Japan’s desire for World Cup glory leads the Japanese Football Association to launch a new rigorous
training program to find the national team’s next striker. Three hundred high school players are
pitted against each other for the position, but only one will come out on top. Who among them will be
the striker to usher in a new era of Japanese soccer?
(Source: Crunchyroll)
Blue Lock is a sports series where some of your normal sports anime tropes aren’t present, especially the “power of friendship”, which is good in a way, yet it made it so edgy to the point where sometimes, it’s quite laughable. If you’re someone who likes sports anime for its realism, you won’t get that here at all. It’s definitely quite epic at times, and there are a couple unpredictable moments mixed in there, but I feel like the appeal of sports anime in general is to have a good mix of humour and drama, while being very character driven and relatable to the viewer at times. With how gimmicky the characters tend to be, it was hard to resonate with any of them, or the plot in general. For me, it was mostly just a popcorn shounen show, that didn’t leave me with much to take away other than some hype moments. The premise is quite interesting, as the Japan Football Union created this project called Blue Lock, who would select three hundred U-18 strikers into their program, and pit them against each other to rise to the top. In a sense, I thought it’d be like a death game anime, where if you fail, you would die, and this show sort of has that identity of being that way, as expulsion from Blue Lock is virtually the end of one’s pro soccer aspirations. While soccer is generally considered a team sport, Blue Lock separates itself from other sports anime, as it focuses on selfishness and ego, rather than trying to build teamwork and good relations with teammates. While that seems like a novel concept, to me, it has a major drawback. Since character development is one of the most important things in sports shows in my opinion, the lack of team building and cohesion makes it so the characters aren’t that memorable, and they’re more gimmicky than anything, with each character having their unique part of the game that they’re good at, whether it’s vision of the field, speed, shooting, or handling the ball well. The character interactions for the most part, don’t tell us much about each character besides their surface personality. In fact, most of the characters don’t even develop properly, and have zero backstory to them. Without meaningful character interactions, it was difficult for me to really empathize with any of the characters. Their aspirations beyond being the “best striker” is all they want to do, so most of them have nothing that separates them from others aside from their gimmick. The animation and art in Blue Lock is not all that great in my opinion. Some of the movement during the games was very stiff, especially during the second cour of the show, where I think the studio just rushed through production. The CGI was quite ugly at times when it was shown as well. As for the character designs, they scream like edgy teens. The eyes were extremely cringy to me especially, but I suppose the edginess is what makes this show special to people. The music was middling as well, as the soundtrack wasn’t all that standout. The first ED and second OP were good, but the OP and ED by Unison Square Garden just wasn’t all that impressive. As for my enjoyment throughout the show, I thought it had quite an unimpressive first half, and then the story improved towards the end of the series. It’s unfortunate that the animation degraded as the second half went along, or else I would have had a more favourable impression of this show overall. Overall, Blue Lock is a fine show, despite all my criticisms. It can be quite exhilarating to watch sometimes, in the big moments, but the edgy dialogue and humour wasn’t all that great. The characters are quite weak overall, while the story was up and down. One thing I found funny was that the 2022 World Cup happened during the airing of this anime, because I felt it unintentionally promoted this show a bit more. The main message here is just don’t expect a realistic portrayal of sports, you won’t get it in this anime. Otherwise, maybe try it out, but I can’t promise great things from this show.
