The primary picture of Blue Flag’s third quantity, offered earlier than we even get to its opening chapter, is of Taichi and Touma enjoying fortunately as mates, captioned with “Collectively as kids regardless of the variations of their pursuits.” It’s a second that captures an excellent deal about Blue Flag – the manga’s veneration of the incidental, deeply particular moments that survive in reminiscence and finally form our notion of our personal life, in addition to its indifference to the superficial markers of alleged kinship or similarity that outline so many adolescent relationships. No widespread curiosity may equal the bond of shared expertise and sympathy connecting Taichi and Touma. The people who find themselves most vital to us should not essentially the people who find themselves most like ourselves – they’re those that inform and develop our understanding of each ourselves and others, securing their place amongst these dazzling incidental fragments that embody our life looking back.
After which, in fact, there may be KAITO’s meticulous, ever-purposeful paneling. The primary web page of the quantity correct demonstrates KAITO as soon as once more in fantastic kind, reveling within the particular specialties of comedian storytelling. The reveal of Touma’s damaged leg to the remainder of his classmates is offered as an amazing intrusion on actuality – the leg’s sling breaching the panel above, each creating a way of disruption within the pure order and guiding us in the direction of the main focus level of the following panel. After which there may be that large panel itself; excessive foreshortening combines with the pure traces of Touma’s physique and the angled gutter above, all meant to attract the attention in the direction of that leg in a solid, making it as inescapable and all-consuming for us as it’s for the classmates revealed beneath.
A lot is conveyed with out phrases right here, like Taichi’s silent accumulation of guilt as one customer after one other stops in with Touma, every providing their very own distinct condolences, every burdening him with their unfulfilled hopes and needs. Taichi’s forehead lowers with every unstated condemnation, watching Touma embody power and indifference for the sake of everybody else, calmly consoling his teammates and would-be girlfriend though he’s the one who’s really harm. The sequence is a microcosm of the characters’ fears – Touma boldly striding ahead into maturity, embodying maturity as he says goodbye to his childhood goals, whereas Taichi and Futaba linger by the door, Taichi too shameful and unsure to consolation his pal, Futaba too hesitant to consolation Taichi in flip.
It falls to Taichi’s outdated pal to ask Futaba for assist, providing the phrases that Taichi by no means may. How may Taichi make this example about himself, when Touma’s the one who’s struggling, Touma the one who sacrificed his final likelihood at baseball glory? In fact, we will’t really management our sense of harm at instances like this, and Taichi has completely comprehensible causes to really feel unhealthy about himself. It’s a irritating truth of life that lots of our ugliest, most uncharitable emotions about ourselves carry with them an inherent implication that we deserve to really feel this fashion, and that any efforts to hunt assist in overcoming them would solely incriminate us additional.
Happily, that’s not the way in which Touma sees it. As Taichi apologizes for his alleged crime, Touma fires again “that type of dream or no matter doesn’t evaluate to a life. Nothing is extra vital than you!” His declaration is virtually a confession, so direct that Touma himself realizes he’s overstepped each their consolation zones, as depicted via his fiercely narrowed, conviction-filled eyes widening after what he mentioned. However extra typically, Touma’s phrases reveal the huge divergence of their views on each one another and the character of a life’s journey.
Taichi sees himself as an individual of little worth, as a result of he tends to assemble worth externally, seeing others as noteworthy due to what they accomplish in athletic or scholastic arenas. Touma sees issues very otherwise – persons are “precious” in his thoughts as a result of they’re part of his life, a portion of his pleasure with goals and passions of their very own, no matter how “distinctive” these passions could also be. Touma sees in Taichi his personal hope of a cheerful future; in distinction, Taichi sees nothing in himself, as a result of he can’t respect the kindness, concern, and attraction that he exudes always, the consideration he takes with no consideration as simply “how an individual must be.”
