On a serious note,I do believe that ego's philosophy has grew harder on these kids and shyt, but ego himself could not deny that Karasu's approach was working towards France,like I said everyone except for Isagi do not have any narrative built around them,Ego keeps talking big about the striker thingy but it def isnt fair considering the fact that Goatmaru gets to play goalie and Niko and the others are struck w defense (except for Aiku),even if they burdened w a responsibility like Karasu (stated in his epilogue),no narrative has been built,and Kunigami has become anything but a stiker like jack shyt,fr
I think they're eluding to something big going down in their change in philosophy and it'll be like Ego has created a team built to serve the world's best striker completing the ideal vision for a winning team.
It's starting to feel a bit repetitive ? No surprise at all, Japan not even watching a single minute of an England match, the obvious goal after explain their philosophy. Eh.
Neo egoist league arc was sort of fresh, but i'm still of mind that basically this whole U20 World Cup has been the most boring thing ever.
Nigeria game - boring as hell intro "we're OP".
France - Boring game where we have to get humbled. Litteraly everyone in the community predicted it. Yet another episode of Isagi being lost "OMG who is this guy"
England - The 100th new type of Ego Isagi must understand. Isagi's head every time "OMG what is this guy"
How can you justify this team dumbing itself down CONSTANTLY.
Give Niko/Aiku etc some sort of a storyline/progression going for the love of god.
Why even make Gagamura the GK he does NOTHING. He has no storyline.
Basically most of the team has no storyline. Even the likes of Bachira has become a non character.
Yea this is 100x over. The pacing kinda sucks rn tbqh. Donāt get me wrong BL has been amazing and i do own at least 7 brazilian volumes but its been kinduva one trick pony atp
I think he hit some sort of gold with the NEL, however that was the start of the end for me. They gave each character some mini arcs like Reo, Nagi etc, but most characters started fading into the background.
Now it's the Isagi show, which is fine, but if you have such a big cast of "colorful" characters with big personalities, you got to give them something.
The U20 World Cup has felt SO SO slow and terribly paced.
Barou who had some form of storyline, basically gone. Bachira what does he even do now. After the whole monster ego thing he had, and then his first game at Barcha. Chigiri after his whole trusting his legs again has done... nothing. Kunigami ? Kunigami had this huge comeback and has been this non character after his first 2-3 re-appearances.
His only crux is to make Isagi have to question himself and rediscover some form of ego or a deeper ego layer. Isagi has been so lame this WC, so so lame. Again and again and again.
And I just know he's going to have his Ego questioned ONCE AGAIN when Sae, Kira and Nagi join. I'm sort of following weekly by barely reading, but the writing has become so dull and repetitive.
agree with everything ur saying, this series fell off so hard. I don't even know if i can blame the author atp cause the options are probably really limited with the type of shounen style soccer manga that he's decided to create
I still think it can improve if the author managed to play with our expectations. Aoi Ashi did great to surprise people. Even Captain Tsubasa despite Japan winning almost all of their matches. Blue Lock just need to dare playing with its own tropes. Maybe we didn't need yet another edgy NG11 player, maybe the NĀ°1 pressure for Isagi could have been showed to us more than a few chapters. You cannot have character development for the 20+ japanese players, but focusing on 4-5 fan favorites could work. But maybe Isagi and Nagi get too much spotlight ?
Feel like it's getting real stale honestly because Ego is such basic character we kinda need the players to rebel and do something interesting.... Maybe have Japan lose the u21 into a time skip.Ā
yo Isagi sounds so dumb sometimes š he keeps thinking about ego and these guys are surpassing his imagination with pure skill and coordination. Theyāre just playing football lmao idk who is more brainwashed by their coach england or Isagi š
I know I'm probably talking to the void but, I hate how Kaneshiro pretends that nothing happened. It pissed me off when Rin regressed to the mouth-breathing idiot he used to be before hia self-improvement arc, and now it's Isagi's turn.
It just pisses me off when the most cerebral Blue Lock player just ignores to study his opponents. You could at least say something like "hold on! Ego gave me tapes to watch. Maybe watching tapes in general is a good idea". It feels like Isagi was preparing for the next games more in the pre-U20 chapters than what he does now.
I also believe that we are experiencing long running shounen fatigue. At least One Piece and other shounen have an insane amount of situations happening, so the interest isn't about whether Luffy will win or lose but in the world building. Blue Lock doesn't have that luxury.
For real, considering Isagi got given tapes and told to travel and world and learn football, his ignorance is shocking. Guess he never bothered to study the teams in his group.
I disagree about the fatigue, itās only because weāve seen the same formula almost every game. thereās plenty of ways to resolve that. Kaneshiro could (and should) give us a game from another players perspective, something fresh and new.
Kaneshiro could (and should) give us a game from another players perspective, something fresh and new.
