hsjemaru

Maybe it’s about kinda the theme of the manga... having to choose between a lover or your best friend. The manga starts and ends with this question... From my viewpoint, I don’t think the whole scene was alluding to Taichi’s sexual orientation. I think Touma was surprised by Taichi’s answer “when it’s between guys and girls” because he implying that you have to make a clear choice and not everyone can be happy and altogether like Futaba is hoping and praying for. The trio’s relationship was a little more simple when they were all “just friends”. But now the distinction has to be made who is just a friend and who is more than a friend and of course someone (touma) will be left out or the third wheel...

... and because futaba is kind and also is friend’s with touma... she feels sad about it. Unfortunately not everyone is going to get their happiness but later on they figure it out in ch 53. What’s amazing in this manga is the 3 friends genuinely try to understand each other, be considerate of the other’s feelings and Sincerely wish for the other’s happiness...

First off thank you. Your reply means a ton to the me rn that's CRAVING discussions on this great great manga.

Yeah now that kinda makes sense in the context of "choosing" between a lover and a best friend. Maybe because I have never paid much attention to this bff/lover distinction (since limiting mutual feelings to these little labeled boxes may have always been what this manga is aiming to subvert in the context of sexual fluidity? idk that's a whole other beast to pin down) and rather put my focus on figuring out how the characters feel towards one another by how they interact. It still bothers me, however, how this act of Taichi "choosing" between Futaba and Touma who to be what would NOW upset her. Has he already "chosen"? As in Futaba to be his lover and Touma to be his bff at the time Touma's romantic feelings are declared? If the distinction means deciding who is the bff and who is the lover then it has been present since the fireworks festival, not just now. Touma has never been left out, he has been in the picture, as the bff, regardless of how he feels about that.

Maybe the problem itself goes right back to the question, what does it mean by "choosing" between a lover and a best friend? Maybe not simply choosing who to be what but choosing who to give your romantic feelings to. Because the best friend, Touma, weighs differently in this equation now that they've learnt that leaving him in that bff box may not necessarily makes him wholly happy. And his absolute happiness MATTERS. To them both. And this friend-turns-love-rival-but-still-friend is what conflicts Futaba.

In short, the "distinction" can be interpreted as the decision whom to fully devote your romantic feelings towards. She "feels uneasy when there's no distinction" because loving everyone the same makes no one (including her) really special, and "when there is, it's sad" because setting one apart from/loving one more than all the others saddens them, even more so when it comes to Taichi's love because Touma means more than just someone Futaba casually cares about. But she still wants it from Taichi, and that's selfish. And she feels she should do the same and hold no special feelings towards anyone other than Taichi. But she does, towards Touma, even though it's not simply just love. And she hates it, and herself.

WHEW I might have spent several paragraphs trying to restate your reply. I must be proud of my convoluted way with words and thought process.

Also, going from "When it's between guys and girls..." to "Yeah bitch you gotta choose between me and him because I don't do in-betweens/polyamory and you can expect me to follow suit and pick only one between you two." is another whole ass mood that I can forgive myself for not vibing with instantly. Still, the casual mention of genders must mean something more, I sense.

Ughh the nirvana I receive by empathising with Fujesus. Gal is a saint. We stan.

Yeah no I get it. sometimes you have to talk it out with someone and come to conclusions on your own and say things in your own way to really understand something... it confused me a little too that discussion between touma and futaba

Sexual fluidity... he/she, gender orientation is hinted at and even discussed even though not outright named by the characters. But just from taichi’s POV who has grown up heterosexual and with the social norms of men and women and boyfriend girlfriend I think that’s why he mentioned those gender terms. I think the choosing only became a problem when touma finally confessed his feelings. It really shocked taichi and it seemed to him that touma was a whole different person and because those “lines” and social norms that he knew are suddenly upside down. For ex, say I’m a straight female and have a boyfriend and if suddenly my female best friend who I thought was also straight and I’ve known for like 10+ yrs confessed, I too would be shocked like taichi and confused. But because we’ve grown up together like siblings I would be careful and considerate of her feelings... like if we were altogether hanging out, if I act loving towards my bf, would my friend be hurt because of it... I wouldn’t feel free and would worry about my friend...so maybe that’s how taichi feels? And maybe that’s what futaba was meaning when she said he hadn’t chosen yet?

I think another interesting discussion is taichi’s sexuality and when does he exactly start having feelings for touma? It seems like you feel it was already a possibility towards the end of the manga when they begin their discussion. I personally only thought it one time in ch 1 or 2? When he has that outburst talking to futaba about touma’s type but after that I never got the hint that he could have romantic feelings for him. But I wonder if any other readers also felt like you. Because while the fujoshi in me was rooting for them I was also kinda surprised that they really did end up together because the difference in ch53 to ch54 is so vast... but then again there is like almost 10yrs there that we don’t know about. Hopefully the author will make another manga about those times? *crosses fingers*

oh my god thank u to you and op for analyzing this manga even more so than I already have,, I love reading people's thoughts on certain scenes and themes

