Blue Lock is a manga that takes the sports genre of anime and reinvents the tropes that are usually typical of the genre.
The sports genre in manga/anime is usually a variation of the shounen genre instead of characters fighting each other with massive swords or magical abilities in their fists. The characters fight each other in varying competitive sports like volleyball, basketball, or even tennis. The basic premise of characters showing the reader/viewer the logic behind each and every one of their actions still remains the same and the end goal usually is to become the best at whatever one is doing, and in order to do so the characters must be competitive with one other. Even attempting to surpass those who are initially far superior to them in strength. Blue Lock is the same in this regard. Still, I find it refreshing compared to most sports anime because many sports anime follow the typical trend of characters wanting to be recognised as individuals that are at the top of their own sports, and usually to achieve this teamwork is usually necessary in order to draw out one’s own abilities. Selfishness is usually something that is discouraged and it always team first before the individual.
Blue Lock rejects that philosophy from even the beginning chapter when Ego, the person who created the Blue Lock project, stresses that it is this exact same reason why Japanese football continues to fail. Ego wants those in Blue Lock to strive to be the best, he isn’t necessarily discouraging teamwork but moreso suggests that teamwork naturally falls into place when a person has their own individual desire to score and win. Characters achieve this by devouring one another’s attempts at goals.
Devouring in Blue Lock is the basic premise of a character seeking to steal the chance for their teammates from scoring goals over them rather than assist them in it. This leads to many cool instances where characters improve to a rapid degree and even despite Isagi being the main character the series isn’t selective on who the characters that should improve should be. Everyone improves and even though Isagi uniquely improves because he’s the protagonist, any other character in Blue Lock could take the same stage as the protagonist like Isagi.
Personally, I actually agree with Ego’s thinking with regards to putting one’s self before the team, if everyone on a team has the desire to win they won’t only try to score goals alone but will look for ways they can properly coordinate and interact with their teammates in order to achieve goals for themselves. When characters are forced to assist someone else in a goal Blue Lock portrays that the one giving the assist to another player for their supporting goal had lost in a battle of skill, breeding a competitive spirit in which everyone on the team is always trying to score.
As a result of this, all the characters in Blue Lock are forced to be solid characters in their own right as by its very design since Blue Lock is trying to create one striker who can rise above everyone else, those who are participating must do their best to shine above others and work hard to get their own spotlight. It surprised me how no one in Blue Lock ever felt rushed or underdeveloped, and despite the myriad of characters present within the narrative, I cared for and understood all of them. Credit to that goes to the fact that Isagi, the story’s protagonist, is used very well throughout the narrative and his character arc perfectly represents the goal of what the project Blue Lock is trying to achieve.
Isagi initially appears to be a character who is bland and isn’t one who is extraordinary or special, his main physical attribute being that he can perform a direct shot very well. Although he is much more than that as Isagi has a drive and motivation to improve that surpasses every character in Blue Lock. He begins to foster this ego, which becomes frightening, constantly seeking ways to improve the way he views football as a sport. One of the ways he does this is his ability to analyze the situation on a field and be aware of everyone’s positions; from there, Isagi is able to organize and arrange a simulation of what would need to happen in order for his direct shot to be effective in scoring goals. In the story, he discovers his ability to do this after coming to the conclusion that he can 'smell goals', which just means that he can intuitively feel when people on the field have the opportunity to score a goal. Whether it be because the enemies' defenses are weak or when a character has the skill to create their own opportunity for scoring a goal. So what turns out to be an ability that is useless on its own becomes a dangerous weapon, as Isagi constantly changes through the course of a battle and seeks to ‘devour and destroy the ego of others who are much more skilled than he is.
As a final note regarding Blue Lock, everything about it is so well exemplified by the artwork. The intensity in battle. The emotion possessed by characters, and when a goal that had a lot of buildup to achieve is scored it feels exhilarating. The anime fails to capture what the manga is able to do so well, this doesn't necessarily mean the anime is bad, most of Blue Lock’s intense moments in the anime attempt to replicate the manga art. But it’s difficult to ignore how the initial buildup has less weight to it due to poor CGI and animation stills that are used to save costs. So what is a series that’s always fast-paced in action and storytelling, is reduced to an average sports series with some cool moments.
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