After looking around a bit, it looks like I’m not the only one having this problem on lemmy.ml (and probably other) communities. You’re probably right that it’s just a visual thing.

Still reading as pending for me, but I guess I’ll see if it’s actually subscribed when/if posting here picks up and has a theoretical chance to start showing up on my front page.

Edit: Just saw a post from here on my front page, so I guess I am subscribed despite apparently still being in a pending state.