Blue Lock

Welcome to the world of Rivalries, Selfishness, and Egoists, that is what Blue Lock is, what it’s about, and what drives this self-centered sports animation by Author Muneyuki Kaneshiro.

Some of you may know that I consider soccer a sport I won’t even glance twice at, even though I played it when I was younger, now I simply can’t stand it.

I feel like I’m watching a group of grown men mindlessly chasing a ball around a field for ninety minutes and by some chance, if any of these men from the opposite team dare collide with another, watch these grown men become total feminists – as if two shoulders coming into contact with one another could be the end of the world, but once the referee rings his whistle they stand up, walk away as if nothing happened, it’s incredible stupidly and that’s why I can’t stand it.

However, Blue Lock is out of this world.

Yoichi Isagi was mere moments away from scoring a goal that would have sent his high school soccer team to the nationals, but a split-second decision to pass the ball to his teammate cost him that reality.

Bitter, confused, and disappointed, Isagi wonders if the outcome would have been different had he not made the pass. When the young striker returns home, an invitation from the Japan Football Union awaits him. Through an arbitrary and biased decision-making process, Isagi is one of three hundred U-18 strikers selected for a controversial project named Blue Lock.

The project’s ultimate goal is to turn one of the selected players into the star striker for the Japanese national team. To find the best participant, each diamond in the rough must compete against others through a series of solo and team competitions to rise to the top.

Putting aside his ethical objections to the project, Isagi feels compelled to fight his way to the top, even if it means ruthlessly crushing the dreams of 299 aspiring young strikers.

The chaos unfolds when we meet the mastermind behind Blue Lock, Jinpachi Ego. Who places players according to their ranking beginning from 1 to 300, once divided they’re placed in their respective teams of 11 ranked from Team B being the best to Team Z, being the worst.

Isagi is ranked 299 meaning he’s placed in the worst team in the facility, Team Z.

This makes it clear why they’re considered the worst team in the facility, from the jump you had players on Team Z stealing the ball from one another, no one wants to be the goalkeeper because, in the outside world, their all strikers and the message of blue lock is – that only the one with the most ego can become the best striker in the world.

In other words, there’s no need to rely on a team, just simply give me the ball and I will produce results.

On this road to becoming the best striker in the world, Isagi runs into Egoists bigger than him, better than him, faster than him which forces the young man to take a deeper looker at himself and identify what makes him unique, what he has that others don’t, where is he lacking and how can he compensate for what’s missing.

Thus, the birth of Adaptability and Retrospective begins to fuel Isagi, leading the boy that was once thought of by other players as no-threat to become the biggest game changer on the field.

Blue Lock steals your eyes and attention with minimum effort but produces exceptional results.

How does it do this?

Just as soccer has its amazing moments on the field whether it be a goal from an impossible angle, half line, or daring free-kick. It’s unprecedented moments such as these that keep the sport alive with fans burning with excitement to see another unequaled moment like this in history.

However, Blue Lock seems to run on a machine single-mindedly engineered with the greatest of detail on every gear and rotisserie to produce nothing but aggressive excitement.

This is shown by its vivid auras, crooked smiles, abrasive characters, and flashy finishers which leave you screaming uncontrollably and clenching your fist as if your heart is about to give way.

And just when you think it couldn’t get even better, it raises the stakes by placing an impossible situation in front of you and you are left wondering, how will so and so overcome it – at this point of the series you’ve gotten a basic understanding of the individuals’ skills and yet your still left speechless.

It dives deep into the background stories of the characters you meet, more especially when they appear at first sight as an antagonist that’s determined to ruin Isagi’s career, so you’re forced to take a closer look before making any judgments or unnecessary assumptions about someone, which is one of the great aspects about it.

Blue Lock is more than just a sports genre adaptation, it’s a declaration to all to never give up, to find what’s unique about yourself and exploit it to the best of your ability.

Find that niche in your, use it, exploit it, harness it, and adapt it to suit whatever environment you’re in but no matter what, do not ever lose hope.

Blue Lock is a Japanese manga series written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by Yusuke Nomura. It has been serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine since August 2018.

I give Blue Lock a 4.6 out of 5 rating.

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Until next time, stay blessed.