|
|
||||||||||
| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buy | 10 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 10 |
 Ggultra2764
|
[series:1369#1552] |
|
Being a fictional documentary of sorts in depicting hostile tensions between terrorist factions and the UN military to try establishing a peace treaty in a small country, Flag did enough to impress me in its 13 episode run. It offers a unique and original narrative style by showing pictures and the point-of-view from the video cameras of two photo-journalists as they cover the mounting tensions of a terrorist faction's plot to hijack a peace treaty signing and try driving their country into civil war from stealing a flag that was symbolic of the desire that many of the people in the country have in wanting peace. The series splits its exploration between Saeko accompanying a special forces squad of the UN military tasked with retrieving the flag and her older partner, Keiichi Akagi, exploring political and military activity with the situation as the UN attempts to cover up any information about the flag being stolen and an influential religious figure in Uddiyana having indifference over the peace treaty affairs because of his radical religious beliefs. There are two central elements to Flag that the series focuses on throughout its run: the tensions between UN and terrorist forces, plus the fleshing out of the bonds that Saeko establishes with the special forces unit that she is allowed to accompany during their mission. Flag does a believable job in depicting realistic political tensions that escalate. Through information gathered by Akagi and what we see from his video camera, we come to learn of the strong religious influence that bears upon the land of Uddiyana, especially among what is revealed of the more radical element of the country's religion that is strongly followed by the terrorists and Uddiyana's religious leader. The UN military is depicted to be well aware of the fragile tensions between factions in the country as any wrong move could cause chaos and doing what they can to hide any information related to the theft of the flag to save their hides, even if it infringes upon the personal rights and beliefs of individuals who have close ties to the conflict which show some elements of military corruption. Yet despite both the UN and religious element to Uddiyana having their shady sides, Flag also depicts those among these elements having their peaceful and righteous purposes for their actions as shown through Saeko's video camera footage of the special forces unit and her encounters with some of Uddiyana's local residents. Saeko's perspective of events allows her to connect with members of the special forces unit she accompanies who are shown to behave no differently than a civilian as their desire to resolve Uddiyana's crisis comes across as genuine and are willing to do what they can to accomplish their mission. She also experiences the opportunity to connect with some of the Uddiyana natives in their everyday routines, particularly an encounter she has in a later episode with a group of nomads which she spends an evening with them to experience their lifestyle. The visual presentation to Flag is an impressive one sporting highly-detailed shots of various Uddiyana locations such as mountains, small towns and religious monasteries. Character designs are created to look as realistic as possible, especially with facial designs as they stand out quite a bit from conventional titles. The CG-rendered mechas used by the special forces unit during their missions mesh in well with the regular animation found throughout this series. Animation is efficiently used in believably showing the perspectives of camera shots from the video cameras of Saeko and Akagi, as well as through military mecha and helicopters. Focus on video camera shots from the two photo-journalists are shown to degrade in quality and movements are erratic at points as they move about and react to the intense situations they see unfold in covering their news reports. Shots from mecha and helicopter camera are shown in infra-red and night vision when they are used in action. Battle scenes aren't Flag's prominent focus as whatever camera shots we see of conflicts between UN and terrorist factions are there to get the job done in depicting the events unfold, yet are nothing too impressive to see. Music also tends to be quite minimal for this series to give it its realistic feel thus the only notable music tracks of note for it are the solid OP/ ED tracks chosen. Despite Flag's impressive visual presentation and original premise, it can be an acquired taste for a good number of anime fans. Those expecting slick action scenes because of the focus on military/ terrorist conflicts and mecha will be disappointed to know that they aren't this show's strongest focus, as well as also being possibly turned off from the video camera POV shots that are a regular part of this series. In addition, the series isn't too character-focused as we don't get much in the way of depth with the major characters encountered throughout Flag as the prominent focus of the series lies on the special forces unit mission to retrieve the flag and uncovering the hostile tensions with UN military and terrorist factions escalating towards the deadline of the peace treaty to be signed. Those who enjoy more character-driven titles would likely not get much interest out of this series as well. However if you are genuinely looking for a unique and original premise for an anime title, Flag would be your title of choice. With its unique narrative style from the POV of video cameras and exploration into shaky military/ political affairs in a strongly religious country, this is a definitely keeper for those wanting something unconventional to see with their anime titles. Last updated Wednesday, October 12 2011. Created Wednesday, October 12 2011. | ||||||||
| Rent | 8 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
 KBanger1
|
[series:1369#1694] |
|
Flag is a very unique series. It takes the point of view of two of the main characters. It's like a first-person narrative story seen through the eyes of both characters almost at the same time. Just in different places. The story goes is that a rookie photographer (Shirasu) has been given an opportunity by rhe UN to document everything she sees during some type of war. She was also assigned to a special task force to document their daily lives as well. Things go awry later on and the rest is history. It's has documentary feel to it since actual interaction is done behind the eyes of the character. You have Shirasu who's with the UN and recording what she sees and the other main character, Akagi, who is her mentor. His point of view is from the civilian front line. He mostly narrates in the series like he was retelling a story in which he is. I can't discuss more than that because I don't want to spoil it all. The art and animation are really good. Not exactly stunning, but still makes the series surreal. There is mecha involved which makes it interesting. It reminds me of the game MechWarrior because of the mechs they use. It's slightly modified but it looks plausible. What got my attention was the way the it was presented. At first I was a bit confused and thought that it would go back to a normal but realized that was the intent of the whole thing. Overall, it's a good series and not too hard to follow. It certainly is a unique way to present an anime. That's the pro. The con: this may not appeal to anyone looking for a good mecha series. It really doesn't provide a lot of action. It's more dramatic (and a bit tragic) than action. Still, it's worth renting if you want a change of pace. Last updated Sunday, April 05 2009. Created Sunday, April 05 2009. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
|
[series:1369#628] | ||||||
|
I watched one episode of this show, found it to be lacking something, and quit downloading fansubs. I hear it has been R1 licensed by Bandai.
Last updated Monday, April 23 2007. Created Monday, April 23 2007. | ||||||||
| Rent |
 Jan-Chan
|
[series:1369#967] | ||||||
|
Actually it is a RENT+, but that is only because I liked this series. It originally came out in 2006/07 and was made available as an English-sub, but on a very spotty and irregular basis. And then it was R1-licensed by Bandai - who sat on it for quite a while and they finally released it in 2008. Well, this series did win the 2008 AnimeReactor's Jury's Pick for Best Drama Anime. So, it has something special to it. If you are into Mecha and war anime with dramatic overtones, then this might be something for you. For a bit more info - see Wikipedia entry - Flag (anime) Last updated Sunday, April 05 2009. Created Thursday, August 10 2006. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
|---|---|
| Official Japanese Series Web Site | http://www.flag20xx.net/ |