Taichi sees an individual’s worth as outlined by exterior metrics of success, which is why he sees Touma as unreachable, and why he’s so determined to assist Futaba not be like himself. However Touma simply needs to be round individuals he loves; that is what’s most useful to him, not infantile goals of changing into a star on the mound. He has been blessed with studying early that life will not be a collection of medals to be gained – it’s a assortment of moments just like the the one which opens this quantity, and the good process of life is to make sure your recollections are well-furnished with moments equivalent to that.
Having gone too far in declaring Taichi crucial factor in his life, Touma makes an attempt to reassert normalcy by asking “we’re finest mates, proper?” This pair of panels and the area between them are devastating – Touma anxious but hopeful, determined to reclaim his most vital relationship, and Taichi mired in remorse, hating himself for having by some means preempted Touma’s treasured dream. The huge hole between these panels emphasizes the emotional distance between them, the phrase balloons of Touma’s query standing as a tentative try to bridge that hole, a ship crusing from one notion to a different. This gulf in perspective is embodied via Taichi’s remaining phrases, as he mutters that he’s “not price that a lot.” Attributable to his skewed notion of non-public worth and deeply seeded self-hatred, Taichi can not see in himself the worth that Touma sees.
The arrival of Touma’s brother Seiya gives recent alternatives for KAITO’s mastery to shine. Right here, the angled panels mix with the twisting of Seiya’s neck to evoke a way of furtive, circuitous movement as Futaba exits the scene, her anxious vitality virtually spinning Seiya in a circle as he returns to Taichi. In distinction, Seiya’s bigger kind in every of those panels conveys his robust presence and clear private confidence, as a person who takes middle stage wherever he could also be. KAITO is remarkably good at not simply conveying particular person character dynamics, but additionally articulating the aura of characters in area, the way in which sure individuals appear to both dominate their setting or wilt into the background.
And naturally, this extends to the distinctive methods characters see one another, as effectively. After a number of pages of Taichi being overwhelmed by recollections, classes, and that overwhelming sense of guilt, the filter of recollection and jumble of disorderly, carefully stacked panels offers approach to a web page of pure white, as he sees Futaba ready on the subway bench. By means of this distinction in paneling, KAITO demonstrates how an surprising sight can really clear our minds, can sprint our preoccupations and allow us to reside freely within the present second as soon as once more. Each mangaka defines their very own visible language, however one thing like “the silence of an unlimited white web page” is pretty common, whether or not it’s utilized to the isolating silence of Futaba’s anxiousness from the second quantity, or the releasing silence of this second right here.
Realizing Taichi wants a break from all of the self-hatred, Futaba invitations him out to a neighborhood park middle, solely to be taught the park is already closed. This disappointment is relayed via one other playful flourish of paneling, utilizing the bars as seen via a perspective shot to additional emphasize the failure of Futaba’s hopes for his or her outing. It matches with this manga’s normal embracing of the unvarnished actuality of interpersonal relations; nobody ever will get the “excellent alternative” to get nearer with another person, all of us simply do the very best we will with the possibilities we’re afforded. A indisputable fact that performs into Blue Flag’s bigger themes of embracing life’s alternatives, of changing into greater than a bystander in your personal life. Our possibilities to grab the day will all the time be imperfect, however we should seize them nonetheless.
When Taichi asks why Futaba selected this place, she replies that “it appears like time flows peacefully right here.” It’s an offhand comment that appears to embody the brightest hopes of Blue Flag – that these tempestuous storms of identity-finding and disgrace will move, and that the characters will finally discover a place the place they’re joyful to get up as themselves each morning, and to benefit from the time passing with out worry of lacking out on a greater life. We don’t want glory or perfection to be joyful; all we want is a spot the place time flows peacefully, the place we will fortunately be ourselves in addition to people who find themselves joyful to be beside us.
