Spring 2014 – Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara

So our main character Souta sees flags. Not the country flags, but ‘flags’. As in things like death flags, like how he was able to prevent deaths from a vehicular accident by shattering the I’m-gonna-propose-to-my-girlfriend death flag some random dude raised. So it’s kind of like an ability to see the future and such.

But he’s emo. He claims that his ability leads the people around him to misfortune. That’s why he’s kind of shut himself away from other people, doing the bare minimum to fix the flags of those directly around him, and doing just enough to prevent people from forming relationships with him.

But it just so happens that in his new school, a certain pushy wannabe-detective observes his behavior and gets wind of his ability…

and a certain pushy rich girl with messianic complex decides to take his case…

And this is pretty much what the doctor ordered for Souta: Pushy girls to break his walls. And hence, the situation for our harem.

But here’s the problem: the show does a lousy job of being consistent with its premise. It tries to set up Souta as a walled-off character with emotional trauma who pushes people away, but doesn’t really follow this up with his behavior patterns. He quickly folds and admits his ‘flags’ to the detective wannabe instead of outright lying. He succumbs to the rich girl’s adamant friendliness instead of just ignoring her. I mean, if he’s that jaded and emo about it, he should be a lot gloomier and / or cynical about life. It just looks like he’s an ordinary guy with a fake tragic premise tagged unto him.

And man, that I’ll-save-you-by-turning-the-death-flag-to-a-romance-flag development felt weird. I’m guessing that’s gonna be how future developments with the other, uhm, 10 girls will be (TWGOK anyone?). Man, those are a lot of girls.

As it stands, the show’s premise has potential for plot, but the show itself quickly settles for the standard harem route. I’d take Iris Zero over this any time of the day.

Rating: 3.5/10

P.S.: For some reason, Souta always brings the newspaper that featured his tragic accident from the past.