Blue Flag

What a fucking masterpiece. I loved it. I went through a rollercoaster of emotions because I truly thought it was a queer manga at first, and as it went on I just accepted I had gaslighted myself. Until those last 3 pages. If I told you I'm actually crying? Would you believe me? So beautiful. So fucking beautiful. Please hold at the library for the second volume come quickly.

I missed reading manga so much and I think this was a great first volume.

Dis was gooooodt!

*3.5

This I can already tell is going to be a series I can sink my teeth into. Who doesn't love the love triangle trope. Boy loves a boy who loves a girl who loves a boy, and with a twist! There's a girl in love with the girl. Teens... squishy love. Anyways. This was a real pleasure to read, not only are the characters sincere, and over the top in the expressions, of course, who wouldn't read manga for this, but the storyline - guys c'mon - it's everything.

There's this boy, who has a secret crush on this girl, who decides to help his crush get her crush. I'm probably confusing you but stick with it, it really is great.

My only hangup was the girl crush was supremely over apologetic, and sometimes to the point of annoyance but really when it came down to it, this wasn't even enough to drop a star.

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.