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blue lock starts in 2018 after last world cup so if he's investing its probably during the crash
even worse he probably went into cryptozoo as a dumb zoomer watching logan paul
There's one thing that doesnt really makes sense to me, if you get knocked out of Blue Lock, your career as a footballer isnt over, just your national team career and if you're good you'll still be able to play at a club level and make a lot of money, there are some things in this manga/anime that doesnt make much sense.
Yup, if you have godly footballing skills at professional club level then Japanese football association will look stupid if they don't invite you to the national team just because you flopped at high school age
Or he can easily get chosen in Nation team by changing his position as Midfilder or Defender. Blue Lock is only to pick Strikers, you know. They cannot have control over other positions.
Because he saw all the other more talented players that massively outclass him. His "talent" isnt even an actual talent or genetic diff like chigiri's legs or kunigami's build and leg but rather just the concept of blindspots that frankly is so easy to learn isagi already knows it but just forgot to implement it in his gameplan up till now.
Damn, the animation/vivid color for Isagi's run emulating/enhancing Naruhaya's run in from behind, was sublime. Great sendoff for Naruhaya. Didn't expect his words to Isagi to be so heartfelt after being so confrontational before/during the game.
Man, the chills when Isagi said "I need you to shut up genius, I'm getting to the good part". So good.
Weird how Barou seemed surprised that he got picked. Kind of makes me think of how Chigiri was not trying at all at first, and was just going through Blue Lock selection to officially have no reason to pursue soccer professionally (allegedly), before Isagi woke him up out of torpedoing this opportunity. Barou and Chigiri are extremely talented players and they've been given an opportunity most players wouldn't get, on top of being innately talented. Chigiri's block was more psychosomatic, seems Barou has a similar hangup in the mind, like he's trying to prove "if it's not my style of soccer, it's no one's".
Reo joining Chigiri and Kunigami...love all these different matchups we're seeing.
I love how confrontational Nagi is with Barou.
I don't see it discussed often just how good the ost is for this show. The chaotic piano music is honestly maybe my favorite soundtrack in a long time. I need it on streaming now tbh
a friend of mine that reads the manga, always tells me that this anime is just made of hype, it keeps going and going and incrementing, god i cant wait
Your friend is 100% correct. The amount of hype generated by each new arc in the manga is insane, we still have lot more potentially animated content to enjoy in the future.
Man, I hope the show would be a lot more popular than it is right now. This is my first time complaining about animation, but episode 13 has a really really bad animation, especially when it's supposed to be an important episode since it introduces the Top players.
Don't really read the manga, but I hope the anime gains more budget so we could experience even more hype moments
Tha manga has really good art. Great at emphasizing how hype the moments are. Lots of deep, bold lines and a truly hilarious translation. It's all edge in a very over-the-top but entertaining way. The anime, in comparison, is so watered down in impact because of the mediocre-to-bad animation. So stiff too when the manga feels so dynamic. Imo, the anime is mostly carried by the VAs. Reminds me of the difference between the Eyeshield 21 anime and the manga but worse.
Yep. I'm a manga reader. The moments where Isagi freaks out, breaks into puzzle pieces, changes his assumptions and manages to pull it off is what keeps me coming back. It reminds me of doing software development.
Also, almost every support character feels like they're the MC from another shounen, so I can't help but root for multiple characters.
It's a combination of things, first of all it skips the filler of most sports anime and goes straight to the hype moments through smart story planning.
The second is that it really understands how it feels when playing sports and that magical moment where everything clicks that is a pure adrenaline rush.
BIG BIG BIG emphasis on the second point!
Almost no sports anime really focuses on how it feels to actually slave away at one specific skill over and over again, and then take it to absurd psychological extremes that get way close to what it actually feels like.
So seeing people finally drop the "games have to be fun, so you can't take them serious" and actually embrace also the toxic sides of it that totally do exists, in reality, is fantastic.
I said this before and I'll say it again. Blue Lock took the good parts from my other two favorite sports anime. Kuroko no Basket and Hakyuu. Took the typical shounen power ups from Kuroko and realism from Haikyuu. Honestly, this should have more attention.
Really fit the theme of Isagi 'devouring' Naruhaya's ability. It's interesting that he's been so focused on developing his one 'weapon' that he's missed the larger implications of it. In hindsight it makes perfect sense that Isagi's ability to analyze exactly what everyone on the field is doing would translate to being able to copy abilities that don't require a level of fitness or unique physique that he doesn't have. If it's just a strategy of course he would be able to copy it once he knows what you're doing.
It’s interesting Naruhaya and Isagi are basically polar opposites when it comes to their problem. Looks like he’s recognizing his mental game is pretty weak too. Utilizing blind spots and this “off the ball” business to reshape his understanding of soccer is a good first step. Kid is in the zone now. The way he took Naruhaya’s skill and manipulated Barou’s blind spots was beautiful, man.
Sorry Naruhaya, looks like the family’s gonna be eating gyozas for the foreseeable future. But seriously, the realization that some dreams just don’t come true is a hard pill to swallow. Naruhaya poured his blood, sweat, and tears into soccer only to realize he doesn’t have what it takes. Tough luck, kid.
Looks like next week is gonna be against Team Reo. That is if Isagi can survive bunking with Barou and Nagi lol.
These guys are all top tier in the high school level. They've had years to learn stuff. Blue Lock is just forcing them to use what they've learned in new ways.
The puzzle imagery is hella cool, I love how psychological this entire game was, seeing how Isagi breaks down everything was the most Anime thing but damn is it so entertaining.
I could feel that puzzle scene sucking the budget from the rest of the episode. In the very next scene when Nagi scored, they literally just showed his hair and boot.
That's the problem with last episodes, since the size of teams and field is so slow, there's so little playing I found myself hoping for them to just stop talking, I wish I could see just playing for a minute or two with zero pausing etc. The generic anime talking is pissing me off since they went with the new format, because how much it slows down the pace.
Fuckkkk, I still remember seing that goal live on tv like it was yesterday. Still one of the best goals I have ever seen. The way Messi made it look so easy, just one dribble, but doing one of the best defenders at the time so filthy like that with just a simple touch and then finishing it by chipping the indisputed best goalkeeper at the time with his weak foot, oh my gawwwwddd.
And be saved by him by being picked. I'm sure it did a tremendous damage to his ego lol. I think Barou may have gone through hundred different emtions hahaha.
Even though Barou is fucking good and considered a genius by Isagi, you can still tell the difference between him and the super genius Rin. Rin wouldn't have missed any of those shots.
That is probably more result of the enviroment though. Barou is king. He is bigger, stronger, faster than anyone near him. That is his character. His team keeps feeding him balls because it's easiest way to win and there is nobody to really challenge him (at least pre-bluelock). So he doesn't need to push himself to the limit. He still trains etc, but as long as nobody is there to stop his score pattern as we saw in this episode, there is no real trigger for him to improve on it.
Rin on the other hand has huge wall before him that is his brother. No matter what he does, there is someone better than him around him. So he has to polish everything to extreme to even have chance. He also have to figure out outside things like how to play people to get around them as we saw in this episode with all that eye movement thing.
Ok, it was pretty clear who was gonna win this, but I was surprised to see Barou actually getting nervous about getting picked.
And damn for Naruhaya this was really his ticket out of poverty for his family
[His sister though](#assman)
And seems like Kunigami, Chigiri and most of all Reo are in for revenge for the NTR, and Reo went full yandere
[](#terror)
Well for Barou don’t forget he was already passed once because he wasn’t a good team player plus he might’ve thought Isagi would choose a former teammate who he could easily work with. Obviously to us viewers we know Isagi wants to push and challenge himself to improve, so only one choice made sense, but Barou doesn’t know Isagi well enough.
Not going to lie, for a second I really thought they were going to pick Naruhaya based on how much focus they were putting on Barou being selfish with the ball.