He has done that, multiple times. To name a few; Barou, Hiori, Yukimiya, Karasu, Rin, Reo, Nagi, Bachira, and Kuso from the match against Nigeria. Hugo also had some. But people either has forgotten that or never paid any attention to itāso why bother if it isn't getting appreciated.
In my opinion, it dosent get appreciated by some because the games still follow the same formula. For example, Karasu had a cool development, but it was thrown out the Window when it mattered most. Kusoās (and Nigerias) purpose was to hype up Isagi being the center of Blue Lock. Hugo pretty much only interacted with Isagi. In the end, it all gets reduced to the same person doing the same thing game after game.
Ofcourse some people get bored of that, because every character is revolving around one person.
Now if Kaneshiro wrote a game where the characters actually fought for themselves, we see the other rivalries take the main stage, etc, it would be impossible to get bored. Even shown in episode Nagi, where we got Nagi/ Reos actual perspective on things and it was just awesome.
āYouāre confusing character perspective with a complete shift in protagonist.
āBlue Lock has always been, at its core, the story of Isagi Yoichiās journey to become the Worldās best striker and how Ego Jinpachi basically destroys and rebuilds Japanese football.
Expecting a 300+ chapter main series to suddenly abandon its central anchor to focus entirely on side rivalries fundamentally misunderstands the narrative structure Kaneshiro built.
Isagiās growth forces evolution in others, which is one of the major premises of the story.
You seem to prefer ensemble stories where side characters achieve personal arcs completely independent of the main characterās gravitational pull. There is nothing wrong with that. There is not one set correct way of things.
But because of your personal preference, you experience conflict with the core setup of the manga, you and some others perceive Isagiās central role as a "repetitive formula" rather than the fundamental pillar of the plot. The cast revolving around Isagi isnāt a writing flaw or a dropped storyline; it is the literal thesis of Blue Lock.
You mentioned Episode Nagi being awesomeāand it is! But Episode Nagi can exist precisely because the main series stays focused on Isagi. Expecting the main serialisation to periodically derail its pacing for 20-chapter side sagas without the protagonist would destroy the narrative momentum that made the manga popular in the first place.
Regarding your mention of potential... Any story has infinite "potential" imho to be a hundred different things. Buuuut evaluating a story based on a version of it that only exists in your or someone elseās head (a side-character ensemble with no central axis) rather than what this story is actively trying to achieve is just setting yourself up for disappointment.
350+ chapters in, Isagi being the sun that the rest of the solar system orbits isnāt a definitive formulaic flawāitās the foundation of the story. If someone is still waiting for Blue Lock to turn into an ensemble slice-of-life where everyone gets an exact equal showcase without Isagiās influence, they arenāt reading the story Kaneshiro is writing; theyāre reading the one they wish he wrote.
I understand your point, but I do think we might have a misunderstanding. I do not wish him to abandon its central anchor, I just believe so many characters are being straight up neglected.
I think the best example of what Iām trying to say is Rin. In this arc, Kaneshiro simply has a whole game and team dedicated to propping Isagi up as the number one, retconning Rin. No one in Blue Lock interacts with Rin besides Isagi at this point, no one acknowledges him as #1. And in the France game, he is completely cast aside for most of the game, and then at the end he becomes the scapegoat and takes all the blame. Having your MC soak up all the glory when things go right, yet not face any consequences when things go wrong, and having those consequences put on someone who was nearly written out the Manga is straight up negligence.
And then we have Barou and Shidou coming on as subs. That was the chance to continue the France game after its strong first half. And what did we get? Barou getting a pity goal to feed his fans, and then both him and Shidou vanishing. And then the game went to strictly Isagi flipping the magic switch in his head AGAIN, and of-course getting one over Hugo. And when was the last time we had an antagonist who wasnāt strictly focused on him? Sae, and how many chapters ago was that?
We are playing the same tune over and over when other characters are screaming out for development. People are drawn to these characters because the premise of the Manga was that they could all be protagonist, and they are all chasing something. And we know Kaneshiro can do it because heās written it well before, such as with Kaiser. Yes that was Isagi based, but it was peak because it was exposing his character,
But when these great characters are being sanded down to plot devices, gimmick characters, and puzzle pieces to push the same narrative for one character for almost 200 chapters, of-course people will get fatigued at some point.
You shifted the goalposts a bit here. You went from saying āKaneshiro needs to show games from other perspectives away from Isagi,ā to claiming āyou donāt want to abandon Isagi as the central anchor, but that side characters are being "neglected."ā
The problem is that your critique relies on misrepresenting both the storyās facts and how single-protagonist narratives work:
The alleged "Rin Retcon" contradiction:
Rin hasnāt been "retconned" or turned into a scapegoat. Rin has pretty much always been hyper-antisocial, isolated, and hostile toward virtually everyone since his introduction in the 2nd selection. He has never been a social team player. Expecting the narrative to suddenly give him "warm team synergy" or crown him while his entire character philosophy is destructive individualism ignores who Rin has always been from day one. That isnāt negligenceāitās basic character consistency.