(Note: I'm a British girl so I will be referring to 'soccer' the way everyone in my native country does, as football) What an absorbing thriller of a series this was. Produced by Studio 8-bit they went all in creating some gorgeously creative scenes either depicting the characters’ talents, struggles and just about everything in between. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Blue Lock stars 17-year-old aspiring footballer Isagi Yoichi, based on the real life retired Italian pro Filippo Inzaghi, who just lost his chance at the regionals when he squared a pass to his teammate. His teammate loses his nerve and somehow blasts a bona-fide tap-in off the post and to Isagi’s horror, the rebound falls oh-so kindly to the opposition who immediately counter and hit the winner within the dying moments of the match, ending his chance at going pro. Or does it? Sometime later after the devastating loss Isagi receives an invitation to tend the title of the series, a glorified training camp installed with the sole purpose of producing the number one striker in the world that can lead Japan to world cup greatness. It’s here we’re introduced to the fantastic Ego-san and his surprisingly inspiring ideology. He believes a player’s inner’s ego is one of the main reasons a talented player goes on to reach global worldwide frame like the real life supreme godlike superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, along with Blue Lock’s own fictional elite player, a Frenchman by the name of Noa Noel. It's very fitting Kaneshiro-sensei made Noel’s nationality French considering all the prospects France is readily producing. I guess that comes with the territory of having many of their youngsters play football from a very young age. Not to mention France has become home of Africans who escape poverty and sometimes war to live comfortable lifes inside France’s beautiful walls, giving their babies the opportunities to make something special out of their lifes. It’s really no wonder France’s national team is beautifully packed to the brim with handsome Africans, but I digress. Truthfully, you can’t really say Ego-san is wrong. If a player doesn’t have the ego to stand out among the crowd they can quickly find themselves swept away in the tide of normies. Football is a competitive sport at heart and Blue Lock revels tapping into that very nature of everyone vying for top spot. Each simulation stage the players undergo is designed in someway to bring out and mould their own ego. Blue Lock showcases its unpredictability in the first Survival of the Fittest game where players were tasked with tagging each other with the ball to make the hit player ‘it.’ The one who remains 'it' after the timer runs out is eliminated from Blue Lock. Isagi remained ‘it’ during the dying moments of the simulation and even with a downed player suffering from a sprained ankle spins and opts to take out arguably the strongest player at the time, one the series carefully built up as a one-of-the-kind talent, only for Isagi to smash the ball hard into his face and send him crashing out of Blue Lock. It's a brilliant turn of events that keeps you guessing for the remainder of the series. Even better, the knocked out player justifiably freaks out in hysterical disbelief, looking for all intents and purposes like a JoJo character. It lends the series an infectious wackiness that ensues even if you’re not into football, you can still vibe with Blue Lock’s eccentric characters. You could be forgiven for predicting it would be every man for themselves from here, even as the next stage tasks the remaining players to form a team comprising of all strikers, but no, Isagi’s team gets crushed in the first round after Barou – an opposing player based on Mario Balotelli – roasted their team and scored a solo goal. The opposition then built their team around him and began to mercilessly pick Isagi’s team off. The only good thing to emerge from the humiliation was the later realization of Isagi’s high footballing IQ when he instinctively squared a pass to Kunigami – who was in a harder position at the time – to score a long shot and grab the team a consolation goal. Last round, Kunigami tagged Isagi with one of his powerful shots, and Isagi, not realizing it at the time, instinctively filed the information away for later, so even when he had a teammate in a better position his footballing brain told him passing to Kunigami would be the better decision here. A large part of the fun is Blue Lock’s unpredictable nature, throwing curve balls at you when you least at expect it. The characters __The beautiful ‘young lady’ Chigiri Hyoma__ – Often teasingly called “Ojou-chan” by the other characters due to his girly looks and exotic long pinkish-red hair, you could tell right away Chigirl wasn’t trying as hard as he could, having tragically obtained a potentially career-ending ACL injury in his earlier adolescence. A player damaging their ACL has disastrous affects on their mentality, especially knowing they could just as easily break it once more and never kick a ball again. Most players sadly never really recover from rupturing their Achilles. Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi looked like a frightening prospect under Sarri, at the time, but after breaking his ACL he hasn’t looked like nearly the same player. It's a horrible injury to get. The way Studio 8-bit depicted Chigiri’s struggle to run full speed once more, to run past everyone with his explosive pace, with metaphorical chains created by his own mind shackling his once damaged leg, was beautiful. Blue Lock has plenty of visual metaphors that are just a treat for the eyes. __Bachira Meguru __– As eccentric as the footballer he’s based on, Ronaldinho, Bachira loves dribbling, to skilfully weave past piles of bodies leaving them on the floor with his elegant close control; to play football with a smile on his face. He feared that there would be no one like him, with the same ego to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and play for themselves. He created a monster inside him and would ignore everyone else around him but this imaginary monster, relying on this monster’s ‘voice’ to give him direction. But he still longed for someone real to play ‘his’ football with and that led him to Blue Lock in search of others with monsters inside them. He connected with Isagi on an almost spiritual level, linking up with him like he’s never linked up with anyone before, scoring brilliant goals with him and truly enjoying his football. That’s why it feels all the more crushing when in the 4th stage of the training camp, Bachira's forced to leave Isagi behind after a crushing defeat, turning into his enemy. __Nagi __– Blessed with a natural 1st touch of the gods even when he had no interest in football, Nagi’s introduction into the sport came when his friend, another aspiring footballer, promised him an easy life if they go pro, thus he found himself in the sport. He was so lazy at first he had to be given piggy back rides, but playing against Isagi in the second stage opened his eyes to just how fun football could be and he soon found himself dropping deeper to initiate attacks instead of being the one to finish them. He found so much joy in his match against Isagi’s team that during the 4th stage when everyone were tasked of making teams of 3, he immediately wanted Isagi on his team. Isagi already had Bachira on his who he wasn’t going to leave so Nagi instead joins his squad, ditching Reo. Reo may have introduced him to the sport of football, but it was Isagi who ultimately made him fall in love with the game and for that he found himself longing to play football with him. It’s a fascinating turn of allegiances. __Barou Shouei__ - Arrogant characters are really tricky to write. Get them wrong and they can end up irritating the audience (See Bakugou from My Hero Academia) Barou has been so meticulously written his ego feels infectious and charming instead of obnoxious. He's so true to himself that I can't help but strangely admire and adore him. Even when Isagi 'humbled him' he doesn't fall in line and become a team player, but gets back up and regains his throne as 'king.' It's absolutely awesome. He may become to respect Isagi, but that didn't mean he was going to allow himself to become his foil or cheerleader. He represents the players that seem so powerful when they first burst onto the scene when teams don't know how to contain them. That's why such terms like "one-season wonder" and "honeymoon period" exist in football. It's easy to look amazing when you're an unknown viable. (See Papiss Cisse who scored 13 goals from January, including a wonder goal against Chelsea before falling off the radar hard once teams knew how to deal with him) Barou was brought down several notches from his initial godlike introduction once players began to man-mark him and not afford him any space to dribble into, and this forced him to adapt to stay relevant; to stay king. He's a superb character and I adore the added touch of him wanting everything to be neat and clean. __Isagi Yoichi__ – He truly embodies everything special about Blue Lock. I love that his talent – his weapon – isn’t something immediately flashy that stands out like Bachira’s dribbling or Chigiri’s explosive speed; it’s his mind, his spatial awareness; the ability to read the game in front of him and see the picture. He never feels like he’s overshadowing his teammates but rather complementing their strengths. Making Isagi such an intelligent player, one that needs to use his brain to magnify the strengths of everyone around him was a smart move on Kaneshiro-sensei. Too often in shounen the protagonist ends up becoming so powerful he diminishes those around him. With Isagi being the brains behind his teams’ plays, it ensues his teammates can still shine even among his clever brilliance. Animation and artstyle - They're both gorgeously made and I so adore the imaginative visual touches portraying the egocentric monsters characters have inside of them with void-swirly eyes or when Isagi's eyes light up with blue flames and everything else in between. It's wonderful and really helped to elevate Blue Lock to another level. Sound - Fantastically uplifting, melancholic and goofy when it needs to be. In conclusion: Season one of Blue Lock was an amazing ride made with so much heart and soul and I can't wait to see more. Final score: 10/10
Have you ever seen something happen in real life and thought “Man, this would be sick if it was anime and had some ridiculous anime shenanigans”. Well clearly the author of Blue Lock thought that about soccer and got to work. The story begins with the main character Yoichi Isagi and striker for some random high school team losing a game which would’ve qualified him to the Japanese national soccer league. The reason why he lost? He passed the ball to his teammate instead of taking the shot himself. After this Isagi gets invited to Blue Lock (hey it’s the title!!) where the inferior players would get eliminated and be prohibited from playing soccer in the Japanese national league. The creator of the facility argues that the best strikers in the world are produced by pure ego, aka they’re just making a facility with the sole objective of finding the person with the most severe case of narcissistic personality disorder. If you love this premise, you think it’s the most anime thing ever and you run with it, but if you hate it you think this premise is absolutely ridiculous. I think it is bizarrely anime. What other median can make a battle royale for soccer players to find out who has the most mental illnesses