Line #14 Anime/Flag


1	%% Image chosen via Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1559731267096665900
2	%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.
3	%%
4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flag_5.png]]
5
6	->''The camera has been watching.''
7
8	''Flag'' is a series by ''Anime/{{Gasaraki}}'' director Ryousuke Takahashi about a small central Asian country called Uddiyana and its civil war. Japanese photographer Saeko Shirasu has been sent to take pictures of the conflict and the newly formed "[[UnitedNationsIsASuperpower United Nations Forces]]" war machine's efforts to bring peace to the region. During a battle in the country's capital city, the local militia groups and the UNF drive out the insurgent groups and scale a statue in the city square to raise a modified version of the UN's flag. Saeko, attempting to get a picture of two women praying on a rooftop, catches the flag in the picture as well, and photo circulates around the world, inspiring a message of peace and unity for the warring factions, and even spurs discussions of a possible cease-fire agreement.
9
10	However, an insurgent group eventually steals the flag from its safehouse out of spite, and the UN, not wanting to look taken off-guard, forms a task force called the SDC (Special Development Command) to recover the flag and test the battle-readiness of the UNF's latest combat unit, the HAVWC (High-Agility Versatile Weapon Carrier, pronounced "havoc"). Saeko, for her part in taking a picture of the flag, is offered a chance to work with the SDC and document their progress in retrieving the flag, so that their efforts can act as an inspiration to the world and boost the image of the UNF. Over the course of the story, Saeko has several discussions with her fellow reporter and mentor, Keiichi Akagi, who offered her the Uddiyana job in the first place, interviews the various people who make up the SDC, and learns just what sort of effects the HAVWC units have on the soldiers who pilot them.
11
12	''Flag'' is a series that greatly modernizes the war story. It portrays a future where the victor of a war is no longer the country with the biggest army or the best weapons, but the country that can best control the minds of its citizens with propaganda like Saeko's flag picture. The HAVWC units are endlessly schematized and their every function is described in detail, but they only see combat on a handful of occasions. The efforts of the UNF to recover a single flag is the least implicitly "realistic" aspect of the show[[note]]Although there are [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquilifer historical]] [[http://history1800s.about.com/od/civilwar/f/Civil-War-Battle-Flags.htm precedents]][[/note]], but emphasizes the show's idea that propaganda and the ability to make people rise to action is what wins a war.
13
14	The series is also notable for being told in an incredibly distinct visual and narrative style. Everything the viewer sees is from the point of view of [[FoundFootageFilms a camera]] (though not always the same one), and still images also appear at least as frequently as animated sequences. Furthermore, the whole series is narrated by Keiichi Akagi as he plays back video footage from the various cameras seen in the series on his computer, establishing that while everything the audience sees is from the past, the future of Saeko and the SDC remains unclear. ''Flag'' is a series for those interested in a more realistic take on warfare, but that still contains the somewhat fantastic ideals of a war effort to recover a piece of cloth and deadly giant robots in the desert.
15
16	----
17	!!This anime provides examples of:
18
19	* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The HAVWC units are done in CG, but do a reasonably good job of blending in with the environment.
20	* ArtShift: The animated sequences and photos look quite different. Furthermore, the photos of the war and the photos of Saeko in her childhood as well as from certain scenes in Japan look like they shouldn't even belong in the same ''universe''.
21	* BadassBystander: Saeko has her moment when she heads out into the battlefield to get pictures of mecha-to-mecha combat.
22	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Peace is achieved in Uddiyana - at least for now - and the UNF manage to get the flag back. [[EverybodyLives None of the SDC die]], and things look pretty peachy. Despite being detained by the UNF and having her pictures confiscated, rendering her entire time with SDC a ShaggyDogStory, Saeko is young and full of joie de vivre and plans to continue taking pictures. At least, until she goddamn ''[[TheHeroDies dies]]'' in a random terrorist attack at an airport on her way back to Tokyo to see her father, leaving her mentor Keiichi to piece together her story from the files she gave him.]] There is a heavier emphasis on the tragic aspects, so one could reasonably see it as a straight DownerEnding.