Their dialog embodies one other key ingredient of Blue Flag’s visible vocabulary: the purposeful interaction of sunshine and shadow. KAITO portrays moments of both emotional aid or fond recollection as nearly pure white, as if the recollections are shining so brightly you possibly can’t even see the darker particulars. However as Taichi falls into self-recrimination, a black miasma begins to waft throughout the panels, steadily consuming his pleasure and main him again to anxiousness and self-hatred. This distinction embodies an unlucky fact of reminiscence and self-reflection; our psychological impression of occasions is all the time filtered via our present perspective, with moments of happiness changing into all of the extra pure and exquisite looking back, whereas moments of disappointment turn into nothing however unhappy as effectively. We’re very unhealthy at appreciating the emotional complexity of our previous experiences looking back, and intensely good at coloring them totally in a single shade or one other, which makes all of it the better to then unflatteringly evaluate our present emotions to our previous glories.
Taichi’s perspective is relatably self-destructive. He doesn’t need to be pitied or fearful about, as a result of he sees himself because the perpetrator of a criminal offense towards Touma. Because of this, he lashes out towards the individuals trying to consolation him, as a result of their comforting solely makes him really feel worse about his actions. And naturally, that very act of lashing out additionally makes him really feel worse, since he appears like a nasty individual for being merciless to the individuals who care about him. He doesn’t need to be cared about proper now – he needs to be alone, struggling for his crimes in a approach that for as soon as doesn’t contain the struggling of others. Everybody making an effort to assist him is barely recreating the unique “crime,” in his thoughts – which once more, finally comes all the way down to him not seeing himself as worthy of concern.
Locked on this harmful cycle, Taichi tries his finest to shove Futaba away, however is luckily simply not excellent at being unkind. His finest efforts solely quantity to “it’s not possible so that you can like Touma and me equally,” which is clearly a lie, and a reasonably toothless problem at that. Blue Flag refuses to embrace canned misunderstandings or out-of-character explosions with a purpose to justify its drama; human beings are a lot difficult and fascinating sufficient already, if you happen to’re keen to really pay shut consideration to what makes us dream, cry, or fall in love with one another. Blue Flag’s nuance of characterization and interplay means its story can really feel anthemic with none melodrama; it’s embedded in the actual substance of imperfect human interactions, and that substance is worthy of sonorous articulation.
Refusing to be pushed away, Futaba is portrayed as the sunshine itself, drawing Taichi out of his self-hatred and even briefly bleaching his hair, in order to higher emphasize the glow she casts on the individuals round her. Dragging him from a sudden rainstorm to a close-by shelter, the 2 share an ideal second the place no phrases may suffice, and no phrases are needed. Futaba clinging to his hand as they wait out the rain, decided to point out she cares about him, now not caring if she will verbally persuade him of how she feels. One hand in one other, a second that sticks in reminiscence, right here remoted via the dearth of any background artwork behind these hand-focused panels. In a second like that, nothing else exists.
In fact, KAITO’s cautious presentation can elevate cruelty simply in addition to consolation. Our return to Touma’s perspective opens with a vicious juxtaposition, as we hear an announcer detailing the continuing drama of the legendary Koshien highschool baseball event, with a collection of panels shifting from the open sky, to the scene as considered via a tv, to Touma mendacity helplessly in his hospital mattress, his face unreadable however neck muscular tissues clenched. The development of panels is sort of a miniature reprise of Touma’s one-time dream drifting out of attain – it ought to have been him staring up from the stadium at that staggering blue sky, however as an alternative he’s imprisoned right here, not even able to strolling himself into the stadium seats. By means of these panels, the essential strategy of progressively zoomed-in establishing pictures are remodeled into an articulation of a dream destroyed.
Our leads are nonetheless struggling a disconnection of intent as Taichi arrives at Touma’s room, revealing that Touma requested that he alone come to observe the baseball sport. Taichi believes this can be a portion of his punishment – that Touma is demanding he bear witness to what Taichi stole from him, and really feel all of the extra totally the accountability and remorse he ought to be feeling for destroying Touma’s dream. Clearly, Touma would by no means suppose that approach; in all chance, he needs Taichi right here as a result of Taichi is his pillar of power, and he’s unsure he may bear to observe this sport all by himself. We are able to by no means know what we imply to one another except we attempt to really talk our emotions, and in highschool, with the dissolving certainty of childhood assembly the profound anxiousness of developing a mature self, it’s all the tougher to know what others need or imply.
