Blue Flag (manga)

Blue Flag (Japanese: 青のフラッグ, Hepburn: Ao no Furaggu) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kaito. It was serialized on the Shōnen Jump+ manga website from February 2017 to April 2020.

Blue Flag
First volume cover
青のフラッグ (Ao no Furaggu)
Genre	Drama[1] Romance[2] Slice of life[3]
Manga
Written by	Kaito
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	NA: Viz Media
Imprint	Jump Comics+
Magazine	Shōnen Jump+
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	February 1, 2017 – April 8, 2020
Volumes	8 (List of volumes)

Publication

The series is written and illustrated by Kaito. It started serialization on the Shōnen Jump+ manga website on February 1, 2017,^[2] and ended on April 8, 2020.^[4] It has been published in eight tankōbon volumes.^[5]

At Anime Expo 2019, Viz Media announced they licensed the series in English.^[6] Manga Plus also published the series in English.^[7] It is also licensed in French by Kurokawa,^[8] in German by Carlsen Verlag,^[9] in Italian and Portuguese by Panini Comics,^[10] and in Spanish by Editorial Ivrea.^[11]

Volumes

No.	Original release date	Original ISBN	English release date	English ISBN
1	April 4, 2017[12]	978-4-08-881045-4	April 21, 2020[13]	978-1-97-471301-1
2	August 4, 2017[14]	978-4-08-881145-1	June 16, 2020[15]	978-1-97-471302-8
3	December 4, 2017[16]	978-4-08-881308-0	August 18, 2020[17]	978-1-97-471303-5
4	May 5, 2018[18]	978-4-08-881485-8	October 20, 2020[19]	978-1-97-471304-2
5	September 4, 2018[20]	978-4-08-881580-0	December 15, 2020[21]	978-1-97-471305-9
6	April 4, 2019[22]	978-4-08-881769-9	February 16, 2021[23]	978-1-97-471306-6
7	December 4, 2019[24]	978-4-08-882163-4	April 20, 2021[25]	978-1-97-471875-7
8	June 4, 2020[5]	978-4-08-882365-2	June 15, 2021[26]	978-1-97-472094-1

Reception

In 2017, the series was ranked third at the 3rd Next Manga Awards in the web category.^[27] The series was a finalist for the 2020 Los Angeles Times book prize in the graphic novels category.^[28] The Young Adult Library Services Association listed the series in the top ten in their 2021 list of the 126 best graphic novels for teenagers.^[29]

Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network gave the first four volumes an A−, praising it for the art, characters, and story, while criticizing it because sometimes some characters can feel overly abusive or shy.^[30] Melina Dargis from The Fandom Post gave the series heavy praise for its story and characters, saying it was the best high-school slice-of-life manga of the year by far.^[3] Like Silverman and Dargis, Demezela from Anime UK News praised the story, artwork, and characters, ultimately rating the first volume a nine out of ten.^[31]

See also

• Cross Manage, another manga series by the same author