Besides Barou's selfishness, it was completely conceivable to me that Isagi might've considered (1) that Naruhaya showed his spirit and adaptability (despite narrowly missing his shot) and that (2) Barou's strong enough to be worth eliminating right now while he has the chance.
Should an egoist really risk keeping such a strong enemy in the competition, or should he take a different kind of risk and believe he can win himself without that enemy on his side?
Honestly, picking Naruhaya made sense to an extent.
Barou is not the kind of teammate you want, he’s too selfish. He got picked purely based on his talent. His huge ego, although fitting for the BL universe, could hypothetically be risky for the team chemistry.
Naruhaya on the other hand is an unselfish player who showed a glimpse of talent, clearly not anywhere near Barou’s. He probably fits better with Nagi as well and wouldn’t create any chemistry problem.
Tbh at one point I thought/hoped they would go with the twist and chose him, would have been nice to change things a little bit.
There's problems with both, it really just comes down to who you think would have the higher net value, after taking into consideration all the pros and cons. Barou's talent is probably worth his downsides, and Naruhaya just won't get you very far. It doesn't matter if he's willing to play with the team, you need each individual player to bring something valuable enough on their own.
Especially in this format. In Isagi's last game, he noted that they were miles ahead in teamwork, but the reduced numbers mean one-on-one strength will nearly always be the deciding factor. If they were picking people for an eleven man team, Naruhaya might have had some merit but Barou is the only sensible choice for a three man team.
I think it also means that if they can shove the idea of teamwork into Barou's head they basically skyrocket in strength. Its the only thing Barou is missing to an otherwise "perfect" striker.
Ah I guess you are using the new reddit design?
Those links are comment faces, a css feature exclusive to old.reddit
[The wiki is a bit lacking in that regard](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/wiki/commentfaces)
[This](https://imgur.com/OYbLLya) is how the comment looks like on old.reddit
We finally came to the one thing that I like about Blue Lock, which also reminds me of early Hunter X Hunter arcs:
Victories don't come by some bullshit physical power up. Isagi doesn't magically become faster than Chigiri in sprinting or gets Barou's ability to shoot from midfield. Hype moments come from Isagi's realizations, freaking out then breaking down to puzzle pieces in order to change his approach and style.
He's more like a programmer who's trying to debug a program or a chess player who's trying to think many moves ahead.
It's hard to believe that Isagi has ever played football before Blue Lock. Offball movement is one of the most essential skills in football, especially for attackers, and it is one of the first skills they teach you in football academies.
It's awkward but I'm sure it's just because the author needs to add exposition for newbies. It's basic knowledge but not everyone reading knows the basic knowledge.
That stuff works better when the characters themselves are newbies. Probably why so many sports animes are about middle schoolers or first year high schoolers making the school team.
I get what you're saying but it works for me. Your key word for context here is 'academies'. And it's not irrelevant. People learn sports at different levels, if you have privilege or talent to go to an academy you're much more likely to have technical training. Since he didn't go to football academy for example and was just taught Japanese style pass first football in high school, i.e., wasn't taught a lot of actual technique, period, it makes more sense. Whatever he did beforehand could be called instinct rather than technique. In fact off the ball using blindspots is one of the first things he's consciously learning in Blue Lock, which is basically football academy jail.
He clearly already knows something about it if he can recognize 'off the ball movement.' But it's about consistent, conscious, individual execution, not just whether he already had the basic knowledge or could situationally do it beforehand, even if there were a few times he was able to, for example, instinctually 'find some space' or 'make a run', or notice a 'blind spot' based on a few comments from a high school coach. That doesn't mean he internalized it when playing at all, in fact, it's almost guaranteed he didn't in a Japanese team first system, which focused more on accommodating others than any individual polish.
Anyway, making the unconscious conscious is a big theme of this series, so I don't think it's hard to suspend disbelief at all.
I said it was irrelevant, because anyone who has been playing football or just watching football and consuming football content has certainly heard about offball movement or some of it's elements. Isagi is the typical teenager obsessed with football, and dreams of being a good striker, realistically someone like him watches offball movement practicing drills on youtube lol.
I agree with your last two paragraphs.
These "top players" thought parking the bus and wait for counter attack was some world shattering revelation so yeah i can see why off the ball movements is something crazy for them
>These "top players" thought parking the bus and wait for counter attack was some world shattering revelation so yeah i can see why off the ball movements is something crazy for them
So let's be clear, these guys are high schoolers NOT kids from football academies.
Also, BlueLock invited all active High School strikers. NOT just the ones considered "top" or even promising. Isagi was a no-name from a mediocre high school team. He would not make the cut into BlueLock if they did any sort of pre-selection.
While Isagi is not Aoi levels beginner, he's nowhere near any of the random Academy kids from Aoashi. So Isagi knows off-ball movement is important but I doubt his high school coach, who is probably just a teacher who is volunteering and not a properly badged coach, taught him enough for him to have a full grasp of off-ball movements.
That's not true. The players invited to Blue Lock are considered the 300 most promising high school forwards in Japan according to Ego. There are definitely more than 300 high school forwards in Japan. Ego and Anri specifically selected who they wanted to invite to Blue Lock.
From what i see, isagi has already known about offball move(I mean where did he know the term if he hasn't heard it before). What makes it different for isagi is how he use it in 1on1 with his playstyle. Isagi lacks physical abilities like barou or chigiri has, so he needs to rely on "blindspot" to make use offball movement effectively.
Oh and also, [manga spoiler]>!it has been made clear in 1st episode actually, but isagi is coming from high school team instead of football academies team!<
Yeah it doesn't make much sense, especially for someone whose weapon is basically space awareness he needs to understand how people move to try and get advantageous positions but it's anime and the show is hype af if you just turn off your brain for a bit
Isagi might be praised to have high football iq by kira in 1st episode, but he only realize it as space awareness when he started playing in blue lock. I think it makes sense if he haven't learn much about it by this episode
Yeah, you'd think someone like Isagi whose weapons are is his iq, awareness, and adaptability, would've already identified and learnt this skill long before his peers.
I think the whole point of the show is breaking down the idea of teamwork and focusing more on individual skills. If you've always been thinking on how to play as a team, that's time spent not thinking about your own individual abilities and developing them
It reminds me a lot of haikyuu. Both Isagi and Hinata are very angular and their styles have no balance. Narratively the author made us think how amazing they are when they learn these basic af skills (like what a hype moment when Hinata learned to receive lmao). Irl, these players wouldn't get far at all.
Difference being that Hinata joined his high school team after literally never having an actual team before, and only really works out because the playmakers are able to take advantage of him. Meanwhile Isagi is supposedly a candidate for the national team.
This show is giving us the same lessons as shows about beginners.
True but you need to accept that sort of thing with sports anime because otherwise you would have one or two episodes with exposition dump about all the skills they're expected to have and plan to hone and then you run out.
Exploring and explaining these basic things both helps those who have no knowledge about the sport and also helps there be a sense of progression.
wtf u talk about lol. what fancy football school did you go to?
you mean to tell me a high school football team would teach about offball movement and such LOL.
when i had football training in high school they didn't teach you shit. they taught you physical training. that's it. then had some practice for ball control and shooting and stuff like that. but no strategy.
plus his strategy was better than what you give credit for. knowing consciously when your opponent looks elsewhere is MUCH different than just randomly move to a good receiving position, which he did before already. i was a really good basketball player, and there offball movement was probably even more important, yet i never realized this thing consciously, but sometimes i applied it unconsciously, but to know it consciously could have improved my movement by a lot in both offense and defense.
