her to begin with. On the contrary, I immediately loved Toma from the start. He was kind, charismatic and I could definitely see the friendship between him and Ichinose.

I'm extremely looking forward to the next few books that are set to come out later this year. I'm beginning to really love this series and manga in general. I can't wait to see what happens next in the Blue Flag series!

ACTUAL RATING: 4.8 STARS

Blue Flag:Volume 1 by KAITO

4 stars

I am a sucker for these kinds of stories. Blue Flag follows Taichi who is a pretty normal guy who really has nothing going for him. There is a girl in his class named Futaba who is a bumbling mess. When he helps her one day in the library, he discovers that she is trying to gain her crush's attention. Her crush is a the cutest boy in school, Toma, who also happens to be a childhood friend of Taichi. Taichi ends up helping Futaba and a later character is introduced and a love quadrangle ensues. I am here for this manga. This is the trash I survived off of and live for. It reminded of Hot Gimmick, but not as dramatic. This one is just really cute and it has the usual tropes that make me roll my eyes, but also keep me reading. I am totally here for Blue Flag and I will be continuing this manga series. Volume 1 was a good time and I'm curious to see where the drama goes. I like all the characters and they make the story entertaining. The art work is the type of lines that I prefer and it fits the tone of the story. I definitely recommend this one!


Whimsical Writing Scale: 4

Character Scale: 3.5

Plotastic Scale: 4.5

Art Scale: 4

Cover Thoughts: I am obsessed with this cover. It's stunning.

Thank you, Netgalley and Viz Media, for providing me with a copy of this manga in exchange for an honest review.

One of the most enjoying manga I've read recently! This is a slice of life manga featuring an awkward outcast boy who is friends with the most popular boy. The art style is very enjoyable and the story is easy to get into. I can't wait to read volume two!

Received Copy via NetGalley.
I Give this one a 2/5 Star Rating.

This one wasn’t my type of Manga, I originally thought it was, but it’s not.

Blue Flag was such an enjoyable read! A great start to a new slice of life series. 
The story about a boy who agrees to help a girl his class win the affection of someone who is in love with someone else is a classic love triangle.  Yet this story feels fresh and genuine. The likeable characters, the subtle storytelling really stands out to me as someone who isn't the biggest fan of love triangles. 
The characters were so sweet and endearing. Each of their relationships with one another were complicated and engaging. The main character Taichi is kind and awkward while the girl he is trying to help overcome her own awkwardness is very cute. The other characters are also likeable and the end of this volume gives you even more reason to Invest in the outcome of their stories. 
The artwork fits the tone of the story perfectly. It is soft and cheerful but also conveys the yearning in unrequited love. 
Overall I really liked this manga and am very much excited to read what happens next. The song I chose for this is Ma Cherie by Palaye Royale 
"Time won't be enough 
To make you fall in love with me"

What a promising start to a series!  I found myself thinking about this first volume and how fond I’m becoming with the characters already. The art style was really expressive and funny. I like how it has found away to take classic tropes and make something new out of it. I’m so looking forward to continuing on with this series because that ending? I  need to know, Best Friend or Lover?

A cute manga about first love and new friendships. I really enjoyed the artstyle, and I think the story is off to a promising start.

The cliff hangar at the end of the first volume wasn't as shocking as I thought it'd be, since small hints had been dropped through out, but I appreciate where the manga's going.
I'm intrigued to see where the characters will go from here and how Ichinose will continue to grow as a person.

Rating: 4/5 ⭐


Thank you to Netgalley and VIZ Media for providing the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to VIZ Media, NetGalley, and KAITO for the opportunity to read "Blue Flag Volume One" in exchange for an honest review.

My favorite part about this manga, by far, is the variety of hilarious facial expressions.

From the book blurb: "When Taichi’s classmate Futaba asks him to help her confess to his best friend, Toma, it sparks the catalyst that begins the sweet and heart-wrenching journey of their third and final year of high school."

While that sentence sums up the gist of the manga decently well, it's a bit more complicated than that. Taichi finds out Futaba likes his best friend from grade school, Toma, and offers to help her connect with him. It's not that simple, though, because Futaba is the exact opposite of Toma's interests in both physical and personality traits.

And of course, about halfway through volume one, the reader is introduced to the character that is Futaba's opposite. While Taichi tries to hook up Toma and Futaba, he starts to realize he might just be growing feelings for her. But what's more, does the girl Toma likes have a crush on Taichi? What a mess!

An enjoyable first volume with the usual high school drama, though the twist is a love quadrangle as opposed to a love triangle. How is this going to turn out?!

I really enjoyed this one. I thought it was funny at time and I can't wait to read more. Will definitely get a finished copy when it's out.

It's a lot of fun but a bit haphazard & confusing in places. That said, I know my middle school students will like it (shojo manga), & I'll be reading the next book in the series to see what happens!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I normally read manga that's more action-oriented or fantastical than school romance shoujo manga tends to be, because (to me) romance manga tends to follow the same path and involve the same cliches. I admit to being a little hesitant when I started reading this one, because it does start out with your typical cast of school-aged characters navigating typical school-aged romance cliches. I kept reading, though, because I was drawn in despite all of that. The characters end up being well-rounded, complex, and (mostly) honest with themselves and their feelings, something I miss in a lot of angst-y romance plots. 