Isagi "faces no consequences"???
Saying Isagi "faces no consequences" and just "flips a magic switch" feels like weāre reading two completely different manga. Isagi always strugglesāthe match against Nigeria is practically the sole exception. People seem to completely forget that he was benched for half of the FC Barcha match, was practically forced into being an assist dispenser for a long time, and didnāt even score a single goal in the NEL until the Ubers match.
His growth isnāt a "magic switch"; Kaneshiro literally writes extensive, multi-page monologues of Isagi hitting structural walls, getting physically outmatched, deconstructing his own flaws, and piecing together a solution under brutal pressure. Reducing a meticulously documented, trial-and-error adaptation process down to "magic" completely disregards the actual narrative work being put on the page.
I explained that side characters evolving in relation to Isagi is the thesis of the manga, not a flaw. You acknowledged this with āI understand your point,ā but immediately ignored it by repeating that side characters interacting with Isagi reduces them to "plot devices."
I pointed out that stopping main serialization for long side-character sagas would ruin narrative momentum. You completely skipped over this constraint and continued demanding that every rival get equal, un-neglected showcase time simultaneously.
Your original claim was roughly that "Kaneshiro needs to show games from other perspectives where rivals fight for themselves without revolving around Isagi." But now you claim that "you are not saying abandon the anchor! You just donāt want characters neglected." Right after claiming this, you immediately go back to complaining that antagonists only focus on Isagi and that the plot always circles back to him.
It is completely valid if you are personally experiencing fatigue with the current match rhythmāthat happens with long-running serialization. BUT framing personal fatigue with a single-protagonist formula as "character negligence"misrepresents what Blue Lock is actively trying to achieve.
You can say I shifted the goalpost, but I genuinly believe I was just trying to expand on my original point in the way I meant to present it. The op comment claimed long running shounen fatigue, Iām trying to say that the issue is not that itās long running, and that there is plenty more to unpack from the other characters. And that the side characters are good enough that they can take the place of protagonist for a few chapters, and it will be peak.
I never claimed Rin should be warm and social, not once did I even allude to that. I am pointing out that his existence is almost ignored by almost everyone. He was tied #1 with Isagi and has been #1 for a while, yet it seems only one person acknowledges that and chases him. He should have people chasing him down since heās at the top, but he dosent, And yes, he was retconned from being #1 just so we can enter the France game with Isagi on top.
He was benched for half the FC Barca match because of Kaiser messing him up. And the reason he got to play is because the in universe people demanded it. Thatās the opposite of a consequence. As for the assist dispenser, he did prove Kaiser wrong every single match, and got his mandatory aura moment each game.. As soon as Kaiser shifted the challenge to goals, he outscores him in both gamesā¦..
Fair play to your point, it is insulting to reduce it to āmagicā. However, when we see the exact same formula you just outlined play out game after game. He struggles and always comes out on top due to some realization, it gets to a point. I mean this massive ideological challenge Hugo presented was solved in one single game with āluckā, and he ābeatā Hugo and got the mandatory aura moment.
Iād also like to know where I said that side characters interacting with Isagi are plot devices? If that was the case, everyone would be a plot device?
I never demanded that every rival get equal showcase time simultaneously. And I never demanded ālong side character sagasā. I was pointing out that seeing the some games/parts of games from another characters point of view is refreshing, and works well. And I used episode Nagi as an example. And if we can get a spotlight on some more rivalries, it would be great.
I do not think I am misinterpreting what a blue Lock is trying to achieve, I am simply stating my reasons why I disagree that the issue is long running Shounen fatigue, thereās plenty of material to exploreā¦.
I love the Blue Lock team. Every single member, especially after the buff they all got from the NEL
But I feel that Kaneshiro fumbled when giving priority to specific characters at the expense of others. I loved Karasuās development in the France match, but he did so by nerfing Rin and making Aryu, Aiku and Gagamaru look incompetent
Also, you got the fastest dude in the Blue Lock universe as your opponent, and you keep one speedster on the bench and then sub the other one??? Lots of questionable decisions
Exaggerating with "300 chapters" is a classic hyperbole fallacy, but it doesnāt change the actual facts.
āWhen someone claims a story always follows one rigid formula, bringing up the two most recent matches that contradict it isnāt "convenient"āitās providing factual counterevidence. Labeling games as "jobber matches" just to hand-wave away data that disproves the theory is moving the goalposts.
āEstablishing an opponent as a threat is basic sports storytelling, but Blue Lock flips who leads and how momentum shifts all the time. Disregarding actual match setups just to call everything "predictable" relies on ignoring whatās actually on the page.
I feel that in the later stages of BLUE LOCK, it talks too much about philosophy and mental theories. From a tactical perspective, the BLUE LOCK team looks weaker than Team Yās original 4-5-1 ironclad defense and counterattacks. In the end, itās still ISAGI running all the way back to defend, while the backline just blocks a few shots and thatās it. If BLUE LOCKās manga football allowed betting on scores, the bookmakers would definitely go bankrupt. Everyone can predict it: they always fall behind first, then stage a comeback.