gathered? The fact that the author himself wanted to create an extremely competitive “the best takes all” theme with the facility had him create extremely hyper-competitive and self-centered characters which makes for some hype moments where they always try and outdo each other at every moment possible which is super entertaining to watch. This is also used to delve deeper into the competitive spirit but in the most Tumblr way imaginable. Anyone who has entered flow when doing something competitive can agree it can feel like someone else takes over, but the terminology of a “monster” taking over is quite cringe. This issue could have been easily solved by using different terminology to describe what the characters feel. At the same time the characters can be quite simplistic and one dimensional as is normal for a lot of sports anime, especially sports anime which represent teams sports with a lot of players. It is extremely hard to create an entire team of characters that are recognisable, unique and interesting. So a lot of the time authors have to write a lot of characters with extremely over-exaggerated personalities. Nearly every character’s personality can be described in one or two words. Overall, it’s a good representation of what goes inside the head of a hyper-competitive person, but overall requires more polish and writing finesse to become a truly great show, overall it’s very deserving of a:
Super entertaining anime and a compelling depiction of football drama. The portrayal of football in combination with the dramatic moments is what makes this anime great. I've been watching and playing football since I was like 6 years old so I can connect more with a football focused sports anime than other sports. This anime is really good at presenting obstacles to characters and then coming up with smart solutions that bring a tonne of satisfaction and catharsis. In particular with the main character Isagi who's progression from episode to episode is well executed and more importantly fun to experience. We can use buzzwords like "character development" but ultimately what matters is how the story made you feel. Theres a lot of discourse on whether the anime is realistic in its depiction of football, i can only assume from people who dont watch football or dont understand it. Yes the story exaggerates things, whether that be ideas, abilities or concepts but all of it is rooted in footballing logic. For example Ego is super important for a striker, there's strikers who don't score many goals despite being talented because they don't have the right mentality. The innate somewhat selfish desire to score goals above all else. You watch football you can see certain players just have a hunger for scoring. Some people also take the concepts in blue lock too literally and miss the nuance behind it. Like the dichotomy of teamwork vs ego, people think Blue Lock is suggesting that teamwork is discarded and that you should just play for yourself. No that clearly isn't it, we literally see the concept of chemical reactions which is basically a fancy word for `Teamwork` Its the coming together of Egos, the reason ego as a concept is heavily emphasised is because Ego (the character) wants the blue lock players to develop an ego as a first step. Ego is the building block for everything else and to make players develop it he needs to hammer the concept in. Even the super abilities the characters get have a rooted logic in actual football, they're just exaggerated. The characters are all quite solid, not a super standout character but they get the job done and perform well as vehicles for the hype. The story does a good job of mixing in their personal problems with their football. The characters can be edgy but I didn't mind it too much. My main issue is the arrogant characters like Barou, they can get quite annoying as they're really over the top. That might work in a battle shonen but is somewhat out of place in sports. Isagi dickriding everyone gets annoying too.
~~~I know people who are really into sports and I can confirm they are exactly like this. Blue Lock manages to be absolutely overflow with charm by sheer virtue of being as over-the-top and deranged as humanly possible. Every single episode you'll hear a teenager talk about their pride in their skills or resolve to be the best Soccer player they can be through saying it in the most unhinged ways imaginable, accompanied by an extreme visualization of that exact phrasing. Even if the amount of depth a character has can vary in how deep or shallow they are, everyone manages to be really memorable in their own distinct brand of insanity that contributes to the constant high-energy feel of the show. A big contributing factor to that is its stellar voice cast. Pretty much everyone here brings their absolute A-game into their roles with a powerful intensity that's unique to each and every one of them. My particular favorites were Kazuki Ura as Isagi and Tatsuku Kaito as Bachira, which is especially impressive given that they're pretty much entirely new faces in voice acting. I'm really happy that these leading roles were given to such promising newcomers, and I really hope that their phenomenal performances lead to really bright futures in their careers. Another one of the core pillars that makes Blue Lock what it is are its visuals. However, I should address the fact that its animation is an area where it stumbles a bit. It feels a bit apparent that it wasn't given as much of a large budget as it could have, or if it ran into issues in production, but it does have a noticeable impact on its animation. It often relies on stills or really rough-looking CG models in a lot of areas in a way that's pretty off-putting to see when those cracks show. That being said, its animation often being a tad inconsistent is more than