23	* BloodlessCarnage: Surprisingly for a series about war, there is almost no blood or gore save for a few minimal bumps or scrapes, which is especially jarring in scenes where the [=HAVWCs=] fire on insurgents with seriously powerful mounted machine guns, which would quite literally tear a person to shreds.
24	* ButNowIMustGo: Saeko tells this to the UNF at the war's end, and they decide to pay her back by [[spoiler:smuggling the highly classified photos she took over the course of the war back to her, as Eversalt claims she has earned them]].
25	* CameraAbuse: Saeko, from time to time, drops the camera, and at one point gets blown off her feet by the report of the new grenade rifle being tested on the HAVWC. As a result, the camera, and the audience, go with her.
26	* ChekhovsGun: Every photographer (rookies and veterans alike) has a digital camera, which makes transferring and copying their pictures a snap. [[spoiler:This will become very handy at the end of the series, with an assist from [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Stuffed Toy Rabbit]].]]
27	* ConspiracyTheorist: Keiichi dabbles in this following [[spoiler:Saeko's death]] and even hints that [[spoiler:The UNF may have been complicit in the attack that killed her.]] Lisa, however, [[DontSaySuchStupidThings sets him straight]].
28	* DissonantSerenity: HAVWC units are loud as hell in transit and their gatling guns are deafening. However, when Shin Ichiyanagi pilots his for the first time, all we hear in one of his flashbacks of the battle is the sound of his slow, calm breathing.
29	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Saeko dies, as a result of someone deciding to set off a bomb at the airport.]]
30	* GovernmentConspiracy: [[spoiler: It is heavily implied that the Flag was never that important, and that the ''entire operation'' was a Russo-Chinese [[ThePlan ploy]] to live test their XR-2 Longku combat mecha against the Western-made [=HAVWCs=]. It is also heavily implied that the investigative reporter who was introduced, then killed off by what was officially a stray shot from the UNF troops fighting near his hotel in Episode 2 was intentionally targeted because he was getting too close to the truth.]]
31	* HeKnowsTooMuch: Some of the IntrepidReporter characters meet bad ends which are implied to be due to this. Maybe even [[spoiler:Saeko]].
32	* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies]]
33	* HeroicBSOD: Shin and Chris have these for a short period after piloting their HAVWC units for the first time .
34	* IntrepidReporter: Keiichi more than Saeko, as Saeko claims that she wants to learn what "kind" of photographer she is.
35	* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Saeko manages this with [[spoiler:Keiichi, as the video she makes of herself, which he watches after her death, features her explaining that Keiichi's photos made her want to be a photographer]].
36	* InUniverseCamera: The audience sees what the cameras in the series itself see, no more, no less (excepting the ED). On several occasions, Saeko looks into mirrors and glass surfaces and gets her own reflection (sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally) in her pictures.
37	* JitterCam: Occasionally averted, as Saeko has shown that she can be really clumsy with her camera on some occasions, and on others hold it so rock-steady that you wouldn't believe she's not using a tripod.
38	* MultinationalTeam: The SDC. Justified in that, well, it is the UN.
39	* PhenotypeStereotype: Commander Chris Eversalt and Lisa.
40	* PropagandaPiece: InUniverse, Saeko's flag picture are used as propaganda.
41	* RealRobotGenre: The HAVWC units are very much such vehicles. They are highly maintenance-intensive and one episode (and a whole InUniverse week) is spent following the modification of one as a specialized sniper unit for a mission.
42	* SchematizedProp: Again, the HAVWC units, though the technical specs, as they appear in the show, flash by a bit too quickly to read.
43	* SpoilerOpening: The ending credits foreshadow a major plot twist, though you're unlikely to realize it until the end. [[spoiler:There's [[ReallyDeadMontage a reason]] the camera in the closing shot has a cracked lense and a huge chunk taken out of it.]]
44	* TitleDrop: The anime's title also served as the name of the first episode.
45	* TomboyishName: Chris Eversalt, the SDC's female commander.
46	* WarIsHell: One of the main themes of the entire series.

Context Anime / Flag