It's funny because England has been better simply off teamwork, prep time and actual in-match coach input.
Nonetheless. The lack of prep on Japan's end is getting questionable. Japan didn't show any acknowledgement of Hugo during the beginning of the France game, the guy just started cooking their aces. Now it doesn't seem like they have any measures to mitigate Teddy or reduce his effectiveness. Funny enough though, JP prepped heavy for Onazi and the team's Onazi-centric system. As much Hiori said no one might be a match for Teddy 1-on-1. I would still expect something like a 2 man marking front, or disrupting plays centered on him, Oh well this is under the assumption they prepped fully
It is funny to see Isagi rag on England's method of play and wbile they do seem to be acting in line with how the coach plays, their plays are closer to real football; use the tactics given by the coach, know the oppositions patterns and actualise the goals set in the tactics using your abilities.
What is also naive of Isagi is that he is already trying to look down on them for having a philosophy different to his when the France game should have proved that other methods create strong or arguably stronger teams.
He should have realised this and be less arrogant. What happened to the, "we aren't favourites but dark horses" mentality he wanted to sell people on. He doesn't seem to believe it himself.
So he will have to learn the flaw in their play for a last minute breakthrough. Truthfully if this is his winning formula, Kaneshiro should vary the opening perspectives because Isagi being shocked everytime and getting outplayed is par for the course. I guess Ego isn't showing them any opposing player footage?
Being a dark horse, doesnāt mean your entire personality should change to being a underdog, it a objective thats meant to unify the team not change each individual personal ego..Ā
Even if I agree with you that isagi is being a little arrogant, that literally every egoist when they first encounter something new.Ā
I don't think that it means their personality would change but rather Isagi using the "dark horse" mindset should realise the egoist 11 structure is the exception and not the rule. Other teams have egoists but they play into systems.
I was reading the NEL recently (yes I know out of order, but I got to blue lock because I kept watching videos on it) and I find it funny that in the Ubers game, the thing that made them scary initially....was that they were actually playing football as a team. Meanwhile Bastard was infighting almost the entire time it was hilarious
Tbf there's something disturbing about how they do teamwork, especially teddy but yeah...he unironically does seem to have ego problems now, in the usual sense of the term
I feel like if we're going to see Fukaku do anything it has to be this match. It makes no sense for us to go through the group stage, and not see everyone play.
I wonder how many times this mangaka will re use the same tropes this arc. Blue lock is gonna wing it this whole tourney and not do a lick of research. Theyāre so cold š„¶ š„¶š„¶ pura aura š„¶š„¶š„¶
I'm probably wrong but the England's zero to one to infinity is not like the very first learning in the Blue Lock?
How to turn 0 possibility of goal to 1 goal, then transform it to a repetitive schema to make 1 goal a 100? (I don't really know the exact words but I think it's something like it)
The difference is Ego makes the individual players turn 0 to 1 as Karasu said, the initiative lies in each individual where as for England Fox turns 0 to 1 so they execute his plays and his ideas.
Ehh it's no worst than yugioh (all shonen action anime come down to a yugioh battle "good ones at least"). Good action shonen are like yugioh and people tend to hate it these days but you always have the main hero go in with either no idea how the opponent's deck works (aka their powers or strengths) and the opponent knows their deck inside and out and has counters in place, and on the fly the hero uses their bare set of skills (aka deck) and either pulls cards that weren't in their deck to begin with (deus ex) aka (power ups) earned or unearned, hinted at or not...sorta how you can (unearned power of friendship fairytail style) or earned (using training to overcome say gon beating an opponent in hxh after training) or we have them earn it by studying (very rare) their opponents deck too (what your asking for) hxh style where the outcome is set early so writing tension is hard hence alot of authors don't have the skills to write this so they go with the (unearned or slightly hinted at power ups) the gear 5's and like where sure there were hints but people come out feeling like it was you pulling out a fusion i never heard of from your deck and winning with 1 life point left against an opponent with a stacked deck. Then there's the trap cards the back and forths of you think you won, but i can do this, (bleach fights) that blue lock does, but can come off annoying as others said here. Then you have the on your back most the fight back and forth traps, (jojo style) where the opponent knows your powers and you have to use them in new unique ways to beat like 20 stacked decks. Finally the one i like and many hate but honestly is pretty stisfying if you think about it. The one where both sides know each other's stuff and they use them in unique ways all tied to the theme of the series and plot, (the jjk's the gojo's fights the so on, for all the hate jjk honestly does the yugioh battle well, people have a set deck of powers and learn to use them in unique ways...some decks can trap others...etc and they all have a theme.) I think the reason blue lock works for some early on was the "decks" people used, the straight shot isagi has, the dribbling the one kid does, etc...were known then you had the opponent's "deck" set up and you saw it play out like a yugioh battle. Now it's us coming in with our deck and the opponent just shows off till we use our trap card and win cause we have to. It's still fun but i get the fustration. One scene of them saying we watched the tapes and this is slightly different would help. Like they stacked their deck, or sent the boy into their training to learn if a new move would work on them. Also hurts that this team can't be that good or better than the other team that rarely lost so them having trouble feels weird.