Regarding Taichi's sexual orientation, I don't know where this comes from and I guess gathering all the very subtle evidence to prove this would be rather futile but I has never taken him as heterosexual since the beginning, and the fact he never mentions, discusses, or outright rejects his, or anyone else's, sexual deviation from "the norm" until the it has happened to him does not help either. (A plot device of an openly homosexual classmate here before Touma’s confession would be extremely interesting and helpful in learning Taichi’s views on the subject, but that wouldn’t be very Kaito-subtle I guess.) One can argue that he is heteronormative, period. That, however, does not negate them feelings he has towards the same sex, Touma specifically, but I guess he, like most of us, never actually sits down and shapes them out into very clear labels to fully understand them, not until even after the beach confession.*

*very opinionated rant starts
That “In the end, I like being with you” is a very muddled love confession, particularly in the context of him “choosing” to keep both of them instead of only one (character growth anyone?) while being aware of both of their feelings; the fact that it comes after his coming clean about the upsetting jealousy that he has sorted out to be not towards Touma himself but his friends; there’s also the decision of letting us hear it straight from him, not obstructed by any fireworks or parallel conversations or phone indirectness (sorry Futaba); many things both obvious and subtle, some straight up objective, work against his distinction of what it means to be a lover and a best friend to the point of rendering it useless, but he still opts to use the “as my best friend” at the time, i.e. our boy has further homework to get done. Also funny thing is something about Touma’s expressions after hearing all that gibberish tells me he knows what is going on and how this would go, and his composure afterwards during the “staying friends” part is almost his victory lap, albeit fair or not. /opinionated rant end

And as I mentioned, it’s hard, but since you asked, I will find myself struggling in my ted talk proving Taichi’s homosexual inclinations. Let’s do bullet points:

- He has multiple, several, copious times acknowledged Touma’s attractiveness, sometimes outloud. Thinking that Touma is attractive enough that people don’t need common ground to fall for him right in the first chap; shamelessly fangirling over Touma’s sport achievements to point of saying he’s falling for him, “Don’t think your handsome smile is going to make me forgive you.”, “Touma is amazing” during the double movie date, etc. This never goes beyond loyal acknowledgement until the haunted house scene where one single goddamn panel (*bows to Kaito*) signals physical/sexual awakening.

- His jealousy complex towards Touma. We are often presented that Touma is the root of Taichi’s insecurities and confidence issues, but the nature of it is questionable. No matter how much Taichi thinks Touma is superior to him in every aspect, he has never once explicitly entertained that he wants to be Touma, which is interesting to think about and unlike what’s going on between Futaba and Touma. I always got vibes of Taichi feeling that he is inadequate for Touma (chap 2 pg 16). He thinks that Touma does not need him, and that upsets Taichi to point of distancing himself (chap 10 pg 18.) In addition, Taichi is conscious that his animosity is unfair and blames himself for it (chap 15 pg 7-9.) And introducing a love interest surely does not help make it any simpler (chap 16) but let’s leave that for another day since it’s convenient now to.
It plays a bit into biology but Taichi is essentially displaying every expected reaction to flocking together with a bird of a different feather, in this case, a better one. And while it is typically easier on oneself to try to undermine someone better and feign apathy like Yorkie based on his reaction to Touma’s ordeal, Taichi does know Touma at least for long enough, from way back when they were both ducklings, to empathise with him and his sufferings. Now, what other typical courses does meddling with established attractiveness take? There’s envy. There’s admiration. And then there’s love. The former two are of the same shape: “I want to be you.” The latter two are especially interesting because the line between “I want to be you” and “I want to bang you” is remarkably thin. And it gets thinner when the person of interest shares many traits that you can compare yours to. That is not to say that everyone would openly act on it of course; social contructs can act to limit it, and gender along with gender roles is one of them; but it’s there, it’s latent, and it’s only one choice away *winks* from driving you to feel and do things. And if becoming closer to that attractiveness, platonically or sexually, is such a natural human desire, imagine what it would do to you if you are made to feel by society or the person themselves, deliberately or not, that you do not deserve it. And how you would react. And what Taichi did.
I don’t think I did a very good job at unravelling this point and might have contradicted myself here and there but take what you can.

- The birthday gift scene. I ran out of words but you were exalted by the madeleines conceived by Touma and made by Futaba weren’t you Taitai? What exactly were you happy about?

- And the sparkles, the plethora of shoujo sparkles that engulf Touma. my. god.

Edit: chap 1 pg 16. NOT chap 2 pg 16.

oh I took the madeleines scene (where taichi is like blushing and saying "no no it made me happy") to mean something more like "thank you, best friend, for being able to make my dream come true through futaba giving me these" BUT NO I TOTALLY SEE IT IN THE OTHER WAY TOO in fact at first I thought taichi was even happier BECAUSE it was touma who told futaba to make them. not sure if any of that made sense but yeah that scene just made me HRJFNFK

https://hoshisukabiru.tumblr.com/post/620275668085768192/ao-no-flag-vol-8-extras-raws-hungrybearstuff

the aftermath you see...
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"That face won't help you now." Like when will you stop Taichi?

OH MY GOODNESS IVE NEVER SEEN THESE THANK YOU,, and yeah ok maybe taichi WAS happy touma was the one who suggested futaba make the madeleines for him