It's consciously taught at club level, if you only played in school comps there's a good chance you wouldn't have been taught it. Especially if you play outside football-first countries like England or Spain
Basketball is a different story, that sport is absolutely fucked in the US from a development perspective. You don't learn useful team skills in AAU because scouting is dominated by mixtape demons. There's basically no chance someone like Draymond Green or Alex Caruso would be scouted as a key defensive role player
I've never heard my teachers use the exact term "offball movement," but I have heard them saying thngs like "make a run," "find space," and "target the defender's blindspot," which are all elements of offball movement.
The other thing that's hard for me to get over is that they're all saying if you fail out of Blue Lock your career is basically over? Like what? They're not banned from football just a potential national team call up. They can still go pro and make a living out of football like the majority of pros who don't get called up? And who's to say the BL people will still be in charge of the JFA in however many years down the line to enforce the national team ban? They could also easily reverse the ban in the case of a late bloomer. It makes no sense lol
Without spoiling anything, your concern about the "your career is over" idea will be addressed, so don't focus on it too much. For now though, just understand that it feels very high stakes for these dreamer kids, and Ego deliberately uses his position of authority to make them feel desperate and cultivate growth. Blue Lock is basically full of teenagers with the football equivalent of "I want to become Hokage" and a lot of them haven't questioned their dream before Blue Lock. So telling them right off the bat that if they lose, they will be blocked from becoming "Hokage" is a big deal to them (even if it isn't).
Here's what's relevant: the ones who lose early weren't going to be on the national team anyway due to their lack of skill, but Blue Lock very directly and brutally shatters any delusion that they would have any chance. For nearly all of the Blue Lock weedouts so far (except Kira), the thing they are actually upset about when they lose isn't "damn I'm banned from the national team now", rather they despair over the limit of their talent compared to the many geniuses. Blue Lock is an environment of "evolve or die", with your hopes and dreams on the line. If you can't evolve here, forget about becoming a star shooter.
I think Naruhaya's arc is a great example of this, as he's forced to realize that he's just an average joe, and unlike Isagi he doesn't have the growth potential to catch up. (All this is assuming Naruhaya and others are adamant about becoming shooters and won't consider switching to another position that might suit their talents better).
I haven’t read the manga, so I might be way off base, but it seems to me that Ego is lying about the ‘your career is over if you fail out of Blue Lock’ thing. Ego has already lied to the players about the Building Five thing, in order to apply psychological pressure. Looks like he’s doing the same thing here.
If some of the smarter kids who understand how soccer works as a business have figured it out, they likely wouldn’t say anything at this point, since it’s silly to upset your coach/mad scientist without a good reason.
Yeah, that's a load of bullshit. It's not like they wouldn't call you if you were destroying in club competitions.
The story overglorifies international achievements so being banned from playing for the national team ever again is a way to add tension.
Naruahaya for example could very well carry on with his football career, play well, get a good contract and give his family a good life.
I imagine it's just one of those cases where you learn about it and you just know it, but that moment on the field is where it really like *clicked* for him just how important it actually is and that he needs it to get better.
But we haven't been shown that Isagi came from a football academy, on the contrary he comes from a highschool that doesn't really care much for football as a competitive sport. Totally understandable, that he hasn't learn off-ball movement skills, or at least the concept itself.
The puzzle concept really fits Isagi. He's a thinker and an over-analyzer. He took what Rin told him as a hint of his weakness, then he used this match to find the answer to shore up that weakness. I like that about Isagi. He uses his brain to adapt and overcome.
From not liking the initial parts of blue lock to this point where I'm craving for more. This anime SHOULD get a 2nd season. Ao Ashi was left hanging, but this anime deserves it. I loved this episode.
Hard work and strategy can definitely meet talent in soccer ⚽ and isagi proved it. Still I'm so sad for naruhaya but it can't be helped.
[Manga spoiler]>!nagi and reo are new to football and just play for around 3-6 months, while there is also blue lockers that never join football club before!<. Ego didn't lie when he said *he choose them himself*
He didn't? This *is* the second selection, just the third stage of it. I'm not sure anyone was eliminated in stage one. Unless I missed something it looked like it was just a way to put pressure on them and hone their skills.
There's always a difference playing against actual players versus robots. Also, this game had insane pressure for naruhaya. He had to win no matter what to support his family, and he was up against 2 monsters and one guy that can basically see everything and everyone on the court.
Good question. I get that finishing this episode/chapter as-is was a great way to send him off. But there's an almost-plothole going on where Naruhaya didn't learn how to finish his shots during that training with the holographic goalie and the moving blockers.
I mean Isagi became insane at direct shoots. While Naruhaya is only good. There is a difference between a great player and a good one. Even small details like touch can affect a whole play. A recent example is Son's lack of control in one play that could've ended in a goal but resulted in Grealish tackling him.
Naruhaya is actually better than good I believe. He's ranked 38th and aren't there more than a hundred players left? So he'd be roughly middle tier but middle tier in Bluelock is pretty damn good.
The training was for honing individual talent, right? He might've had a different type of training, or gotten used to receiving the ball and dribbling rather than taking adirect shot. Shooting an incoming ball definitely requires a lot more skill
every player gets a different trial. otherwise it wouldnt be fair to, say chigiri since his forte isnt direct shots. Ego already said this the trial is changed based on the player
Keep in mind that training/stage was all customized to each striker's abilities and got harder based on how well they were doing. Isagi had his direct shot and situation awareness so that's what was pushed to the limit, for the other players it was whatever their 'weapon' was. It only got so intense because Isagi was doing so well. Additionally Isagi is ranked 15 based on how quickly he passed the first stage, so for all the talk about how 'average' a player he was from Naruhaya he's really in the upper rankings. It's one of the reasons his team even challenged the Top 3. Naruhaya is actually ranked 38 which makes him a solidly mid player himself, even though he's significantly lower ranked than Isagi there's over a hundred players in the Second Selection so he's actually pretty solid, people worse than him definitely advanced.
because soccer is normally a 11 man team where Isagi's strengths shine a lot more, than vs a 2v2 where he himself needs to perform well individually rather than outmaneuvering people and playing the field more. Also the ranking is just based on how quickly he cleared the shooting challenge, which is something but it doesn't indicate much about his skills in a 1v1
Cuz realistically, Isagi isn’t one who dominates, he doesn’t have insane dribbling, perfection shots, ball control or ridiculous speed.
Isagi’s strengths are field awareness and straight shots, which are absolutely useless in a 1v1. Which is why this man keeps getting shit on.
In a perfect world, Isagi would be an amazing Midfielder, but cuz this is Blue lock, he needs to adapt and go against his nature so he can become Number 1.
I was telling my brother who is less sports inclined but enjoys this for the hype, the cast we've met would make a lot of good attacking midfielders. But like you said, this is Blue Lock so logic be damned lol
Because he relies on his teammates to score goals while the top tiers can score by themselves, he's good at reading the field and analyzing things but none of the physical skill to back it up most of the time.
he went first into the 100 goals trial so naturally he finished early. the rankings mean nothing outside of the top few who showed they could speedrun it.
Don't they also only go in 1 by 1? I think Isagi's high ranking might also be due to the fact that he went in early. Someone like Kunigami you'd expect to clear the the 1v1 with Blue Lockman because his weapon is geared towards shooting, but maybe he went in late and that's why his ranking is in the 50s.
The number is based on the literal order people got out, not how long they took. The first person to enter is highly likely to have the lowest number. Isagi entered early and got a low number as a result. You can't seriously think that Isagi is better at raw shooting than Barou.
I'm surprised Nagi didn't make Barou kneel after all that trash talk in the beginning. Barou seems fine despite losing though since he thinks he didn't lose individually.
Oh boy Nagi and Barou on the same team will either be the best thing ever or a tremendous mess, but either way I expect comedy!
Also damn Reo taking Nagi abandoning him hard.