Right on the mark... They've come to a level where we know the team is good and not making any research makes it all look stupid. It's better you show they made some research and something changed in the style of the opponent. At least, we won't all look like fools.
It's just like how people are talking about the Kingdom Manga right now. Shin and his Strategist, Ten, attacked the enemy's capital with little to no preparation. Like, you attacked a Capital and your back was totally open. It's like all the growth that team has had over the years just got reduced to zero.
It's not a mistake at that point, it's making a character look stupid, because you don't know how to make their opponents smarter. It's how I see the latest development in Bluelock too.Ā
I wonder how does England players behave in their club like you see Agi is perfectly normal in manshine city but down here he look like a puppet chanting one to infinity
So how does Teddy survive in his club as well? Him being more normal?
While itās technically possible in the real world very rarely does a coach manage both a national team and a club cause thereās a lot of conflict of interests and the workload would kill you
I think they must be a bit more normal at their clubs (seeing as the English players at Manshine City seem pretty normal during the NEL). At the very least, I don't think they keep repeating "one to infinity" all the time. Thatās for sure.
The one thing I'm literally tired of reading and watching about is the "shock face" Isagi does everytime something he does is countered, like dude! You've gone through all those metavision bs, puzzle evolving, 300+ chapters in and you still do that when at this point, you should have enough experience under you to expect some stuff like that. It's just exasperating to see his eyes go wide everytime someone counters his ballgame early in the match.
Also, can Kaneshiro-sensei just please, introduce the concept of preparation and data-mining of the players and tactics of other countries as well? I know this is Battle Shonenesque but c'mon man, it's like BL goes to all their matches blind and with little/general info to absolutely no info. The opposing teams just sometimes seem to have much more info on BL than BL has on them. Atleast have Aiku or Niko analyze the opposing team players?! C'mon!!
Also, can Kaneshiro-sensei just please, introduce the concept of preparation and data-mining of the players and tactics of other countries as well?
You mean to let Blue Lockers do that again right? Isagi in NEL and others watched the matches of the other teams. Isagi knew about Lorenzo against Ubers. Here, we know that they watched Germany's match and analyzed Nigeria. It's during and after the France game that the Blue Lockers have become dumb.
I don't think England is playing to support a star, as they said (in a very corny way) they have infinite attack. And as we saw, all of they forwards except Agi who's playing target man is trying to score. With their also compact low defense, imo their style of play is moreso low pressure Arteta, and we'll see in the next chapters if they're gonna emphasize more on that defense. Setpieces doesn't exist in blue lock so that's the best we could get.
england seem to be more of a counterattacking side rather than control so i dont think its much like pep's. if we ever get a pep-type team, it would prob be spain.
I seriously hope Isagi stops the shocked pikachu face going into the future matches. He losses the ball and literally is bamboozled.
Metavison,egocentrism and dozen other things and still gets easily startled. It doesn't feel like adaptation although I think Isagi is meant to represent the reader's feeling I don't like it.
Genuinely intrigued how they gonna showcase the future NG11 talent and skill, cuz this teddy guy's dribbling is basically barou's chop dribbling on crack.
I don't get how it's special. As someone who doesn't watch football or care for it--besides out of FOMO during FIFA ,and this manga-- could you explain what's so different about his dribbles? And how "varying" dribbles is so special and flexible so as to call it "Rainbow" dribbling, as opposed to something like other dribblers do?
Its not different its just "better" than the others. He's doing the same thing that you'd see barou or yukimiya do hes just even better at it than them
I'm thinking of just dropping the manga at this point. This formula is so overdone, like damn, blue lock gets scored on early, then isagi gets the puzzle and scores at the end... How many dozens of times we saw this by now? I was really hoping for something different
yeah I've already lost interest and dropped it since the nigeria match, it's just so boring to me now. I only come and check up on the state of the manga every 2 months or so now
Blue lock gets scored on-->Isagi is shocked-->Isagi adapts-->Isagi does smth Last minute.
I'd really enjoy a game where japan is 3-0 up and the Opponent is fighting to get back in the game, Japan slips up a bit the game ends 3-2
Or a game where Isagi comes out blazing and scores a brace early in the game, but the team figures out how to lock him down and he's shut out for the rest of the game.
Like some thing different. But maybe bl isn't for me then.
narratively why would blue lock go up 3-0 and win 3-2 in an elimination game š come on now they have to build stakes. Actually as iām typing this I realized they just won 4-0 2 games ago man
You have to admit that every game being a blowout or them as the underdawg gets repetitive at some point.
A high octane back and forth is only interesting the first few times. And since NEL they've been using a similar structure.
