You can find out what happens next!
Could it be→Flag-chan?!
Overview
Originally used as a computer programming term to indicate a variable for conditional branching, analogous to the branching of the direction of travel using the international signal flag system (a series of universal flags used for communication among ships at sea, with various meanings).
Often used in its verb form, "fla****g". Its use as "flag" could be said to be a notational quirk, giving the word a different meaning.
Flags in programming
A kind of variable, used when you want branch processing based on whether or not an event is occurring or has an attribute.
Since there are only two ways to do this: with or without a flag, the data size only needs to be 1 bit per flag.
Flag as a slang term
Refers to a situation in which an event implies a subsequent event.
Since flags are only expressed from a meta perspective, there is often no causal or correlation between an event and subsequent events. For example, the line "Once this war is over, we're getting married" is a typical example of a death flag, but there is no causal relationship between this statement and death. When there is a relationship, it is often referred to as foreshadowing.
In computer games, flags are used to branch the development, and the term "flag" has come into common usage, especially via otome games.
The types include death flag, survival flag, loss flag, and many others, but when a game is tagged simply with "flag", it indicates not only that but also the beginning of a romance flag.
Semantically, it is similar to "foreshadowing".
Thinking “because A happened, B is sure to follow,” is a cliched trope, because one can somewhat predict what will happen next. ...But that's okay.
When people say "that's a flag" or "I got a flag" in daily conversation, either in the real world or online, they are almost always referring to a death flag (and also to failure, defeat, and other equivalent meanings).
However, the meaning of a flag in program terminology differs from that of a flag derived from the program terminology and used in general. The former is set to 0 or 1 at the moment an event occurs, while the latter is expressed as "flagged" when an event is about to occur. Therefore, the flag is raised before the event occurs. The flag may be 0.1, 0.5, or in accordance with quantum mechanics, 0 and 1 may overlap.
Of course, there are no such concepts as "strong flags" or "weak flags" in the programming terminology of flags.
List of Flag Tags
This is a list of things containing the word "flag" that may exist in the Pixiv Encyclopedia. Incidentally, some of these are currently blanked out, but they are listed in this section to prevent duplicate entries. Note that so-called flag actions and situations are not included here.
Flag-related
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| Death Flag | The description or direction of a death scene that is performed as a preliminary step to accentuate the tragedy of the death scene or to amplify the exhilaration of a scene in which the enemy is defeated. The term "flag" often refers to this. Antonym → Survival Flag |
| Obvious Death Flag | The character is flagged for death in an easy-to-understand manner. |
| Walking Death Flag | There are two types: Everyone Around Me Drops Like Flies and one in which the character themselves dies. |
| Survival Flag | A flag that, if left raised, increases the probability of being saved in the event of a death threat. Antonym → Death Flag |
| Victory Flag | An action or behavior that would make people say, "If I do this, I'll usually win.” Antonym → Loss Flag |
| Loss Flag, Defeat Flag | An action or behavior that would make people say, "If you do this, you will usually lose". Antonyms → victory flag |
| Payback Flag | A tag that is applied to illustrations of attempts to attack an opponent who can only be expected to return the favor in a counterattack. |
| Romance Flag | A flag that indicates the beginning of love, such as falling in love or saying or doing something that makes the other person fall in love with you. |
| Failure Flag | A flag that results in failure depending on what you say or do. |
| Rape Flag | The beginning of the countdown toward a sex crime. For some reason, aimed more toward those lewd tastes (18+ Only) |
| Bedwetting Flag | Flag announcing that bedwetting is about to take place. |
| Fat Flag | A Death flag for dieting and weight loss. |
| Carnage Flag | A tag that is attached to illustrations where a Carnage flag is erected. |
| Flag Established | A flag that is easy to break once established. |
| Flag Rampant | Illustrations tagged mainly with many Death Flags. |
| Flag Recovery | To use a flag that has been raised in the past. |
Crusher, Breaker Related
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| Flag Crusher, Flag Breaker, Flag Break | To break a flag. |
| First Class Flag Architect | This mainly refers to someone who sets up a love flag and when they realize it, everyone around them is shot down (meaning flagged in this case). |
| Death Flag Crusher | A person who breaks the Death Flag. |
| Depression Flag Crasher | Also Depression Flag Breaker. The character is -> Depression Crushers |
| Way to Snipe a Flag Crusher | A method of shooting down someone who is a Flag Crusher. |
Work or Character-related
| Tags | Description |
|---|---|
| Roaring Flag, Demolition Flag | Used mainly as a death flag concerning the ship girls from Kantai Collection. |
| Super High School Class Flag Architect | Refers to the main character of Danganronpa, who is an incredible Flag Craftsman. |
| Flag Crusher Rinnosuke | The way Romance Flag Crusher Rinnosuke Morichika breaks romance flags in Touhou Project. |
| If Her Flag Breaks | A light novel work that has been adapted into a comic book and an anime. |
| Crow has no proper flags | The lack of romantic flags for Crow Hogan, a character in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. |
| Kaimuraru Flag | A character in Prisoner and Paper Plane. |
| My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! | A work from the novel submission site Shosetsu-ka-ni Narou. It has been made into a book and a game. |
| Cirno Death Flag | Tag attached to illustrations of Cirno in Touhou project in which there is a possibility that Cirno will die. |
| Boss Group Death Flag | Tag given to illustrations in Gag Manga Days in which the Bosses (Taishi, Basho, and Enma) are mainly likely to be killed soon after. |
| ‘Murasaki’s gonna make things awkward’ | This tag is applied to any feel-good work with a situation in which Murasaki gets the wrong idea and you can imagine what she’ll do and say next. |
Related Illustrations
Related items
condition reason bug specification
cliche common trope foreshadowing
An aside
- grenades are fragmentation grenades, commonly known as "frags".
- The first monarch of the Il Khanate, a country that existed in what is now Iran in the 13th and 14th centuries and was part of the Mongol Empire, and the grandson of Genghis Khan is Fleg. The link to Wikipedia is here. And in Inner Mongolia, there is a place name division called "Qi" in Chinese characters.
