I'm not sure I like FLAG or not at the moment. While it's undeniably clever, it may be too clever by half. Sometimes it feels a little too like watching someone play a console mecha RPG.
FLAG is the story of a photojournalist, Saeko Shirasu, whose most famous shot of a UN flag has become a symbol for peace in wartorn Uddiyana. The flag is stolen and she is asked to document the peacekeeping unit sent to retrieve it. Obviously an anime about an embedded journalist is full of relevance to the modern world, and the plot/world is a large part of this being Ryosuke Takahashi's (VOTOMS, Gasaraki) most “real robot” show yet.
The other part that lends makes up the “real-ness” is the part that borders on being too clever. Almost every shot you see is via a camera that is actually in the “real” world of the show. From Shirasu's digital camera (complete with icons and menus), to video cameras, to webcams, there is an attempt to give it a documentary feel.
However it's not a documentary as great deal of the shots are of Shirasu trying to find a shot with her camera before taking it, rather than of someone filming events as they happen. In some way it is similiar to the POV filming used in Channel 4's The Peep Show, except as it's a camera's point of view they often use it as an excuse to do hand shots and avoid mouth animation. Also when describing some off camera event it will switch to a slide show of relevant “photos” of the event. Again, a shortcut around actual animation.
This combined with a lot uninteresting shots of computer and camera menus being scrolled through, can give it the visual style of watching someone play an RPG – lots of drudgery interspersed with occasional animated cut scenes. Albeit well animated scenes. For a cartoon the ratio of still shots to moving shots seems a little too high.
However, like I said at the start, I'm not sure whether or not I like it, as despite the shortcomings in animation and the periods of menu/stills drudgery, the story is intelligent and relevant, with a slick production. And the second episode, where the actual story proper begins, has much less drag compared to the first.