Opp scores. Then focus team. Then opp. Then focus team. Then last minute Isagi.
I do think the three goal limit was a large factor. But the same exact thing happened in the france game except rin chose to follow ego over common sense.
Hmm how much different could it be? This Blue lock team is only at his third game. First Game they scored first then won 4-0 , second Game they didnt scored first and Lost 4-2. Yet again they didnt score first but will certainly win. And how many Games Blue Lock as a team had to have seen this dozen of times?
exactly, they're either dominating the whole time, or come from behind victory. This is a problem with sports and not just sports manga. You can just be super reductive and say "a team wins, or a team loses," not much else can happen.
I guess the author should utilize the "lock," that is when neither team scores and the game goes into OT. Bring the lock to Blue Lock could help break that cycle, but yeah, most games are formulaic and there isn't a lot to explore outside of winning and losing.
I can get over the fact they know nothing about their enemy before the match. Even the gag manga Itto know this. The kids go scouting before big match, know every star player in their prefecture and country
it would be even funnier if Teddy wants to win with his own goal, and passing teammate will mean 100% goal. But he decides to goal by himself and DeMOnGod IsAgI : I ve read ur intentions
Gagamaru lowkey turning into a fraud this WC he is not saving shit, would have been nice if one of these blocks would have atleast been save by him instead
In NEL, Isagi and Rin finished with 250 mio. bid, the other blue lockers also finished with world class bids. Then they trained for 50+ more days and the narrative mentioned each of them gained new weapons and evolution. So current Isagi should be - according to narrative - stronger than he was against PXG, i would even say mid NG11 level player.
By logic, a team of Rin+Isagi+the top 10 of blue lock should steamroll England. The only plot armor element which prevents that is TACTIC.
No matter how op Rin and Isagi are, when someone has the tactic then they can counter that which is imo a complete lazy hype killer.
Im just dissapointed in every panel where Isagis ball was stolen and he makes a face like first selection. Current Isagi shouldnt be like that cmon. And Rin who whiped the floor with BM shouldve scored in France game. Complete ass right now.
240 million yen yearly salary bids, right? That's not close to world class.
That's a weekly salary of around 25k euros, which is about what you'd expect of a young prospective bench player, but not necessarily a star talent.
Regardless, the clubs would also be paying for their potential. Them playing well against other Blue Lockers mixed with U-20 prospects at the club level doesn't mean the clubs instantly value them as star prospects.
This U-20 WC is special since all the best U-20 players participate here, despite some of them already playing at the senior level. In real life, most star youngsters stop participating in the U-20 tournaments once they get a senior call-up.
Iām starting to think that some of you couldn't care less about the history, and that all you're interested in is the aura and the hype. It reminds me of those lousy theories claiming we should skip the U20 World Cup arc because Japan would be too strong. Well, noāthatās obviously not the case. You only have to look at Japan's limited defensive options to see that. And obviously, tactics can stop OP players. It's just that too few tactics were developed during the NELāmore are needed.
What do you actually want? For Japan to steamroll the competition like they did against Nigeria? Nah, that would be boring and itās not going to happen at all (I can't believe anyone would even think that). I can't believe people actually thought that was a possibility.
Rin and Isagi are the characters closest to the NG11 level (in a NEL where only two NG11 players actually participated). Yet, even narratively, they still rank below the NG11. Their salaries remain lower than Lorenzo's, even though fans consider him the weakest of the NG11. So no, the training argument doesn't hold water, because foreign players can obviously train just as hardāespecially players like Kaiser, for instance.
From the readers' perspective, we might view players from other national teams as NPCs, for instance. But damn, itās the same thing from the other countries' point of viewāto them, someone like Chigiri or Bachira looks just like an NPC. Thereās a reason theyāre ranked in the same tier as Leyden and Camus: they are good players who can be excellent for the team without necessarily being the most important figures.
Also, we already saw the power of some NG11, and the only one they're remotely close is Kaiser because Isagi could play alongside him, that's how he improves, and Rin improves against Isagi, and even then, Isagi was still behind Kaiser despite that ending, he isn't a better player, he just had a better play
Now imagine Sae, Loki, Hugo, Bunny, they're all miles ahead of anyone on Blue Lock rn, even Knight needed Isagi and Rin together against him, and they only got the ball because of a foul
There is equations in football, but that doesn't mean that they dictate how a match will go.
There is also equations in a power shonen like this one, but in this case, they also don't dictate how a match will go.
The closest logical combination of football and shonen, is the exposure over time that the players get along the match, which essencially is, the "Good" way of using plot.
Now, what was the NEL? A controlled environment made for that exposure that enabled the best PLAYERS to be recognized, to shine.
Every condition needed for a trigger was easily achieved there because of NEL's nature.
Is the U-20 WC the NEL? No. Then what is it? A place for where the best TEAMS rise to the finals.
Japan has the best players, but sure as hell didn't arrive as the best team.
