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Blue Flag is a youth drama whose strong points are its very real characters, fitting art and engaging conversations. KAITO has a knack for writing extremely riveting dialogues and conversations between the characters, which lends to my point of them feeling very organic and outside standard youth drama tropes - their uncertainties feel like things high school or college students would actually worry about. Chapter 44 is a prime example of this, where the discussion really is a deconstruction of the various opinions on people’s views on LGBTQ. Since I read this amidst my college's convocation, the scenes moved me more than they normally would have and made me think a lot more about these characters in front of me trying to make sense of who they are, who do they want to be, where do they fit into society, and if they can fit the mold prepared for them? KAITO's art fits the tone of the series very well, with cute dorky expressions highlighting comedic scenes and expressions of intense emotional turmoil pulling you into contemplative scenes. I 100% recommend this manga. The other peeps in the reviews section talking about how the ending is abrupt are correct - I will agree with them but I’ll still recommend the manga just for the way it depicts the themes it tackles.
I’ve written down some thoughts on and ranted heavily about the ending + mangaka’s ending commentary, which I’ll link here in case you feel interested in seeing some incoherent ramblings after you’ve experienced the series yourself: https://tinyurl.com/blue-flag-rant