made up for with its fantastic direction. Its use of incredibly intense expressions and shading that feels reminiscent of Attack on Titan at times, effective use of distinct imagery like the puzzle pieces connecting to and breaking off of Isagi or the "monster" that resides around Bachira, and incredibly strong storyboarding that makes its big headlining shots land with the same impact as a spread from a manga page give it a striking sense of style that feels very unique to it. And make no mistake with my earlier complaints about its animation, when they need to sell an impactful moment, it shines really brightly. I just hope these production issues get ironed out by the time season 2 comes around, so both the animation and direction get to work in harmony and shine ever brighter. The thing I found most compelling about Blue Lock story-wise is the nuance of Blue Lock's goals as a facility and the type of player it's trying to be. I've seen a good amount of criticism towards the series' supposed notion that a striker is the only player that matters in a soccer team. That's obviously entirely true, but I think that angle is looking into the whole "making the best striker" aspect of it a bit too literally. The way I see it, Ego sees the problem with the Japan team being that their focus solely on fighting as one made it so that the players' individual strengths suffered as a result, so the goal for Blue Lock is to refine the selected players as individuals and bring out their latent strengths. It's an approach that encourages the players to have somewhat selfish and egotistical mindsets in how they evolve, which doesn't sound like it'd work all too well. However, the show ironically makes it so that this drive ends up strengthening their teamwork. It invites a spirit of competition between its team members where they manage to work in harmony by spiritually devouring each other (the show's words, not mine) in order to make major bursts of improvement, and those clashes of wills end up letting the players work in harmony very well. It's a very unique angle to take a sports series in storytelling wise, one that I haven't really seen before at least. I imagine that it's definitely really unrealistic and over-the-top, but the series fully embraces that aspect of itself. (Slight addendum: I'm not trying to say that this is some correct approach to training for sports or anything, I was just looking at it as something interesting from a storytelling perspective. I just thought I'd add this since I can see how it'd get misinterpreted that way) Watching this show week to week was one of the most fun experiences I've had keeping up with a seasonal, and I'm glad I got to experience it so often through the phenomenal stretch of Fall 2022 and the admittedly less enticing stretch of Winter 2023. I'm fully hooked on checking out the utterly insane clash of wills through soccer that Blue Lock has in store for the future, and I'm looking forward to its eventual return with Season 2 and the Episode Nagi film. ~~~
BLUELOCK has to be the silliest and at the same time most hype anime I’ve watched for a while now. There is of course some little depth to it, as it addresses the psychology of strikers and egoism, which ties into the idea of the story to raise the best striker in the world by making him the “biggest egoist”. And I enjoyed that aspect of Blue Lock, as it’s usually not explored in sports anime, at least to my knowledge. Ego might be super snobby and rude, but pretty much everything he says has at least some partial truth to it, so it's nice to have a sports anime address these topics seriously. img(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/993483326444818472/1038046675614310420/image.png?width=1440&height=819) But what ultimately sells BLUELOCK is its style, excessive edginess and the vigorous intensity that comes with it. Football here is not sports, it’s literal war. And BLUELOCK embraces it, with intense and over-expressive stills, an electrifying soundtrack, and dialogue which just wouldn’t work anywhere else but in BLUELOCK, as it already established the tone of the show to be just simply ridiculous. img(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/993483326444818472/1038373843712081960/image.png?width=1440&height=811) To be fair, outside of the matches the dialogue loses its edge and is mostly just serviceable, playing to the trope of each character (it gets even worse later when they play against international players and the Engrish comes) but that’s okay as most of the character-building happens in the matches themselves. So in the overall scheme of things you care only about how the matches play out, and this is where BLUELOCK shines and can deliver. img(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FrghXQdXgAEDV1s?format=jpg&name=medium) And what I grew to quite like about its whole egoism theme is that in BLUELOCK the individual matters more. Other sports anime focus more on team building (which is also completely fine), but in BLUELOCK, one person alone can already change everything. While other sports anime keep tabs on these special people and make us aware of them, as they are only a few, in BLUELOCK you have the feeling that each character on the field can be that game-changer. And that happens quite often, as not only Isagi as the protagonist but every other side character keeps evolving and surpassing their limits. It’s the ultimate competition of who can stay on top of everyone else, and that felt pretty unique to BLUELOCK and was thrilling to watch. img(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FrghDlAWcAAsqtO?format=jpg&name=medium) I can only imagine that it will get more intense and absurd in its second season, and after such an enjoyable first season I’m ready for more. Yes, BLUELOCK lives up to the hype.