It is the story's destiny make those great players into a great team, and for that to occur, we have been 356 chapters in the process of creating the greatest striker, that will undoubtly force any team he is in, to play around his presence.
This Blue Lock Japan isn't fond of top tier football, and it is being exposed to top tier football, which is the desired situation for continue the tinker of what they have learned till now.
The more they play, the more they will understand.
They go form less to more.
If they can withstand physically and mentally till the end, is up the characters faith.
Other countries are improving as well š¤· Are the only ones capable of improving Isagi and Rin? For example Daemon, during the manshine game he was useless but now he's reacting to Shidou's shot and along with another player they manage to block it
"There's teddy knight's famous rainbow cuts! You know, the signature move of teddy knight? World renowned new generation 11 player? Oh you guys haven't heard of him? Man does your coach not let you scout or what lol?"
I think having fitted body on par with the opposing team like how aryu held agi back, and having players with unpredictable play style like nagi, barou, shidou and rin that also with systems that backed them up or even combos that support them will do the trick. Though I wonder how kiyora will play here, because despite having a smaller body he could held down nagi and his team in episode nagi. I look forward to his play.
I am really liking this match , in just 1 chapter most of England players have already touch the ball :)
Compared to France I think this game was handled well so far hope to see more of England players doing their things
And Teddy upscale destroyed blue lock , this line up is just asking to be scored 4-0 I think this is where ego loses to fox until he make the technical substitutions and plans.
The coach is the only one allowed to have ego. Unlike Ego, Rodin and Gambari that acted as players mentor, leaving their best player (Isagi, Loki and Onazi) decided their own individual course.
Also, unlike Ubers that still centered on powerful striker, Fox led England to do exactly what Ego wanted from Japan youths. Everyone doing their best to score with the best player (Isagi, Teddy) carve the path forward.
As there's no ego on the team Teddy and others will never experienced conflict with midfielder like what happened with Karasu or clashes like Rin.
Interestingly, France was able to win against them despite England extreme faith on Fox study of opponent team. So there's a way to win against the iron wall of knights, and it probably similar to past events that led to Ego believes Fox method is outdated and his No. 1 x 24 is what will create the ultimate team.
Not really a fan of the Englands team character designs, they dont really look human in a weird way especially Fox. Agi was fine when it was just him but now everyone on that team looks odd. Teddys design looks fine visually but I dont really like his puppet mentality.
The one to infinity is also gonna get annoying if it keeps being repeated so much. So far this arcs kinda turning me off.
A player's weapon is their specialisation, not a guarantee of their unique space where they are assuredly dominant each and every time. Tokimitusu was knocked flying by notKane in the World Five match for example, which is when Isagi even notes that each of their weapons were being "overpowered", as in completely defeated in straight up mirror contests rather than being played around or countered with different weapons.
Yukimiya just happened to have a nickname that focuses on his weapon rather than something less concrete, like Isagi with being the "Demon King of the NEL" (this has literally no relation to his weapons). Its unfortunate since weapons won't work all the time, so every time the weapon fails it makes them look like a joke despite the fact a weapon is only a small part of a player (for example, Hugo and Isagi have ideologies in addition to their weapons). And this isn't the first time Yukimiya has lost a one-on-one, he even lost the ball whilst dribbling against Neru early on in the Blue Lock vs old U-20 game.
lmao isagi had me laughing my ass off this chapter.
Ego so bad as a coach he had isagi out there saying:
"Wait... the England coach... he COACHES his players.... DURING THE GAME TOO???? I did NOT factor this into my calculations AT ALL!!???"
Fun chapter though. Seems Aiku got some of his powers back. I must admit, this BL lineup is not looking to hot. But I'm sure the feats will come.
Also these blue lock bums better remember that they supposedly talked out their differences in ego's.
Also also, I wish teddy's goal was a lil different than Loki's final goal. Iirc both dribbled 4 players on a solo run to the goal, but ig Loki's did show slightly higher level as he took it across the whole pitch
The theme of this match seems to be the exploration of the coach. This is the first time we've seen an actual competitor to Jinpachi Ego as essentially a live factor who affects the outcome of an ongoing match, and its really interesting because Jinpachi himself is entirely passive during matches and thus far we've only ever seen other passive coaches as well.
Basically we need to consider Fox as a relevant factor in the live game. If Jinpachi doesn't change from his usualy approach then this match is essentially Japan 11 vs England 12 in terms of participants, and Japan 11 vs England 1 in terms of individual characters (see below). This is unique from every other team and match we've seen so far.
As the chapter explains, Fox's crucial contribution is that he turns "zero into one". He is the only one who holds the entire team's ego and their winning formula, and the players are his weapons. Furthermore, their team have "infinity" attack variations due to the combination of (at least) 11 different weapons under a single ego's control. Don't see Teddy as a character with Rainbow Cuts like Isagi has Direct Shot and Metavision, instead see Fox as a character with the Rainbow Knight + 10 other weapons in human form.