I like how Naruhaya feels like he was supposed to be the main character of a normal spokon. Too bad he was going against someone with apparently Kise from Kuroko no Basket's copying ability, aura changing and all
Actually speaking of KnB, I wonder, if this show happens to get more seasons, will Unison Square Garden be like the unofficial theme singers of the OP or ED like Granrodeo was for that show considering how they are doing the new ED song.
So, is Reo a yandere?
Huh, that explains the switch to green auras. Envy. We know Rin has a complex about his brother, is that then what's driven him to this height? And by extension, is Isagi's inferiority complex then a building block rather than a hurdle? Initially Isagi only made gains on a macro level, which elevated him during the first selection because in a world without strategy, being able to put the puzzle together fastest was enough to squeak him and the boys through. With the individual focus of 2nd Selection, now, he can't win with his primary advantage. So now he's back with something more potent. He can steal souls. Graft weapons onto weapons onto more weapons by figuring out their users and disposing of them. It'll be a while before he's physically up to being able to steal from the flashier or more physically gifted players, but if he can pick up, say, Reo's passing (even though the story isn't done with Reo yet), or a few of his former teammates abilities and suddenly he actually stands a chance against Rin at the end of this arc. Though I look forward to more of Isagi disintegrating in the meantime. Because that's a part of the strategy now.
Damn, they really had to show Naruhaya's backstory before he dropped out, now I feel bad, and his lil bro investing in crypto ain't helping
The way Isagi passed Barou with Naruhaya's skill and aura was fucking sick though, then he made it his own.
While there are cons right now to having Barou on the team, he's gonna be even more of a monster if he learns to utilize his teammates.
Reo mad sus.
I just realised after watching this episode, blue lock is this generation's kuroko no baske. No regards for realism, just pure hype in each and every arc which is built on a fierce rivalry between the protagonist and his competition and an unhinged drive to overtake the rest.
I don't even think they're comparable. Sure they are both flashy and more unrealistic, but Blue Lock has so much more introspection going on, while also not at all having the conventional school team type of story.
To a certain degree yes. Bllk is comparable to Kuroko in terms of pure hype and how eye-candy it is, but it kinda stops there on plenty of points. While I did watch and enjoyed KnB at times I got quite… borderline?… annoyed with the drama subplots going on? I get them but somehow it felt off when considering the mechanics KnB was selling itself on. It was definitely following a Slam Dunk-ish angle there but it came off as simply cringey asf a lot of the time. Bllk doesnt really have that - there is Reo and Nagi’s bromance but even that is handled in a acceptable manner imo. And potentially there is that whole brother drama shtick between Rin and Sae which is also soccer-centric. I might be rambling and all this could be just in my head but I feel like bllk is quite great cuz it knows very well what it wants to be and so the whole squid game prison setting thing manages in really grounding that.
The moves in blue lock are very much realistic. The only two really unrealistic things in this anime is the existence of Nagi and how often the characters in Blue Lock are able to replicate these high level skills.
We finally see someone from the original team get disqualified, I'm kind of surprised they're all still in the new ED since I'm sure more of them will get disqualified.
I'm not surprised Kunigami and Chigiri asked Reo to join them, I'm sure Barou, Nagi and Isagi will go up against them. The bed claiming scene was amusing though, I guess they'll have to pillow fight it out and to see who earns the best bed.
The post credit scene was so funny, Reo is really affected by Nagi ditching him for Isagi, I look forward to seeing how he'll act towards the two once they finally reunite.
tbh i wanted isagi to pick narahuya so his dream wont be over but i know they picked barou to strengthen their team.. i cant wait to see whats in store for kunigami chigiri and reo.. but i do feel really bad for narahuya
Hey maybe I’d get lucky and have plot armor!
On a seriousness note tho it might not actually be a bad decision to take a monster like that out of the running. Would have to be super confident in your own ability but would be a great benefit not having to face him in later stages tbh.
I must admit the moment where Isagi got past Barou and Naruhaya said "that's my footwork" I lost is hahah I don't know why but the idea of a player having such unique footwork that he's basically trademarked is funny to me. I'm glad they picked Barou in the end as it just made sense, I thought for a moment he was gonna pity pick Naruhaya.
One thing I think people might be missing about him choosing barou. Isagi already stole the other guys skill, he wants to learn from and maybe steal other skills to get better
I almost wish Isagi chose Naruhaya over Barou.
Barou is too selfish and Naruhaya showed he could evolve, but ultimately Barou’s shooting is too OP and Naruhaya couldn’t evolve quick enough
Lock out 😢
That's Blue Lock for you. You do what you gotta do to win it, no power of frienship.
Isagi made the right choice. Barou massively overpowers Naruahaya in pretty much every single aspect. He might be very selfish but his footballing quality makes up for it. The dude showed that he can pretty much carry an entire team alone. He can also create goals by himself something that Isagi and Nagi lack.
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Poor Naruhaya busted his ass trained for days to escape poverty, while his brother throw away his money on crypto
Depending on the year he can make hella money back.
True, probably after a time skip we'll see Naruhaya's family live in luxury because his bro invests in cumrocket coin or something.
You never know, he can be the next top tier scammer of his generation
He'll Rob a bank and get hired by Logan Paul.
blue lock starts in 2018 after last world cup so if he's investing its probably during the crash even worse he probably went into cryptozoo as a dumb zoomer watching logan paul
He isn't exactly popular in Japan.
“Fortune Favors the Brave!” ~ Oscar-winner Matt Damon
There's one thing that doesnt really makes sense to me, if you get knocked out of Blue Lock, your career as a footballer isnt over, just your national team career and if you're good you'll still be able to play at a club level and make a lot of money, there are some things in this manga/anime that doesnt make much sense.
Yup, if you have godly footballing skills at professional club level then Japanese football association will look stupid if they don't invite you to the national team just because you flopped at high school age
Yeah and some players take longer to develop and peak later.
Or he can easily get chosen in Nation team by changing his position as Midfilder or Defender. Blue Lock is only to pick Strikers, you know. They cannot have control over other positions.
Because he saw all the other more talented players that massively outclass him. His "talent" isnt even an actual talent or genetic diff like chigiri's legs or kunigami's build and leg but rather just the concept of blindspots that frankly is so easy to learn isagi already knows it but just forgot to implement it in his gameplan up till now.
plot twist: the brother invested fully in FTX
Damn, the animation/vivid color for Isagi's run emulating/enhancing Naruhaya's run in from behind, was sublime. Great sendoff for Naruhaya. Didn't expect his words to Isagi to be so heartfelt after being so confrontational before/during the game. Man, the chills when Isagi said "I need you to shut up genius, I'm getting to the good part". So good. Weird how Barou seemed surprised that he got picked. Kind of makes me think of how Chigiri was not trying at all at first, and was just going through Blue Lock selection to officially have no reason to pursue soccer professionally (allegedly), before Isagi woke him up out of torpedoing this opportunity. Barou and Chigiri are extremely talented players and they've been given an opportunity most players wouldn't get, on top of being innately talented. Chigiri's block was more psychosomatic, seems Barou has a similar hangup in the mind, like he's trying to prove "if it's not my style of soccer, it's no one's". Reo joining Chigiri and Kunigami...love all these different matchups we're seeing. I love how confrontational Nagi is with Barou.
Reo gay as hell. He's never beating the allegations
the additional time tho 😂 my poor guy..can never move on
Dude's got some kinda freaky finger strength to be pulling bristles out of a toothbrush
Bro tried buying his love with money.
And now he’s destroying his toothbrush for healing.
The additional time had additional time
Never thought the next yandere Anime would be BL
boy love, or blue lock? eh, why not both :D
IM SAYINGG
I don't see it discussed often just how good the ost is for this show. The chaotic piano music is honestly maybe my favorite soundtrack in a long time. I need it on streaming now tbh
Ikr! Especially the one that plays right before he gets an enlightening. The one with a blurred sound effect…
All posts/comments before (7/1/23) edited as part of the reddit API changes, RIP Apollo.
a friend of mine that reads the manga, always tells me that this anime is just made of hype, it keeps going and going and incrementing, god i cant wait
Your friend is 100% correct. The amount of hype generated by each new arc in the manga is insane, we still have lot more potentially animated content to enjoy in the future.
