Apr 18, 2020
Ao no Flag delivered on every front from dialogue, to characters, to story... for about 40 chapters. The last quarter of the series truly feels like it was written by a completely different person. Characters get a lot more preachy and while characters would usually have something interesting to say, suddenly every sentence out of every characters’ mouth was rambling nonsense that regularly teetered on homophobia. Ao no Flag attempted to tell the story of 2 gay teenagers dealing with their objects of affection starting to date, and for a long time it succeeded. It was a clearly straight author writing not from their experiences,
...
but it meant well and never was anything harmful. Then, about 40 chapters in, something happens and suddenly every chapter became a painful exercise in misery wondering how much worse it could get. This persisted up until the final chapter, which had some bad parts but would ultimately have been a satisfying ending if it weren’t for the fact that nothing in the ending was built up to. If the series had focused on the main characters instead of trying to get the audience to sympathize with the homophobic ramblings of random teenage boys, then maybe any of the ending could have been earned. As is though, Ao no Flag goes from cogent LGBT drama to an exercise in misery that takes focus away from the feelings of anyone in the main cast, leaving a conclusion that doesn’t feel earned and at parts feels incredibly tone deaf. I can’t in good conscience recommend anyone read Ao no Flag, especially any LGBT person looking for a story that will represent them well.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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