You know, I’m think I’m going to miss having Flag on my watching list after it being perched there for nearly half a year.

Joking aside, the reason for the curiosity of a thirteen-episode anime taking me this long to watch perfectly encapsulates my feelings toward Flag, feelings that make this review an absolute pain to write:

Meh

Not “eh,” denoting iffiness, but “meh,” denoting pure indifference.

Flag follows Saeko Shirasu, a 25-year old photojournalist. In the war-torn country of Uddiyana, she takes a picture of a woman praying behind a UN flag that’s being hoisted up. The picture propels both the flag and Shirasu into notoriety, with the flag now being seen as a symbol of peace to the Uddiyanans. Uddiyana looks like it’s on the pathway to peace until the flag is suddenly stolen by an insurgent group. A covert UN unit, SDC, is tasked with retrieving the flag. They’re joined by Shirasu who is offered the right to take pictures of the group. Detailing the daily life of Uddiyana during this time is Keiichi Akagi, Shirasu’s mentor.

The most noteworthy thing about Flag is its perspective. The series is shown completely in a first-person point-of-view, contrasting with the third-person point-of-view of not only most anime, but most visual media as a whole. This POV is achieved via the two main characters’ profession: photography. Flag is shown via still photographs, videos, and the process of lining up a camera for a shot. Nearly everything you see is through the literal lens of Akagi and Shirasu. This gives Flag a very distinct look that sets it apart from other anime. It’s an odd feeling hardly ever getting to see the main characters, and it borders on unsettling that we just hear their disembodied voices, simply due to how used to the third-person POV we are. The POV is the reason I became interested in the anime, and what can I say, it delivered. The point-of-view itself proved compelling just due to how unique it was. Medium shots with characters seeming to be talking to you, yes you, the audience. It’s really just a treat to see because it shows a new way to show a story.

The art style is realistic in gritty; fitting for an anime that the viewer seems to be a part of: both the POV and what we see through the POV lend the anime a sense of realism, like the events of the show could actually happen. Maybe it’s just my bias since I tend to prefer more realistic character designs (in terms of eyes and proportions), but I think the art style really helps set the anime apart.

The show remains realistic despite the presence of mecha elements. The show features bipedal war robots, but they’re less powerful and more realistic-looking than the likes of Gundam or Metal Gears. These things feel like they could actually exist and I enjoy the care that was made to make them feel an organic part of the world. They’re CGI, but perhaps to the art style, it doesn’t look bad.

So, the POV’s good, the art’s good, the music’s fine, so why am I so unmoved regarding the anime?

I can’t exactly put my finger on why I found the anime so boring and that’s exactly what you don’t want in a review, where your job is to put your finger on something, describing precisely how it made you feel.

Maybe it was the characters. They seemed kind of generic and not very compelling. Sure, some had clear goals such as proving that you can make it when coming from a war-torn country, but I still feel like we don’t really know the characters that well, and if we do, I just couldn’t muster a care about them.

Maybe it was how neatly everything wrapped up at the end of each episode - no cliffhangers, no lingering questions. While the stakes were high, that urgency isn’t conveyed in the day-to-day lives of the characters themselves. Most times, the show felt like a glorified tour of the base, showing the lives of the characters. While there’s nothing wrong with this and could lend itself to being like a documentary, it didn’t feel like an informed documentary, it felt like a slice-of-life or someone gathering material for a documentary.

Maybe it’s the same realism and subduedness that I somewhat commended earlier. Maybe the likes of Gundam and Metal Gear Solid have spoiled me, both which offer more gripping mecha action and “war is hell” sentiments. Maybe I just need flashiness in my anime, the mecha in the show were really underutilized and more overt instances of war being horrible might have made this show more captivating to me.

Maybe it’s the ending, which is so much of a downer that I can’t help but feel a bit bitter. The only impact the anime has is via the ending, and it’s certainly not a good impact, I just leave feeling like the entire anime is pointless. And if I’m being honest, I’m sure I only care because I just watched it.

While I’d say come for the unique POV, I can’t say it justifies slogging through twelve-episodes. It’s very flippant when I’m sure more care was put into Flag than the likes of Shield Hero, but I came out of Flag, feeling like I just witnessed a gimmick, a one-trick pony. And after I’m used to the fancy bells and whistles, there’s nothing left for me. Flag certainly isn’t a bad show, I still don’t know exactly what went wrong. But for whatever reason, it’s a boring show, and at the end of the day, what’s the difference?

Here’s to hoping I don’t have to write another review that’s this unsure.

6/10

D-

(Probably the only thing keeping this from a lower score is Jamieson Price’s (Akagi) silky smooth voice)