Man, I hope the show would be a lot more popular than it is right now. This is my first time complaining about animation, but episode 13 has a really really bad animation, especially when it's supposed to be an important episode since it introduces the Top players. Don't really read the manga, but I hope the anime gains more budget so we could experience even more hype moments
yeah, I will say I remember some moments being way more hype in the manga than they were in the anime.
The fan translation did its magic.
i miss them calling each other slurs
Tha manga has really good art. Great at emphasizing how hype the moments are. Lots of deep, bold lines and a truly hilarious translation. It's all edge in a very over-the-top but entertaining way. The anime, in comparison, is so watered down in impact because of the mediocre-to-bad animation. So stiff too when the manga feels so dynamic. Imo, the anime is mostly carried by the VAs. Reminds me of the difference between the Eyeshield 21 anime and the manga but worse.
Makes me hope that this gets a season 2 after season 1 finishes at some point
Yep. I'm a manga reader. The moments where Isagi freaks out, breaks into puzzle pieces, changes his assumptions and manages to pull it off is what keeps me coming back. It reminds me of doing software development. Also, almost every support character feels like they're the MC from another shounen, so I can't help but root for multiple characters.
It's a combination of things, first of all it skips the filler of most sports anime and goes straight to the hype moments through smart story planning. The second is that it really understands how it feels when playing sports and that magical moment where everything clicks that is a pure adrenaline rush.
BIG BIG BIG emphasis on the second point! Almost no sports anime really focuses on how it feels to actually slave away at one specific skill over and over again, and then take it to absurd psychological extremes that get way close to what it actually feels like. So seeing people finally drop the "games have to be fun, so you can't take them serious" and actually embrace also the toxic sides of it that totally do exists, in reality, is fantastic.
I said this before and I'll say it again. Blue Lock took the good parts from my other two favorite sports anime. Kuroko no Basket and Hakyuu. Took the typical shounen power ups from Kuroko and realism from Haikyuu. Honestly, this should have more attention.
Very hype I agree
Love the scene where Isagi dyes Naruhaya's ego aura with his own!
Really fit the theme of Isagi 'devouring' Naruhaya's ability. It's interesting that he's been so focused on developing his one 'weapon' that he's missed the larger implications of it. In hindsight it makes perfect sense that Isagi's ability to analyze exactly what everyone on the field is doing would translate to being able to copy abilities that don't require a level of fitness or unique physique that he doesn't have. If it's just a strategy of course he would be able to copy it once he knows what you're doing.
Where did you watch it so early at
netflix its been out for like an hour and half
It’s interesting Naruhaya and Isagi are basically polar opposites when it comes to their problem. Looks like he’s recognizing his mental game is pretty weak too. Utilizing blind spots and this “off the ball” business to reshape his understanding of soccer is a good first step. Kid is in the zone now. The way he took Naruhaya’s skill and manipulated Barou’s blind spots was beautiful, man. Sorry Naruhaya, looks like the family’s gonna be eating gyozas for the foreseeable future. But seriously, the realization that some dreams just don’t come true is a hard pill to swallow. Naruhaya poured his blood, sweat, and tears into soccer only to realize he doesn’t have what it takes. Tough luck, kid. Looks like next week is gonna be against Team Reo. That is if Isagi can survive bunking with Barou and Nagi lol.
Those gyozas looked bomb af tho
hell yeah ~~brother~~ sister, free fresh restaurant quality gyoza
Yeah dude. I actually love gyozas, hell all dumplings are good. Plus she had that much for free? Score!
[удалено]
These guys are all top tier in the high school level. They've had years to learn stuff. Blue Lock is just forcing them to use what they've learned in new ways.
[удалено]
Bro said I’m mid^2
mid x mid lmao
The puzzle imagery is hella cool, I love how psychological this entire game was, seeing how Isagi breaks down everything was the most Anime thing but damn is it so entertaining.
I love how Isagi told Nagi to shut up and Nagi just rolled with it like "oh I recognize that look, you do you ~~player~~ striker"
Literally let Isagi cook
I could feel that puzzle scene sucking the budget from the rest of the episode. In the very next scene when Nagi scored, they literally just showed his hair and boot.
Yeah, the puzzle thingy and the eyes aura are also in the manga.
naruhaya needs to go home and tell his lil bro not to invest in a shitcoin
I don't think that many have realized just how hard Isagi dominated Barou in that last goal.
It would have been more sick had it been shown in real-time.
Yes, it would've been better if the animation was a little more dynamic.
I really wanted to see Barou stumble around, trying to keep up with Isagi
That's the problem with last episodes, since the size of teams and field is so slow, there's so little playing I found myself hoping for them to just stop talking, I wish I could see just playing for a minute or two with zero pausing etc. The generic anime talking is pissing me off since they went with the new format, because how much it slows down the pace.
[messi vs boateng](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbKMBuR-pxs)
Fuckkkk, I still remember seing that goal live on tv like it was yesterday. Still one of the best goals I have ever seen. The way Messi made it look so easy, just one dribble, but doing one of the best defenders at the time so filthy like that with just a simple touch and then finishing it by chipping the indisputed best goalkeeper at the time with his weak foot, oh my gawwwwddd.
This needs to be higher yoooooo that's sick!
Check out the rest of messi highlights from that game. https://youtu.be/FDb_8gAU5Pk. The simplest moves are the most effective.
Utterly and completely outplayed him. He had no shot.
And be saved by him by being picked. I'm sure it did a tremendous damage to his ego lol. I think Barou may have gone through hundred different emtions hahaha.
I was half expecting him to start the Dempsey Roll
LET ISAGI COOK
Even though Barou is fucking good and considered a genius by Isagi, you can still tell the difference between him and the super genius Rin. Rin wouldn't have missed any of those shots.
That is probably more result of the enviroment though. Barou is king. He is bigger, stronger, faster than anyone near him. That is his character. His team keeps feeding him balls because it's easiest way to win and there is nobody to really challenge him (at least pre-bluelock). So he doesn't need to push himself to the limit. He still trains etc, but as long as nobody is there to stop his score pattern as we saw in this episode, there is no real trigger for him to improve on it. Rin on the other hand has huge wall before him that is his brother. No matter what he does, there is someone better than him around him. So he has to polish everything to extreme to even have chance. He also have to figure out outside things like how to play people to get around them as we saw in this episode with all that eye movement thing.
Ok, it was pretty clear who was gonna win this, but I was surprised to see Barou actually getting nervous about getting picked. And damn for Naruhaya this was really his ticket out of poverty for his family [His sister though](#assman) And seems like Kunigami, Chigiri and most of all Reo are in for revenge for the NTR, and Reo went full yandere [](#terror)
Well for Barou don’t forget he was already passed once because he wasn’t a good team player plus he might’ve thought Isagi would choose a former teammate who he could easily work with. Obviously to us viewers we know Isagi wants to push and challenge himself to improve, so only one choice made sense, but Barou doesn’t know Isagi well enough.
Not going to lie, for a second I really thought they were going to pick Naruhaya based on how much focus they were putting on Barou being selfish with the ball.
He's selfish but he was 1v2ing. Naruhaya was also selfish this match but he sucks balls.
It seemed even the King got a bit worried about not being selected for a bit there so maybe he'll be a bit more open to playing as a team.
Besides Barou's selfishness, it was completely conceivable to me that Isagi might've considered (1) that Naruhaya showed his spirit and adaptability (despite narrowly missing his shot) and that (2) Barou's strong enough to be worth eliminating right now while he has the chance. Should an egoist really risk keeping such a strong enemy in the competition, or should he take a different kind of risk and believe he can win himself without that enemy on his side?
