Shounen Blue Lock by Muneyuki Kaneshiro & Yuusuke Nomura

[Brandish μ]

Blue Lock
by Muneyuki Kaneshiro (Story) & Yuusuke Nomura (Art)
Serialised in Weekly Shounen Magazine
Genre - Sports​

Synopsis: After reflecting on the current state of Japanese soccer, the Japanese Football Association decides to hire the enigmatic and eccentric coach Jinpachi Ego to achieve their dream of winning the World Cup. Believing that Japan has lacked an egoistic striker hungry for goals, Jinpachi initiates the Blue Lock—a prison-like facility where three hundred talented strikers from high schools all over Japan are isolated and pitted against each other. The sole survivor of Blue Lock will earn the right to become the national team's striker, and those who are defeated shall be banned from joining the team forever.

Selected to join this risky project is Yoichi Isagi, a striker who failed to bring his high school soccer team to the national tournament. After choosing to pass to a teammate who missed instead of scoring on his own, he could not help but wonder if the results would have been different had he been more selfish. Using this golden opportunity given by the Blue Lock Project, Yoichi aims to clear his doubts and chase his ultimate desire—to become the greatest striker in the world and lead Japan to World Cup glory.

Image, info and synopsis sourced from MAL

 

[Brandish μ]

After seeing some favourable remarks in the WSM discussion thread, I decided to give this a shot.

Good so far, 30ish chaps in.

The focus is on the individual, to be the best striker for a soccer team. Which sounds like it's a reverse of the common team story, and that's true for a certain extent, but it's a different perspective for sports. This story is more about being the best you can be, rather than winning something. For now, Ego (the guy in charge) is super fixated on bringing out the ego of one of the remaining high schoolers at Blue Lock. Ego looks edgy and you can say the same about how he talks and acts - but, the reason his character works is because he makes good points when he's being harsh and it usually has a deeper meaning. And those meanings are, imo, facts of life. Bringing forth someone's ego in the sense that I see it in this manga so far is a rite of passage so to speak. Isolate these guys in a facility and put them to the test. Let them find out who they are, what their 'foundation' is, then start to put the scaffolding around them to build up - 'hone their weapon/s'. In harsh adversity these boys can flourish. This isn't just about being strong, this is something you need to do if you want to win, period.

The 'individual' aspect reminds me of One Outs, where Tokuchi Toua's belief of a strong team is one where the individual was willing to trample on others to be the best, and that hunger would inherently help the team.

I'm curious to see whether Ego is trying to make 'one' striker, or he'll take a bunch of these guys. Would make no sense to me at all if he takes just the one if there are several on offer. It's likely that the rule of 1 out of 300 is the optimum condition to drive them to where he wants to be.

Art is good too. And we got Anri for some fanservice-chan.

 

[Mankichi Togawa]

I'm so happy to see the entire manga to be finally scanlated.

And I feel we are slowly entering into "anime announcement in any moment" terrain.

 

[Ramen]

Might pick this one up. Never really liked Sports-based shows but this one seems different.

 

[Wookitake]

The art is really good

 

[Norhis]

So who's your Favorite Blue Lock character?

 

[Orion]

Caught up! Blue Lock now holds 2nd place on my sports series ranking, Haikyuu 1st.

The intense competition coupled with top-tier art, I mean those double spreads go harder than no other , creates for quite an adrenaline rush. I disagreed with the initial philosophy and the dialogue can be over the top, but the entertainment more than makes up for it and Ego's sermons have gotten better. Sit back and enjoy the show.

One concern i have right now is the pacing. The current match while good, has been a bit too long, and we still have 2 more matches with Isagi, especially one against Rin, and then snippets from others, makes me wonder how long this arc will stretch. On the other hand, want to say Ego's Neo league was an absolutely brilliant idea, love it.

Best Matches: Blue Lock vs. U-20 > Team Isagi vs. Team Rin 2nd selection > Isagi, Nagi, and Barou vs. Chigiri, Reo, Kunigami

Favorite characters:

Bachira: Best boy, his combination of personality and playstyle, puts him at top for me. His development in the 2nd stage, coming into his own was great, and his further evolution in the Neo-league was a fun sight. Plus his backstory was cute and Bachi-mama

Barou: The King is awesome, definitely the best aura in the series. His goal in the U-20 match is my favorite moment in the series. He's got the best combination of size, athleticism, and skill in Blue Lock. While the villainous, one vs all playstyle is cool, he's got to improve on it and play team-oriented. Hopefully, we see that in the Neo-league.