To beat that disconnect, to rekindle what you as soon as held treasured whereas transferring ahead in the direction of a more moderen, happier you, is a troublesome and sometimes lonely course of. However if you happen to’re courageous, if you happen to’re sort, and if you happen to keep in mind what you care about most, it’s all the time attainable to achieve out. As Taichi stews in his emotions of guilt and remorse, determined to say the appropriate factor but unsure what that factor is perhaps, Touma reaches out as soon as extra, asking for Taichi to carry his hand via the ninth inning. He admits he’s scared, and that Taichi’s presence has all the time been his consolation in instances like this. He acknowledges he wants his finest pal now, greater than anything on this planet.
Taichi’s thoughts floods with all of the individuals he thought had each proper to evaluate and to hate him, all the explanations he invented to hate himself. However none of his companions have been like that – none of them blamed him, none of them noticed in him the disgust he felt in the direction of himself. In reality, they really tried to consolation him, similar to Futaba did. They noticed his happiness as worthy and precious, even after the errors he’d made, even regardless of the space between them. And in that second, he’s flooded with not disgrace, however gratitude – a deep, honest love for all of the individuals in his life, and a need to repay the religion and kindness they’ve instilled in him.
In that second, Taichi grows up in a small however essential approach, seeing himself not as a burden to these round him, however as a bearer of their hopes and generosity who should repay that hope in sort. He begins to see the judgment of others not as a burden or felony sentence, however as a mutual promise individuals who care make to one another. He’s profoundly grateful for his or her kindness, and now needs to turn into the type of man who can repay that kindness in flip. Whereas adolescence is continuously outlined by anxious worries of being judged or rejected by others, the shift in the direction of a assured, mature self calls for rising above such self-inflicted anxieties, realizing you’re surrounded by individuals who care about you, and committing your self to paying again that love in sort.
We then soar to Futaba’s facet of the story, and discover her equally mired within the assumptions and expectations of others, a few of these really well-founded. Whereas everybody in highschool is usually trying to determine their mature self, some individuals take a a lot crueler path than others in the direction of that time, and a few individuals frankly simply aren’t that good to others. There’s a number of real friction in these years, if you’re pressured to at the very least be acquaintances of proximity with many individuals who you wouldn’t naturally be mates with. It’s an ideal storm for destroying your sense of self-worth, and Futaba’s fears concerning being a burden to the individuals she cares about are comprehensible. It’s an excellent factor she has a pal as frank as Masumi to depend on, somebody who cares nothing for the social niceties of highschool, and all the pieces for the real happiness and success of her mates.
The 2 share an exquisite breakdown of the complexity of adolescent romantic emotions, as Masumi asks Futaba to explain how precisely she feels about Touma versus Taichi. Listening to Futaba articulate her emotions, it’s clear that she cares about each of them, however that her “love” of Touma is extra like a distant infatuation, a respect and admiration for what he embodies mixed with a transparent bodily attraction. In distinction, Futaba sees Taichi as an in depth pal and confidant, somebody she will depend on in instances of bother, somebody she typically forgets is definitely a boy. Taichi is virtually household to her already, and he or she couldn’t think about dropping that household. He’s the one who makes her really feel full – he’s the one she really loves.
For his personal half, within the wake of his revelation in the course of the Koshien sport, it’s clear that Taichi has grown up somewhat bit. The final chapter of this quantity finds him now not wallowing in his personal insecurities and self-hatred – he realizes that Touma really has it far worse, and is nonetheless holding it collectively for the individuals he cares about. And Taichi sees the power in that, and desires to turn into somebody who can ease others’ burdens like Touma, somebody who will be relied on in instances of bother. Each Futaba and Touma have been so sort to him, and he now needs to be their pillar of power in flip. In fact, he’s nonetheless Taichi; he doesn’t but understand how a lot he already performs that position, though his mates have instructed him again and again. Strive as we’d, it’s troublesome to precise simply how a lot we rely on the individuals we love.
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