##[FLAG (2006)](http://i.imgur.com/c6i9tWe.png) Rewatch Interest Thread (real world, military, mecha)

In the Himalayan county of Uddiyana, which is definitely not Nepal, belligerents in the country's long-running civil war have tentatively agreed to a cease fire, inspired by a chance photograph combining a UN flag, national slogan, and one of the country's religious leaders in a single image. The UN considers their intervention a success, and, although fighting continues, the country's people are hopeful that a peaceful future is at hand.

That is, until the flag is stolen by an insurgent group before the cease-fire ceremony can take place. Without this single unifying symbol, many fear the cease-fire is already dead. The theft is kept secret, and the UN hopes to recover it before the ceremony.

Sensing the potential for another PR victory, the UN embeds the photographer of the famous image into the covert unit tasked with the mission, recording the presumably successful operation from start to finish. This is that story, a documentary in thirteen parts.

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FLAG is one of the more experimental, and legitimately underwatched mecha shows ever to come out of Japan.

Imagine a world where the US embeds a reporter with the 415th TFS in 1991 to tell the story of the first large-scale deployment of the only-recently-declassified F-117 Nighthawk in Operation Desert Storm. With permission, she would take photos and interview personnel involved at every level. Combined with recorded combat footage from, for example the FLIR and DLIR cameras, and footage taken from others in and around Baghdad itself, the materials for a detailed inside look at the first days of the air war of Iraq are placed on the editor's table.


This is FLAG. One of the most unusual experiments in anime ever attempted, created and co-directed by legendary mecha creator Ryosuke Takahashi (VOTOMS, Vifam, Dougram, Gasaraki, Blue Gender). Gone are the hero mecha and broody protagonists. Nobody steals a robot and yells at his opponent in the other robot. Forget about the rules of cinematic camera placement. **The POV character is the camera,** with voice-over narration and commentary by Unsho Ishizuka (Sergei from Gundam 00), as he assembles the various media into a coherent, chronological narrative. FLAG is a two-handed tale: we have the perspective of the UN unit with their reconfigurable armored fighting vehicle, and also the views of the foreign press in the Uddiyana capital as the peace process advances, unknown to all to be on a knife's edge.

FLAG was also an experiment in digital distribution. It is, perhaps, the first so-called ONA, original network animation, that was multiple full-length episodes. Fansub releases were spotty, no doubt not helped by this new distribution mechanism. It's also possible the handful of fansub groups that had picked up the series dropped it after Bandai announced it had licensed FLAG to itself. In any event, I never had more than six episodes, and I'm sure other people had just as much trouble. There was, eventually, a DVD release, which was subject to a *recall,* so that didn't help either. Bandai Entertainment quit the international DVD business in 2012, leaving FLAG an orphaned property.

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Number of episodes: 13 (25 minutes per episode)

Proposed schedule:

I need to keep the back end of February clear, so I am thinking about Feb 1–14. Perhaps I will compromise between posting times and go for 2:30 PM PST (UTC-8).

Links:

* [MAL](https://myanimelist.net/anime/1299/Flag)
* [ANN](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6617)
* [Anilist](https://anilist.co/anime/1299/FLAG)
* [WT! by](/comments/5cmxlm/wt_flag_interesting_visual_design_and_realistic/) /u/babydave371
* [WT! by](/comments/47i0fv/wt_flag_war_journalism_as_seen_through_a_camera/) [deleted]

Streams:

[](#yousaidsomethingdumb)

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