__Plot__ The show has a more interesting premise than a typical sports anime: a facility for high school boys to test and train them to be the next best striker for the Japanese football team. This premise seemed very promising in the start. Ego’s blunt and objective speeches coupled with the mysterious nature of Blue Lock made the show intriguing. Soon, we slowly learn more about the characters, their motives and strengths. The first half was highly dramatic and there was some suspense created. The scoring system for the team knockout round raised the stakes and this is what made the show so exciting to watch. Would players prioritise themselves or decide to move forward with their team? I enjoyed the strategies that Team Z came up with and how they try to improve themselves after every match. The second selection was slightly more uneventful since the way to progress was more straightforward. Moreover, they played in small teams so we saw the same faces appearing repeatedly. The matches lasted around 2-3 episodes so there was a bit of drag. Nevertheless, I felt they upped the notch for the animation in this selection as things got more heated and the teams were truly neck and neck. It was in this stage where the players’ egos were amplified and evolved. In general, the pacing of the show was good as we were taken through the process of what it takes to be the best striker. __Characters__ Characters were given equal importance and had their time to shine in the spotlight. However, Isagi remained the main character throughout the whole show. At the start, he did not appeal to me that much: he seemed bland and the typical main character in a shounen anime. Eventually his true colors came through in the second selection. He went through major improvement and his ego inflated as well to become the best version of himself. His character development was really well done and it was nice to see him grow as a player. At the start, he seemed intimidated by strong opponents but later he wanted to fight them head on, like with Barou and Rin. He was always strategizing and thinking of ways to level up his weapons and saw every match as a learning opportunity. Other main characters like Bachira, Nagi, Chigiri, Kunigami and later on Barou and Rin, were well written. Their backstories were a bit cliche but that is not a big issue. The dialogues were the most egoistic as possible and the trash talk that happened is part of the enjoyable experience. I liked that they showed their individual strengths clearly and they were all distinct. It was satisfying to see these players play as a team and form the “chemical reactions'' that leads to them scoring goals. When push comes to shove, we get to witness the hidden talent of these players. __Animation__ The animation was great. Symbolism was very well done and helped with characterisation. From the blue flames in Isagi’s eyes to the chains for Chigiri to Bachira’s monsters, our viewing experience was elevated thanks to these representations. I particularly liked Barou’s lion and the lightning, which heightened the drama of the match. I can safely say presentation is the speciality of Blue Lock. I particularly liked the use of puzzle pieces to creatively explain Isagi's thought process on the field. There was some obvious CGI during the matches but that was not a huge concern. Voice acting was also notable. Background music added to the intensity of the matches OP and ED were memorable too and complimented the show. Overall, Blue Lock is a unique sports anime which has its own philosophy and its own definition for football success. It challenged the idea that teamwork is key to success and pushed the "zero to one" strategy that was clearly explained. You do not need to be a football fan to enjoy the drama, the seriousness and ideas that are presented in the show.
This show blew me away from the very beginning. I was not a huge fan of soccer going into this show, but I was rather a fan of sports anime. Having watched Haikyuu and Kuroko's Basketball, I had set expectations very high for this anime in particular, and it surpassed them in nearly every way! I do tend to watch anime in the dubs, and then rewatch in subs if I enjoyed it, and this one knocked it out of the park in both. The show immediately breaks the stale trope of "I have to understand the importance of teamwork before I can truly succeed." Rather, the show shows the struggle of personal growth in a game where people rely on teammates to pick up the slack, over changing themselves first. Isagi is a great character in my opinion. A reserved, brain-oriented player with not too many physical strengths finding a way to play his type of soccer is very inspiring. Characters like Bachira, Kunigami, Nagi, and Chigiri do a great job of diversifying the cast by highlighting different styles and upbringing of athletes and why they play. Bachira is probably my favorite character in any anime I’ve ever watched. He is so fascinating to watch and get to understand and relate to. Bachira makes all of his decisions guided by a “monster” inside him, which is simply just a vision or an idea of what an ideal player is to Bachira. This monster is something that I understand and relate to, and it is cool to see this idea stylized into a character as unique as bachira. Combining a flashy skill like dribbling with the growing desire to play a bolder, more flashy style of soccer makes Bachira an amazing part of the cast. Nagi is also a great character in the show, who also brings up a great contrast with Chigiri. Chigiri was convinced he would become one of the best in the world, but a leg injury forced him to reserve himself and to not fully invest into soccer again. This would change when Chigiri was forced into caring again when seeing Isagi’s passion on the field. Nagi never wanted to fully invest himself into soccer, not understanding why people would try so hard for so long. This would also change when Nagi, for the first time in his career, lost a soccer match at the hands of Isagi. There are so many nuances about this show that make it amazing. Characters like Reo, Ego, Nikko, Naruhaya, and Raichi just add so much to the enjoyment of it all. I wish I could write something about each one, since each character is so likeable. This show is great on multiple watches, because all the time you view Isagi as an underdog solely because he can’t take 1v1’s super well, or do anything super-special. The thing is, Isagi is an amazing player, it just takes more than one watch to understand that. Overall, this show is probably my current #1 all time, and recommend everyone watch it, you won’t regret it.