It's hard to judge a manga series off just the first volume, but this one has a lot going for it: complex love.....polygons?, a cute, realistic art style, and a sensible, non-dramatic approach to LGBT issues in school. Highly recommend this one if you like the idea of shoujo romance without all the dramatic cliches that come with it.

Surprise 5 stars!
Throughout most of this book, I was considering giving it 4 stars.  I was enjoying myself, but I wasn't too sure where it was headed or what was really happening.  
This book follows Taichi as he reluctantly helps Futaba try to declare her feelings/ask out his friend Toma.  It's cute, but it wasn't fully a 5 star read yet.  The summary mentions a love quadrangle, which I was trying to figure out throughout this first volume.  Let me just say that it takes a turn near the very end when it turns out that some of the characters are LGBTQ+ and I absolutely need the next volume.  Loved it!

This manga is centred around a very unlikely friend group. Taichi is a recluse high school student that prefers to blend into the background than to stand out and confess the way he truly feels. When his crush Futuba asks for his help in confessing her own crush on his supposed best friend, Toma, Taichi can't say no. And so starts their adventure. 
Really adorable friendship and solid plot. I just wished there was a little more development and a little less aggression from Taichi's part. Would've also loved to see a little more interaction between Taichi and Toma, specially from when they were younger.

Beautiful and stunning. Blue Flag is the kind of manga you will read over and over again. The love story was different and interesting. I can not wait for the second volume!

This story ended up surprising me. At first I wasn't into it, especially the main girl, she was just too wimpy for me. But as the story progressed I got more interested (still dislike the tiny main girl), until BAM the ending. I did not see that happening, but I am totally here for it. Now that it is complicated central, I would definitely be interested in reading the second volume.

When I first picked up <Blue Flag> there was a lot that was making it difficult to get into the story but by the end of the first volume I would have to say I was at least mildly enjoying this stock shonen romance story. The narrative centers on a basic love triangle, or maybe it’s a love quadrangle, or perhaps even a love pentagon? While it is obvious the focus will be on a core of three high school students that need to sort out their feelings for each other, every side character that is brought into the early story seemingly adds yet another layer to the network of relationships in which everyone appears to be in love with the wrong person. I wouldn’t say the characters were boring, but the angst of the main character, the earnestness of the girl, and the bubbly optimism of the best friend felt a little too convenient. Now for some these things will be exactly what makes the reading juicy, but in general people should brace themselves for an extensive use of misunderstandings to drive the plot alongside fairly predictable character growth moments.  And in short that summarizes my take on this story – it looks like it’s going to play it close to the pre-constructed script of a romance manga, albeit with a shonen flair, and so anyone that is looking for a fresh take is unlikely to find anything too original to keep them going. Nonetheless, those already converted and looking for more in their favored genre of high school shonen romance will undoubtedly find plenty that keeps them turning pages.

As for the art, I felt it was really lacking throughout the exposition chapters. The pacing between the opening panels felt really stilted with gaps often forming as it tries to leave a little too much implied rather than shown. Similarly, each panel is incredibly sparse with next to no background art to help one feel like the world is full, and character expressions are drawn in such a small manner that they are overwhelmed by their white backgrounds. Further on that, character designs struck me as a confusing mixture of different series all hobbled together rather than having its own unique look – the main character strongly reminded me of Deku from <My Hero Academia>, his cadre of loser friends appeared to be borrowed from Inio Asano’s <Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction>, the best friend looks like every hunky high school boy drawn in a manga ever, and the main girl looks to be so faintly and uncertainly drawn as to be an afterthought. Still, I could see how some will see this as helping to powerfully convey the personality types of each character, and even being a bit original in not having a singular “look.” For me it just made it hard to see how everyone fit together as part of the same story.

In summary, the art just barely keeps the story afloat, and the story barely recommends itself beyond tried and true tropes. Judging this series on its opening volume, it leaves little to recommend itself if you didn’t already find the cover art or the back page description enough to make you want to throw yourself full on into it. For those that did find that enough, I think they’ll find about what they were expecting.

I was not able to access this title and therefore I do not have a review. I was not able to access this title and therefore I do not have a review. I was not able to access this title and therefore I do not have a review.

This series has great potential. I really like the characters and the LGBTQ diversity so far (I won’t go into detail because spoilers). The art is also pleasant to look at. I just hope this series doesn’t break my heart. Thanks NetGalley for the eARC.

I'm not sure why I requested BLUE FLAG, VOLUME 1. I have nothing against manga, though my taste runs more toward CRYING FREEMAN and SANCTUARY than most of what I've seen published. Maybe it's because I also enjoy a good soap opera, like they were in the '80s.

Readers are introduced to Taichi, Toma, and Futaba early in the story and a triangle of sorts develops. Taichi kind of likes Futaba, who likes Toma, but agrees to help her catch Toma's eye. Classic teenage soap opera stuff. Later, the triangle becomes a quadrangle when Masumi enters the story. Repeat after me: classic teenage soap opera stuff.

My biggest complaint, cliffhanger notwithstanding, is that so little actually happens, but I guess that's true of a lot of introductory chapters of a story. It's a good think, though, that I read five chapters in one sitting. If I'd read each chapter as it was originally published, I'm tempted to say I wouldn't have made it past chapter 2. As it is, I'm inclined to look for Volume 2 upon its release.

3 stars.

I received an eARC from Viz Media through Net Galley. All opinions are my own.