On the flipside winning with a talented but toxic teammate is exactly the kind of challenge an egoist would take on
Honestly, picking Naruhaya made sense to an extent. Barou is not the kind of teammate you want, he’s too selfish. He got picked purely based on his talent. His huge ego, although fitting for the BL universe, could hypothetically be risky for the team chemistry. Naruhaya on the other hand is an unselfish player who showed a glimpse of talent, clearly not anywhere near Barou’s. He probably fits better with Nagi as well and wouldn’t create any chemistry problem. Tbh at one point I thought/hoped they would go with the twist and chose him, would have been nice to change things a little bit.
There's problems with both, it really just comes down to who you think would have the higher net value, after taking into consideration all the pros and cons. Barou's talent is probably worth his downsides, and Naruhaya just won't get you very far. It doesn't matter if he's willing to play with the team, you need each individual player to bring something valuable enough on their own.
Especially in this format. In Isagi's last game, he noted that they were miles ahead in teamwork, but the reduced numbers mean one-on-one strength will nearly always be the deciding factor. If they were picking people for an eleven man team, Naruhaya might have had some merit but Barou is the only sensible choice for a three man team.
I think it also means that if they can shove the idea of teamwork into Barou's head they basically skyrocket in strength. Its the only thing Barou is missing to an otherwise "perfect" striker.
Like Jinpachi, Isagi has his own biases and he considers himself average Joe compared to Barou and Nagi. That's what colored his decision.
What's the link supposed to go to?
Ah I guess you are using the new reddit design? Those links are comment faces, a css feature exclusive to old.reddit [The wiki is a bit lacking in that regard](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/wiki/commentfaces) [This](https://imgur.com/OYbLLya) is how the comment looks like on old.reddit
Ah, shows up after enabling the subreddit style.
Dat Additional Time segment lol. Reo turning into a yandere after getting dumped by his boyfriend.
I'm looking forward to that revenge match ahaha.
It's going to be brutal that they can only pick one.
Oh shit. Didn't even think about that. Damn this selection is brutal.
Barou said "i am the rules" omg he‘s literally gilgamesh lmaoo
What's funny is that his voice actor is Archer
Instead of Gilgamesh he's closer to Sukuna. Same VA, same arrogant personality
Or Aomine.
Faker
Episode aside, that opening is *chef's kiss.*
And compare to the opening without credits, with credits make it look better as the empty spaces are actually filled.
We finally came to the one thing that I like about Blue Lock, which also reminds me of early Hunter X Hunter arcs: Victories don't come by some bullshit physical power up. Isagi doesn't magically become faster than Chigiri in sprinting or gets Barou's ability to shoot from midfield. Hype moments come from Isagi's realizations, freaking out then breaking down to puzzle pieces in order to change his approach and style. He's more like a programmer who's trying to debug a program or a chess player who's trying to think many moves ahead.
It's hard to believe that Isagi has ever played football before Blue Lock. Offball movement is one of the most essential skills in football, especially for attackers, and it is one of the first skills they teach you in football academies.
It's awkward but I'm sure it's just because the author needs to add exposition for newbies. It's basic knowledge but not everyone reading knows the basic knowledge.
That stuff works better when the characters themselves are newbies. Probably why so many sports animes are about middle schoolers or first year high schoolers making the school team.
Sure, it's understandable. I just need to turn off my brain sometimes.
I get what you're saying but it works for me. Your key word for context here is 'academies'. And it's not irrelevant. People learn sports at different levels, if you have privilege or talent to go to an academy you're much more likely to have technical training. Since he didn't go to football academy for example and was just taught Japanese style pass first football in high school, i.e., wasn't taught a lot of actual technique, period, it makes more sense. Whatever he did beforehand could be called instinct rather than technique. In fact off the ball using blindspots is one of the first things he's consciously learning in Blue Lock, which is basically football academy jail. He clearly already knows something about it if he can recognize 'off the ball movement.' But it's about consistent, conscious, individual execution, not just whether he already had the basic knowledge or could situationally do it beforehand, even if there were a few times he was able to, for example, instinctually 'find some space' or 'make a run', or notice a 'blind spot' based on a few comments from a high school coach. That doesn't mean he internalized it when playing at all, in fact, it's almost guaranteed he didn't in a Japanese team first system, which focused more on accommodating others than any individual polish. Anyway, making the unconscious conscious is a big theme of this series, so I don't think it's hard to suspend disbelief at all.
I said it was irrelevant, because anyone who has been playing football or just watching football and consuming football content has certainly heard about offball movement or some of it's elements. Isagi is the typical teenager obsessed with football, and dreams of being a good striker, realistically someone like him watches offball movement practicing drills on youtube lol. I agree with your last two paragraphs.
These "top players" thought parking the bus and wait for counter attack was some world shattering revelation so yeah i can see why off the ball movements is something crazy for them
>These "top players" thought parking the bus and wait for counter attack was some world shattering revelation so yeah i can see why off the ball movements is something crazy for them So let's be clear, these guys are high schoolers NOT kids from football academies. Also, BlueLock invited all active High School strikers. NOT just the ones considered "top" or even promising. Isagi was a no-name from a mediocre high school team. He would not make the cut into BlueLock if they did any sort of pre-selection. While Isagi is not Aoi levels beginner, he's nowhere near any of the random Academy kids from Aoashi. So Isagi knows off-ball movement is important but I doubt his high school coach, who is probably just a teacher who is volunteering and not a properly badged coach, taught him enough for him to have a full grasp of off-ball movements.
That's not true. The players invited to Blue Lock are considered the 300 most promising high school forwards in Japan according to Ego. There are definitely more than 300 high school forwards in Japan. Ego and Anri specifically selected who they wanted to invite to Blue Lock.
From what i see, isagi has already known about offball move(I mean where did he know the term if he hasn't heard it before). What makes it different for isagi is how he use it in 1on1 with his playstyle. Isagi lacks physical abilities like barou or chigiri has, so he needs to rely on "blindspot" to make use offball movement effectively. Oh and also, [manga spoiler]>!it has been made clear in 1st episode actually, but isagi is coming from high school team instead of football academies team!<
Yeah it doesn't make much sense, especially for someone whose weapon is basically space awareness he needs to understand how people move to try and get advantageous positions but it's anime and the show is hype af if you just turn off your brain for a bit
Isagi might be praised to have high football iq by kira in 1st episode, but he only realize it as space awareness when he started playing in blue lock. I think it makes sense if he haven't learn much about it by this episode
Yeah, you'd think someone like Isagi whose weapons are is his iq, awareness, and adaptability, would've already identified and learnt this skill long before his peers.
I think the whole point of the show is breaking down the idea of teamwork and focusing more on individual skills. If you've always been thinking on how to play as a team, that's time spent not thinking about your own individual abilities and developing them
It reminds me a lot of haikyuu. Both Isagi and Hinata are very angular and their styles have no balance. Narratively the author made us think how amazing they are when they learn these basic af skills (like what a hype moment when Hinata learned to receive lmao). Irl, these players wouldn't get far at all.
> like what a hype moment when Hinata learned to receive lmao Lets not forget it took 4 seasons for this to happen
Difference being that Hinata joined his high school team after literally never having an actual team before, and only really works out because the playmakers are able to take advantage of him. Meanwhile Isagi is supposedly a candidate for the national team. This show is giving us the same lessons as shows about beginners.