Blue Lock is an insane sports fiction about the best high school football prospects in Japan battling it out in a squid game-inspired tournament to become Japan's number 1 striker. We are introduced to our main character Isagi who despite lacking the physical athletic talents more than makes up for it with his genius football IQ. A nuanced story ensues tackling many questions about what it takes to become the perfect striker or what that even means. img720(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yl1gD9EefVXe-rjA-Fw3OLydns4=/1400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24528007/bluelock_isagiyoichi_puzzle.jpeg) In this review, I want to focus on the more philosophical aspects of this anime other than its surface-level sports action flare. Yes, the sports action in this anime is wildly entertaining. Each character has their own unique flare and style that makes each battle seem way more intense than realistically possible in real life. This is totally a great example of an anime using its medium to its fullest extent unbound from the shackles of realism and believability. Metaphorical depictions of each character's abilities are beautifully animated and accompanied by creative and effective cinematography. And the writing of its characters and their motivations I believe is adequate for me as a viewer to get engaged into its story. But what I believe is most compelling for Blue Lock is how it questions what it means to be the perfect striker. Jinpachi Ego the defacto narrator of the Anime proposes that the greatest quality of a perfect striker is his ego and individuality. He backs up his argument stating that Japan is a country with a culture of conformity and order where its people are used to a set of rules and roles to follow. This is why in baseball where each role is meticulously defined Japan is able to perform well whereas in a sport like football where roles are more nuanced and flexible they suffer. It is Jinpachi Ego's belief that in a sport like football, the striker bears the greatest responsibility to decide the match and they need to have the ego, or in other words, the confidence to be able to deliver their responsibility: to score the goal. The series then proceeds to explore what this means and initially, it presents itself as a completely failed ideology and understanding of the game as Isagi's team Z all presents themselves with the selfish ego to score the goal resulting in a chaotic mess void of teamwork which is capitalized on by the opposing Team X. From that early episode alone it seems that Jinpachi's philosophy of the selfish egotistical player has failed in the light of a mediocre team employing minimal teamwork destroying a team that has none. Or has he? remember his philosophy for a player having an egotistical mindset only applies to the striker whom Team X represents; Barou the only true striker on his team being fed the ball by everyone completely 'proving' Jinpachi's philosophy. So it's settled then, Jinpachi's philosophy about the egotistical striker is proven; all a team needs is a selfish egotistical striker with backup and they can win everything. Not necessarily as there is definitely more nuance than that as the series progresses. Barou the initial shining beacon of the examplar striker according to Jinpachi's philosophy despite an early depiction of superiority fell short in the latter part of the series solely relying on this so-called 'ego'. Even in the first match where he crushed Isagi's team Z, he was not the one that scored every goal; when the entire team focused on him and did not give him any chance to score, even he knew his limits and actually passed the ball to his teammates to score. And here I believe truly shows the actual argument about Jinpachi's philosophy of the perfect striker regarding ego. I think what many people associate with the word 'ego' is in a negative light; the idea of being egotistical is one of an arrogant person who always insists on being in the right and looking down on others. But in actuality, the strict definition of ego is just a person's belief in one's self-importance. A person who believes he is a failure has the same ego as a person who believes he is a success. Ego is just a measurement of one person's confidence in their abilities. And ego is not necessarily always a negative trait. A doctor without an ego will hesitate to save a life, a soldier without an ego will hesitate to go on the battlefield, and even a baker without an ego will hesitate to make bread. You get the idea. And here our protagonist is the exemplar character that shows us the difference between ego and arrogance. img720(https://factsanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/zisagi2.jpg) Isagi Yoichi is one of the strikers who is enlisted in the Blue Lock program to battle for the spot to be the best striker. His rating was one of the weakest in the entire roster of participants. We are introduced to him as a striker who hesitated for a moment in an important match which cost him the game. And initially, Isagi does not come across as a person you would describe as egotistical. He knows his limits, he does not really stand out and he tries to read the entire game and his opponents rather than relying on his own individual abilities. But remember, there is a difference between ego and arrogance, and just because a person recognizes their flaws does not mean that person is not an egotistical person as the ego is strictly a measurement of a person's self-importance positive or not. This makes Isagi in some sense ironically the purest egoist as he has an accurate and pure measurement of his self-importance. He knows his weakness, he knows his strengths, and most terrifying of all he knows his opponents as well. This is why later in the series he becomes a more terrifying contender in the Blue Lock program. His grasp on his ego making him aware of his full potential is impressive on its own but it also extends towards understanding his opponents and the field itself. In essence, he is a striker with the vision and football IQ of a midfielder which I believe is no coincidence that his Jersey is 11 most likely a nod and reference to one of the greatest midfielders of all time Mesut Ozil. But of course, Isagi is not the only one who tapped into the purest grasp on his ego and reached his full potential. Many other characters throughout the series also learned to separate arrogance from ego and greatly improved their game as well. Some fully realized the potential of their dribbling and for some their physicality, passing, shot-making, etc. Which highlights the true meaning of Jinpachi's philosophy of the egotistical striker. A striker who knows without hubris how to get the job done without hesitation. A striker's job in football is to score goals, and it takes a true egoist to realize that role without hesitation. And of course, an egotistical realist and not an arrogant delusionist. An important quality to have in a sport like football where roles are vague; if everyone lacks the resolve to score and keeps passing the ball around, who is going to score? How is the team going to score points? And thus ends my ramblings about the philosophy in some whacky squid game-style football competition. It is important to note that by no means this anime is a testament to the true nature of football or being a striker and I am in any way trying to justify this Anime being a conduit of truth toward what true football is. I myself believe the most important position in football is the goalkeeper. This is just a fun analysis on what the author could be trying to express about the game of football through this incredible anime. And through all the bombastic Shonen style sports action this anime provided, I personally think it gave some thought provoking ideas as well. An overall fun anime that seems to say a lot as well.
