What Does This Mean?
"Collecting the flag": the moment when a foreshadowed or predicted event, often a bad omen or a line like "I will be fine after this", actually comes true. Used in discussions of anime, games, novels and everyday events, e.g. フラグ回収した.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
""He said he would be back after one last mission, and the next episode was a textbook フラグ回収.""
LORE & ORIGIN
フラグ (flag) comes from the programming term for a variable that controls branching, extended in games and fiction to any sign that sets up a later development, as in 死亡フラグ (death flag). 回収 (collect, retrieve) is also used for paying off a setup in a story, so フラグ回収 means that the setup has been fulfilled. The opposite idea, avoiding the foretold outcome, is often called "breaking" the flag. Japanese explanatory articles describe the flag concept, but the compound is general usage and no first user is documented.
MENTIONS OVER TIME
Radar observation data not yet available for this term.
RELATED SEARCHES
TOP PLATFORMS
Not enough Radar data yet to show a platform breakdown.
WHEN DID YOU FIRST HEAR THIS?
CLICK AN OPTION BELOW TO CAST YOUR VOTE.
[ VOTE TO REVEAL COMMUNITY RESULTS ]