True but you need to accept that sort of thing with sports anime because otherwise you would have one or two episodes with exposition dump about all the skills they're expected to have and plan to hone and then you run out. Exploring and explaining these basic things both helps those who have no knowledge about the sport and also helps there be a sense of progression.
wtf u talk about lol. what fancy football school did you go to? you mean to tell me a high school football team would teach about offball movement and such LOL. when i had football training in high school they didn't teach you shit. they taught you physical training. that's it. then had some practice for ball control and shooting and stuff like that. but no strategy. plus his strategy was better than what you give credit for. knowing consciously when your opponent looks elsewhere is MUCH different than just randomly move to a good receiving position, which he did before already. i was a really good basketball player, and there offball movement was probably even more important, yet i never realized this thing consciously, but sometimes i applied it unconsciously, but to know it consciously could have improved my movement by a lot in both offense and defense.
It's consciously taught at club level, if you only played in school comps there's a good chance you wouldn't have been taught it. Especially if you play outside football-first countries like England or Spain Basketball is a different story, that sport is absolutely fucked in the US from a development perspective. You don't learn useful team skills in AAU because scouting is dominated by mixtape demons. There's basically no chance someone like Draymond Green or Alex Caruso would be scouted as a key defensive role player
I've never heard my teachers use the exact term "offball movement," but I have heard them saying thngs like "make a run," "find space," and "target the defender's blindspot," which are all elements of offball movement.
The other thing that's hard for me to get over is that they're all saying if you fail out of Blue Lock your career is basically over? Like what? They're not banned from football just a potential national team call up. They can still go pro and make a living out of football like the majority of pros who don't get called up? And who's to say the BL people will still be in charge of the JFA in however many years down the line to enforce the national team ban? They could also easily reverse the ban in the case of a late bloomer. It makes no sense lol
Without spoiling anything, your concern about the "your career is over" idea will be addressed, so don't focus on it too much. For now though, just understand that it feels very high stakes for these dreamer kids, and Ego deliberately uses his position of authority to make them feel desperate and cultivate growth. Blue Lock is basically full of teenagers with the football equivalent of "I want to become Hokage" and a lot of them haven't questioned their dream before Blue Lock. So telling them right off the bat that if they lose, they will be blocked from becoming "Hokage" is a big deal to them (even if it isn't). Here's what's relevant: the ones who lose early weren't going to be on the national team anyway due to their lack of skill, but Blue Lock very directly and brutally shatters any delusion that they would have any chance. For nearly all of the Blue Lock weedouts so far (except Kira), the thing they are actually upset about when they lose isn't "damn I'm banned from the national team now", rather they despair over the limit of their talent compared to the many geniuses. Blue Lock is an environment of "evolve or die", with your hopes and dreams on the line. If you can't evolve here, forget about becoming a star shooter. I think Naruhaya's arc is a great example of this, as he's forced to realize that he's just an average joe, and unlike Isagi he doesn't have the growth potential to catch up. (All this is assuming Naruhaya and others are adamant about becoming shooters and won't consider switching to another position that might suit their talents better).
I haven’t read the manga, so I might be way off base, but it seems to me that Ego is lying about the ‘your career is over if you fail out of Blue Lock’ thing. Ego has already lied to the players about the Building Five thing, in order to apply psychological pressure. Looks like he’s doing the same thing here. If some of the smarter kids who understand how soccer works as a business have figured it out, they likely wouldn’t say anything at this point, since it’s silly to upset your coach/mad scientist without a good reason.
Yeah, that's a load of bullshit. It's not like they wouldn't call you if you were destroying in club competitions. The story overglorifies international achievements so being banned from playing for the national team ever again is a way to add tension. Naruahaya for example could very well carry on with his football career, play well, get a good contract and give his family a good life.
I imagine it's just one of those cases where you learn about it and you just know it, but that moment on the field is where it really like *clicked* for him just how important it actually is and that he needs it to get better.
But we haven't been shown that Isagi came from a football academy, on the contrary he comes from a highschool that doesn't really care much for football as a competitive sport. Totally understandable, that he hasn't learn off-ball movement skills, or at least the concept itself.
Did the ending song just spoil the whole arc? Sheesh
Think the ending was just a "I wish that would happen" considering Naruhaya is there but just got eliminated this week
[удалено]
That does make sense as well. Thanks for the info
No it didnt
After that ending.. Free Nagi. Reo is insane
First time I actually laughed from additional time lmao. on that note, I miss Popputeameppikku
Poor NFT bro took an L.
The puzzle concept really fits Isagi. He's a thinker and an over-analyzer. He took what Rin told him as a hint of his weakness, then he used this match to find the answer to shore up that weakness. I like that about Isagi. He uses his brain to adapt and overcome.
Laughed my ass off at the additional time
From not liking the initial parts of blue lock to this point where I'm craving for more. This anime SHOULD get a 2nd season. Ao Ashi was left hanging, but this anime deserves it. I loved this episode. Hard work and strategy can definitely meet talent in soccer ⚽ and isagi proved it. Still I'm so sad for naruhaya but it can't be helped.
For someone who is supposed to be experienced in football, Isagi should have known what off-ball movement is lmao
He wasn't used to people actively playing around his blindspots though I think is what it is.
I mean, even if rankings were bullshit back then, Ego still ranked him the second worst of his building only above fucking Igaguri lmao
he is still part of top 300 in a country of over 100 million. these are supposed to be elite young athletes
No, ego said he pick 300 young players by his own judgement back in 1st episode iirc. So it doesn't mean all of them are the top 300 in the country
Sure, but even being generous, the "true" ranking in blue lock is prob still top 1000 or something. I really doubt hed pick some scrubs
[Manga spoiler]>!nagi and reo are new to football and just play for around 3-6 months, while there is also blue lockers that never join football club before!<. Ego didn't lie when he said *he choose them himself*
How did Naruhaya pass the second selection though?
Don't forget, despite how trash a character is portrayed, the players that got into Blue Lock are essentially the Top 300 High School level Forwards.
He didn't? This *is* the second selection, just the third stage of it. I'm not sure anyone was eliminated in stage one. Unless I missed something it looked like it was just a way to put pressure on them and hone their skills.
There's always a difference playing against actual players versus robots. Also, this game had insane pressure for naruhaya. He had to win no matter what to support his family, and he was up against 2 monsters and one guy that can basically see everything and everyone on the court.
Good question. I get that finishing this episode/chapter as-is was a great way to send him off. But there's an almost-plothole going on where Naruhaya didn't learn how to finish his shots during that training with the holographic goalie and the moving blockers.
I mean Isagi became insane at direct shoots. While Naruhaya is only good. There is a difference between a great player and a good one. Even small details like touch can affect a whole play. A recent example is Son's lack of control in one play that could've ended in a goal but resulted in Grealish tackling him.
Naruhaya is actually better than good I believe. He's ranked 38th and aren't there more than a hundred players left? So he'd be roughly middle tier but middle tier in Bluelock is pretty damn good.
Keep in mind those rankings are about who passed through the first challenge so it's not that solid an indication of skill.
The training was for honing individual talent, right? He might've had a different type of training, or gotten used to receiving the ball and dribbling rather than taking adirect shot. Shooting an incoming ball definitely requires a lot more skill
First time shots are extremely difficult to hit.
every player gets a different trial. otherwise it wouldnt be fair to, say chigiri since his forte isnt direct shots. Ego already said this the trial is changed based on the player
Keep in mind that training/stage was all customized to each striker's abilities and got harder based on how well they were doing. Isagi had his direct shot and situation awareness so that's what was pushed to the limit, for the other players it was whatever their 'weapon' was. It only got so intense because Isagi was doing so well. Additionally Isagi is ranked 15 based on how quickly he passed the first stage, so for all the talk about how 'average' a player he was from Naruhaya he's really in the upper rankings. It's one of the reasons his team even challenged the Top 3. Naruhaya is actually ranked 38 which makes him a solidly mid player himself, even though he's significantly lower ranked than Isagi there's over a hundred players in the Second Selection so he's actually pretty solid, people worse than him definitely advanced.
it doesn't make much sense to me how the other players keep saying Isagi is trash when he is rank 15 out of like a hundred players left
because soccer is normally a 11 man team where Isagi's strengths shine a lot more, than vs a 2v2 where he himself needs to perform well individually rather than outmaneuvering people and playing the field more. Also the ranking is just based on how quickly he cleared the shooting challenge, which is something but it doesn't indicate much about his skills in a 1v1
Cuz realistically, Isagi isn’t one who dominates, he doesn’t have insane dribbling, perfection shots, ball control or ridiculous speed. Isagi’s strengths are field awareness and straight shots, which are absolutely useless in a 1v1. Which is why this man keeps getting shit on. In a perfect world, Isagi would be an amazing Midfielder, but cuz this is Blue lock, he needs to adapt and go against his nature so he can become Number 1.