Nagi: Honestly, just love his approach, so simple-minded and easy-going. The spectacular goals are the cherry on top.

Beyond them, I like Chigiri, Isagi, Aiku, Hiori, and Shidou. The masters so far have been pretty good too, pretty hype when they enter the game.

Regarding Isagi, pretty solid mc. My favorite part of him is how he always returns back trash-talk. Also, looks like he's putting it all together and becoming a great player, whereas before he had great moments, but was overall inferior to the top guys.

My least favorite is easily Kunigami right now. Always found his style boring, and now from the wildcard, he's just stronger and can use his other leg. His play has been extremely mediocre in the Neo-league, on defense he's a turnstile and on offense, really nothing noteworthy to speak of besides getting 2 undeserved goals . His stats should be C pass, C dribble, A/B offense, S/A shoot, S physical, D defense. To top it off, he now has this shitty, edgelord personality, which I'm glad the other players have remarked upon him. I mean, unless players literally died in the wildcard survival, his attitude doesn't make much sense.

Reo was my initial most hated because of his annoying obessision and possession of Nagi, but he's tolerable now.

 

[Orion]

Barou is HIM! He, Snuffy, and Lorenzo the top trio in NEL.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 29, 2023, Original Post Date: Apr 24, 2023 ---

@Brandish μ @Hermit I recall both of you mention the series when the anime first started, did you guys continue to follow?

 

[Hermit]

@Brandish μ @Hermit I recall both of you mention the series when the anime first started, did you guys continue to follow?

I finished the anime, currently waiting for season 2 and the movie. But yes, I'm quite intrigued in the series

My favorites so far are Nagi, Chigiri, Bachira and Rin.

 

[Orion]

I finished the anime, currently waiting for season 2 and the movie. But yes, I'm quite intrigued in the series

My favorites so far are Nagi, Chigiri, Bachira and Rin.

Personally, the manga>anime, as the art simply pops off while the animation dipped a good amount in the 2nd cour tho the soundtrack is top tier. Movie should be interesting as it covers Nagi's spinoff.

Good list, tho I'm mixed with Rin, you'd find out why later.

 

[Brandish μ]

@BD_Beno I'm gonna binge the anime at some point. Same with the manga - unless the anime does a really good job with it. (nice write up btw)

 

[Orion]

Kaiser's a bitch, but damn that was a magnificent goal. He's able to do stuff like this, and yet still does petty shit and sabotage. Well, there are real life athletes like that too.

 

[Orion]

Warou! That's why he's the MVP! The King!

Have to say he's the player who has taken the biggest steps in NEL. First, excelling in a system approach and now coordinating his own goal bending everyone to his will.

 

[Darklord#10]

Barou is HIM

FACTS. he's my favorite character in blue lock

Btw I just started the manga I fell in love with the anime. How can a manga be filled with so many HIMs and I'm a simp for anri

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 4, 2023, Original Post Date: Sep 4, 2023 ---

I love isagi to ESPECIALLY he's two sided personality

 

[Orion]

The Don!

 

[Darklord#10]

RIN ITOSHI ngl almost everyone is cool in blue lock but barou and isagi are my favorite characters

 

[Orion]

At this point, don't really care about the result of the match. All I know is Barou has been the best player in NEL so far. At worst, he will be Top 3 by the end of the arc and should be starting for the U-20 squad.

Come at the King, you best not miss. Warou to Lisagi and Laiser, get that weak shit outta here.

 

[Brandish μ]

Thanks for the Omar quote

 

[Orion]

Overall weak ending to Ubers vs. BM. The winning goal itself was good, and the concept of two meta-vision hooking up is fine. But, damn the outcome was forced as hell when Hiori came in. The series has been anything but predictable, but the plot armor for this one was just bad.

 

[Orion]

The Nagi-Reo duo is so bad. Since Nagi teamed back up with Reo, my guy has devolved into a post-game reporter. Reo is back to being annoying again too.