Blue Lock is an excellent series about soccer. (I’m sorry if my American-ness is offending you lol). The plot is amazing, it has just the right amount of suspense and drama, the characters are built upon wonderfully, and the humor is great. ___ To me, characters are the most important part of a show. A bad plot can be covered up by outstanding characters, but bad characters can’t be covered up by an outstanding plot. Thankfully, not only are the characters in Blue Lock phenomenal, but the plot is as well. While the main focus is on Isagi, the main character, each side character is expanded upon beautifully. They are all well-written and you come to develop emotional connections to all of them. Not only are the characters themselves great, the relationships they have between each other are as well. This increases your feelings toward the show and makes all of the drama that much more intense. Characters and their relationships mean a lot to me, so that is one of my favorite aspects of Blue Lock. The relationships between the characters make the drama better, but also the humor of the show. It isn’t serious at all times, we also have cute moments that take your mind off of the dire situation these teenagers are in. It gives you a moment to relax and laugh for a bit. Speaking of the humor, each episode has an extra scene at the end known as “Blue Lock Additional Time”. These work to expand on the characters and how they talk to each other. It’s really enjoyable, in my opinion! Not only are the character’s personalities appealing, their designs are interesting as well. Each character is easy to tell a part. They have all great designs that do not get boring at all. They are pleasing to look at and you can tell much thought was put into them. Now, if you’re looking for realistic soccer games, Blue Lock is not for you. They don’t follow the rules to a tee, but I don’t think it’s a real problem. Just pointing it out for the soccer experts who will have something to say. This is just what I have heard from other people as I do not know much about soccer myself. The only problem I have with Blue Lock is the animation. The CGI animation, to be exact. The standard animation is good. Though, the CGI when they are running specifically is what bugs me. It just doesn’t look that good. It’s easy to ignore, however, just something I laugh at every time I see it. ___ In conclusion, Blue Lock is one of the greatest animes I have watched. I love how it is written, the characters, how they interact, just the whole thing in general. Every episode is so good that they feel like they are breezing by. There is never a boring moment. I would give this anime a try! Thank you for reading.
Soccer/Football is a sport that has captivated the whole world. In this anime it not only shows how
not only complicated soccer can be but also shows how hard work and determination can get you
somewhere. Blue Lock has a lot of things that make you love soccer and anime. It makes you think of
soccer in a different way. Blue Lock uses a lot of puzzles to try to explain the main character's way
of thinking. The anime also has different terms that can sometimes confuses watchers but overall it is
easy to understand.
The first time I heard of Blue Lock my friend introduced it to me saying how the story is so good and
how I was like one characters. Being a good friend I am I read and watched it and needless to say I
enjoyed Blue Lock a lot. The plot is quite good. After losing an important soccer match a young boy of
the name Yochi Isagi, gets invited to a camp that gives him the opputunity to the best of the world.
It is more realistic to happen than other animes but still manages to have a intense tone to it. The
anime has a lot of jaw-dropping scenes and quite a few plot twists. My only problem with the show is
that they tend to use a lot of CGI. It kinda gets annoying as when a intense scene happens it switches
to some CGI where the characters face does not have any emotion at all. But overall the animation is
pretty good as it invokes tons of emotions. The faces of the character show quite a lot about them.
2 fan favorite characters are Bachira(right) and Nagi(left). Nagi is a fan favorite being the laziest
person in Blue Lock. Without trying he has probably the most skills in the anime. He is a fun
character to watch grow as he justs wings it and most of the time it goes his way. He relates to many
fans as he plays video games quite a lot. Bachira on the other hand has the best personality and is
extremely talented. Having one of the best Blue Lock backstories Bachira is a well written character
with lots of energy affecting not only the other characters but the fans too
I am pretty happy about how the anime turned out and I liked it so much I recommend it to other
people. I have high expectations for season 2 and I can't wait for it to come out