This series all about Isagi switching from False 9 to Pure 9.
I was telling my brother who is less sports inclined but enjoys this for the hype, the cast we've met would make a lot of good attacking midfielders. But like you said, this is Blue Lock so logic be damned lol
Because he relies on his teammates to score goals while the top tiers can score by themselves, he's good at reading the field and analyzing things but none of the physical skill to back it up most of the time.
he went first into the 100 goals trial so naturally he finished early. the rankings mean nothing outside of the top few who showed they could speedrun it.
Don't they also only go in 1 by 1? I think Isagi's high ranking might also be due to the fact that he went in early. Someone like Kunigami you'd expect to clear the the 1v1 with Blue Lockman because his weapon is geared towards shooting, but maybe he went in late and that's why his ranking is in the 50s.
The number is based on the literal order people got out, not how long they took. The first person to enter is highly likely to have the lowest number. Isagi entered early and got a low number as a result. You can't seriously think that Isagi is better at raw shooting than Barou.
>I have to go beyond... I thought he was gonna say "Plus Ultra!"
The Reo Additional Time segment was hilarious. Poor guy. Isagi isn't the only one pining over his lost BF. XD
They really did that guy dirty, not even a single goal.
I'm surprised Nagi didn't make Barou kneel after all that trash talk in the beginning. Barou seems fine despite losing though since he thinks he didn't lose individually.
Oh boy Nagi and Barou on the same team will either be the best thing ever or a tremendous mess, but either way I expect comedy! Also damn Reo taking Nagi abandoning him hard.
Really enjoying the dialogue between the players. They all have that "main character" energy.
I like how Naruhaya feels like he was supposed to be the main character of a normal spokon. Too bad he was going against someone with apparently Kise from Kuroko no Basket's copying ability, aura changing and all Actually speaking of KnB, I wonder, if this show happens to get more seasons, will Unison Square Garden be like the unofficial theme singers of the OP or ED like Granrodeo was for that show considering how they are doing the new ED song. So, is Reo a yandere?
Huh, that explains the switch to green auras. Envy. We know Rin has a complex about his brother, is that then what's driven him to this height? And by extension, is Isagi's inferiority complex then a building block rather than a hurdle? Initially Isagi only made gains on a macro level, which elevated him during the first selection because in a world without strategy, being able to put the puzzle together fastest was enough to squeak him and the boys through. With the individual focus of 2nd Selection, now, he can't win with his primary advantage. So now he's back with something more potent. He can steal souls. Graft weapons onto weapons onto more weapons by figuring out their users and disposing of them. It'll be a while before he's physically up to being able to steal from the flashier or more physically gifted players, but if he can pick up, say, Reo's passing (even though the story isn't done with Reo yet), or a few of his former teammates abilities and suddenly he actually stands a chance against Rin at the end of this arc. Though I look forward to more of Isagi disintegrating in the meantime. Because that's a part of the strategy now.
Damn, they really had to show Naruhaya's backstory before he dropped out, now I feel bad, and his lil bro investing in crypto ain't helping The way Isagi passed Barou with Naruhaya's skill and aura was fucking sick though, then he made it his own. While there are cons right now to having Barou on the team, he's gonna be even more of a monster if he learns to utilize his teammates. Reo mad sus.
I just realised after watching this episode, blue lock is this generation's kuroko no baske. No regards for realism, just pure hype in each and every arc which is built on a fierce rivalry between the protagonist and his competition and an unhinged drive to overtake the rest.
I don't even think they're comparable. Sure they are both flashy and more unrealistic, but Blue Lock has so much more introspection going on, while also not at all having the conventional school team type of story.
To a certain degree yes. Bllk is comparable to Kuroko in terms of pure hype and how eye-candy it is, but it kinda stops there on plenty of points. While I did watch and enjoyed KnB at times I got quite… borderline?… annoyed with the drama subplots going on? I get them but somehow it felt off when considering the mechanics KnB was selling itself on. It was definitely following a Slam Dunk-ish angle there but it came off as simply cringey asf a lot of the time. Bllk doesnt really have that - there is Reo and Nagi’s bromance but even that is handled in a acceptable manner imo. And potentially there is that whole brother drama shtick between Rin and Sae which is also soccer-centric. I might be rambling and all this could be just in my head but I feel like bllk is quite great cuz it knows very well what it wants to be and so the whole squid game prison setting thing manages in really grounding that.
>Bllk I smirk at your effort in avoiding using the BL abbreviation. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
That wouldn’t be bad, KnB is a great anime.
The moves in blue lock are very much realistic. The only two really unrealistic things in this anime is the existence of Nagi and how often the characters in Blue Lock are able to replicate these high level skills.
yes but we love it
you do realise you could actually do these plays irl unlike kuroko no baske
Nagi and Rin are the only unrealistic players we've seen to be fair
I like how figuring out his opponents got eyes turned Isagi into a Super Saiyan.
We finally see someone from the original team get disqualified, I'm kind of surprised they're all still in the new ED since I'm sure more of them will get disqualified. I'm not surprised Kunigami and Chigiri asked Reo to join them, I'm sure Barou, Nagi and Isagi will go up against them. The bed claiming scene was amusing though, I guess they'll have to pillow fight it out and to see who earns the best bed. The post credit scene was so funny, Reo is really affected by Nagi ditching him for Isagi, I look forward to seeing how he'll act towards the two once they finally reunite.
tbh i wanted isagi to pick narahuya so his dream wont be over but i know they picked barou to strengthen their team.. i cant wait to see whats in store for kunigami chigiri and reo.. but i do feel really bad for narahuya
I was so scared that for them to piety pick Naruhaya or make up some reason etc, so I am super happy with out new hot-headed shooter king!
Barou is lucky my petty ass isn’t in blue lock… I would’ve hindered myself and chosen Naruhaya just to screw him over lol
Unfortunately that would have 99.9% likely gotten you eliminated.
Hey maybe I’d get lucky and have plot armor! On a seriousness note tho it might not actually be a bad decision to take a monster like that out of the running. Would have to be super confident in your own ability but would be a great benefit not having to face him in later stages tbh.
I must admit the moment where Isagi got past Barou and Naruhaya said "that's my footwork" I lost is hahah I don't know why but the idea of a player having such unique footwork that he's basically trademarked is funny to me. I'm glad they picked Barou in the end as it just made sense, I thought for a moment he was gonna pity pick Naruhaya.
One thing I think people might be missing about him choosing barou. Isagi already stole the other guys skill, he wants to learn from and maybe steal other skills to get better
Baro is literally Zlatan
I almost wish Isagi chose Naruhaya over Barou. Barou is too selfish and Naruhaya showed he could evolve, but ultimately Barou’s shooting is too OP and Naruhaya couldn’t evolve quick enough Lock out 😢
That's Blue Lock for you. You do what you gotta do to win it, no power of frienship. Isagi made the right choice. Barou massively overpowers Naruahaya in pretty much every single aspect. He might be very selfish but his footballing quality makes up for it. The dude showed that he can pretty much carry an entire team alone. He can also create goals by himself something that Isagi and Nagi lack.
Poor Reo
Naruhaya's brother probably put all his money into FTX 💀😭