Blue Flag Does Many Subtle Things Remarkably Well, But One Of My Favorite Is That Taichi Is A Pretty

Blue flag does many subtle things remarkably well, but one of my favorite is that Taichi is a pretty average looking protagonist, but every once in a while the camera/POV switches to the perspective of someone who's in love with him and suddenly he's gorgeous. Nothing about him changes- he's drawn with the exact same features as always- but it's instantly obvious why they love him. We see him through their eyes instead of through Taichi's own, and he becomes the most beautiful person in the world and he doesn't even realize it.

Taichi looks up at Touma with doe eyes and food stuck to his face and suddenly he's heart achingly cute. He gives a full body laugh and it's so rare and genuine that Futaba/we through Futaba's eyes stare in lovestruck awe.

It's just. It's so subtle and deftly conveys so, so much without uttering a single word. But it also strengthens the fact that the camera POV is tied to the characters. So when Taichi/the default POV does the same to the others, every time it oogles Touma or makes Futaba glow, that's Taichi. That's his feelings, his love, his attraction that he doesn't even realize he's feeling yet. And you reach that final reveal in the final pages of the story and then you go back to the beginning and you the reader have the fanfic oh. moment. Because it's been there all along.