Blue Lock

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.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Blue Lock won the 45th Kodansha Manga Awards in the Shounen category in 2021.

The series has been published digitally in English by Kodansha Comics USA since March 16, 2021, and in print since June 21, 2022. The series has also been simulpub through K Manga. It has also been released in French by Pika Édition since June 2, 2021; in Italian by Panini Comics since July 29, 2021; and in Polish by Waneko since August 5, 2022.

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Bachira, Meguru

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Isagi, Yoichi

Main

Chigiri, Hyouma

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Kunigami, Rensuke

Main

Nagi, Seishirou

Supporting

Itoshi, Rin

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Barou, Shouei

Supporting

Shidou, Ryuusei

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Mikage, Reo

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Kaiser, Michael

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Reviews

Nov 13, 2022

merope28

Recommended

Preliminary (108/? eps)

Honestly, out of all the sports anime I have read or watched, this was by far the most interesting. It doesn't focus on "friendship" but rather the "selfishness" and "egoism" of each character. I think stories like these are more realistic because it brings out the true human nature in people. What I mean by this is that the selfishness and egoism of humans are displayed. The characters rely on their egoism throughout the manga to achieve their goal. The main character is very interesting and so are the people around him. I highly recommend this manga because each chapter is amazing! Props to the ...

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Jun 29, 2020

yubarii

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (73/? eps)

Lots of 'first time reviewers' for Blue Lock, huh. I have some thoughts.

I understand why one would enjoy Blue Lock. The art and characters are real pretty, and it's hype in the way of popular sports series like Haikyuu and Kuroko, in the way that definitely eventually guarantees an anime season or two.

I just can't help but feel that the series misses the point of football? Blue Lock is about owning up to your own selfishness and ego as a player in order to prove your superior football skillz.It's interesting but, the problem is that soccer is.. truly a team sport. It doesn't matter ...

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Jun 20, 2021

Est

Not Recommended

Preliminary (135/? eps)

Blue Lock… is not a football manga. Blue Lock is to football as Dragon Ball Z is to martial arts. This is a superpowered battle shonen in a football skin, though that skin is, admittedly, absolutely gorgeous.

Now that’s not necessarily bad — Kuroko’s Basketball does the same thing pretty well — but Blue Lock is plagued by a myriad of other issues. Of these, the most pressing one in my mind is its focus on the idea of egoism. See, Blue Lock desperately wants to say something, and the something it lands on is the idea that the best football players are those that discard ... the idea of winning and trample their teammates all in the goal of attaining personal glory. Now, whether or not you think that idea has any merit, it is at least an idea, and a pretty refreshing one at that. Where it falls flat, however, is in the execution.

I find it difficult to believe that Blue Lock’s ideas were fully thought through in the early stages of its serialisation, as many of the series’ stated themes are actively proven to be wrong even within the context of this story. At times, the series can feel like it’s fighting itself, almost as though its themes are getting in the way of the mangaka telling the story. The series perpetually feels like it’s on the cusp of realising that its ideas don’t make sense, which can make it pretty frustrating to read.

I also struggle to imagine anyone who’s fond of football finding much to like here. At its worst, Blue Lock comes off as a grotesque bastardisation of the sport, and feels almost disrespectful to those who play any role other than striker. It feels like a series that kinda… hates football, caring far more about the aesthetic and pointless showboating than about representing the sport in a way that is anything resembling authentic.

Now all of this can still work for a series with a strong enough cast. A good cast can make up for some of the worst grievances in fiction. And at a cursory glance, Blue Lock might appear to fulfil this requirement. It has some really bright and vibrant designs, and a lot of the characters have really bombastic and fun personalities. However, the characters that we spend the bulk of our time focusing on, especially as the series progresses, are some of the most dour and bland characters imaginable. Many of the series’ most prominent characters suck the joy out of any scene they’re in, especially when on the field.

The area that Blue Lock undeniably excels in most is its artwork. It’s dynamic and fun and it packs a punch in a way that few sports series do, but this is marred by the numerous issues I mentioned above, which often results in moments that would otherwise be fun leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I think that if the series were to play more to its strengths, being a rip-roaring good time, rather than attempting to frame things around Ego’s ideals, it’d make for a much less disappointing series.

Truthfully, I didn’t start this review intending to be this negative. But the more I thought about this series, the more its issues stood out to me. Blue Lock isn’t a series I could ever really see myself recommending to people in its current state, but hey at least it’s pretty.

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Poll: Blue Lock Chapter 279 Discussion deg - Oct 11	11 replies	by jjaxwolf »» 1 hour ago
Poll: Blue Lock Chapter 2 Discussion Stark700 - May 25, 2019	29 replies	by nixlm7 »» Oct 12, 10:45 PM
Poll: Blue Lock Chapter 278 Discussion deg - Oct 5	11 replies	by ryzxgum »» Oct 9, 8:25 PM
Poll: Blue Lock Chapter 277 Discussion deg - Sep 28	9 replies	by ryzxgum »» Oct 9, 8:20 PM
Poll: Blue Lock Chapter 94 Discussion Phloup - Jul 28, 2020	11 replies	by a0i-kun »» Oct 6, 9:22 PM

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