Blue Flag vol 5 by Kaito

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 Yagihara bearing her soul about how misinterpreted she’s been her whole life.

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Yagihara to this point has been an annoyance, and this volume gives a lot of insight and builds her as a three-dimensional character. Her ultimate motive is still the same as it’s always been, though, and that's to get closer to Toma.  She claims she would be fine with just being close friends with Toma before he graduates, but that remains to be seen.  Tai-Chan and Futaba's awkwardness continues into their relationship, as the two don't quite know how to be dating but still be at school.  Tai-Chan doesn't want to make his other friends jealous that he has a girlfriend, so they have to learn to balance time with friends and time with each other.  I'm slightly surprised with how quickly we got into this side of the "quadrangle" being "solve", as the relationship between Tai-Chan and Futaba seemed like the obvious one from the beginning.  I do wonder if there will be build-up later to either one of them having feelings for their same-sex best friend who currently have crushes on our leads.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

This review was made possible with a digital reader copy from the publisher through Edelweiss.

Reviews previous volumes in this series: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4

Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Realistic Fiction, Romance, LGBTQ+, Slice Of Life