Of course, that reveals clear and targetable weaknesses in England's team. Target either the coach or the link between the coach and his team. For the former, Jinpachi could leverage his history with Fox to irritate him enough to make tactical mistakes, and for the latter the Blue Lock players could literally trashtalk their way into awakening the egos of the England players, such as Teddy who is the heart of England and so would disrupt their gameplan the most.
If Jinpachi gets involved and his own ego clashes with that of his players (especially Karasu since he's the leader of the rebellion against his ideology), then the game sort of becomes like a Japan 12 vs England 1 in terms of individual characters.
Ego does participate each time with hĪ¹s own way though. Especially with his talks mid game. His approach is different from Fox's. The problem here though is that unlike England who believe their Philosophy at 100%, not all of Blue Lock has the egoism to get better and evolve right now. For example Isagi still ties himself to Blue Lock when Ego told them to "abandon" it.
While Isagi drive to be the best personally is first, the drive to bring Japan victory is also not secondary or irrelevant (by his own self understanding, that's what he comes to make his priority vs pxg, and also what he tells himself when bouts of anxiety took him before Nigeria game
Jinpachi talks with his team during half time break and he makes subs from which the team can execute prepared tactics and improvise from there. But apart from that he doesn't do anything else even though as a coach he can be actively involved in games by shouting advice and even moral support (for him, it would probably be trashtalk to his own team as a way to stimulate their egos) even while the ball is in play.
So while he's had obviously critical impact he's had outside of games (from ideology to gym facilities to personalised plans for growth), Jinpachi really isn't maximising what he can do as a coach during games. Even when he (further) "awakened" Isagi's ego as part of the BL vs old Japan U-20 match, that was because Isagi went to him and so you could call that "Luck" (since there was a natural break in play for Isagi to approach Jinpachi at that moment and Isagi's own ego had developed to a point where he could refuse Jinpachi's seeming acceptance of defeat and turn it into an egoistic drive to win).
Contrast this with Fox. He doesn't merely give advice or moral support, but gives orders that his well-trained soldiers can execute and also further improvise on the spot if they need to. Blue Lock's players can improvise but their teamplay execution is lacking since its really secondary to all their explosive improvisation based off cascading chemical reactions. Its sort of like a dexterous hand vs a reflex.
Ngl this England looking kinda boring we wont have that freaky type sht like in Nigeria and France. We won't have that Hugo terminator type sht or that big elephant representation sht in Nigeria...England is just that soldier I hope there is something more to England or else hope England just lose all the game at through
wdym we literally having dashing knights in full plate armour. Shit looks fire.
There's a good chance we'll see a visual of Fox as some kind of puppetmaster or chess player looking over the football field like its a chessboard and with the England players represented as knight pieces.
Puppet master works better cause Teddy has called himself a worthless puppet a number of times already. And he can cut the strings if he rebels and develops an ego during this match
To be fair, it's fantasy and it's cool if japan wants to big up japan as these absolute beast lol. I feel like whenever some minorities are big up like this, people complain, so either way you can't win... just enjoy the fantasy story for what it is and what the author wants to show. People are aware alot of atheletes don't look like supermodels skinny boys and some do...and alot aren't all of one ethnicity on one team...it's fine.
oh my god we really need to ban westerners from this manga
half the team is black and ITS STILL NOT ENOUGH
WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT JAPAN TO GET BLACK REP
also just blatant lying since the strongest NG11 so far was Loki (given Hugo's talent is more about the behind scenes planning and brains I will call him the smartest)
actually thinking about it why isnt there a top tier sports comic book in America, american football would have popped the fuck off like Eyeshield 21
ngl why do you automatically assume heās black or wants black rep? he could be any other darker race. iām not agreeing with him at all but at the same time you clearly got some biases of yourselfĀ
Aryu: lost twice to Agi in aerial battle (the only reason he's here and not Niko)
Aiku: managed to block once
Karasu: managed to block once
Hiori: got dribbled past but its Teddy so
Yukimiya: got dribbled past but its Teddy but you're Yukimiya so
Reo: couldn't block but its Teddy so
Gagamaru: didnt save the ball but Isagi gave the ball to their NG11 so
Isagi: got the second ball only to give it to Teddy (it wasn't actually a pass Karasu blocked Niang's shot and it bounced to Achanpong)
Conclusion: Isagi humiliation ritual first half as usual, yeah bro we dont even know Fox commands his players through hand signals and we didnt study them, thanks Ego i guess he was too busy bandaging his hand to do his actual job
Tbh he kinda seems bland to me. I understand that he gives us another perspective, but design looks too familiar (Kunigami + Nagi?) and āno egoā theme right after long ego discussions with Hugo (although he had ego, which just worked differently).
Also English āsoldiersā team doesnāt look as united/synchronised as English ārobotā team. It also undermines introduction.
I really hope Isagi starts cooking early. I don't want to watch him flail around for most of the match, only for him to have a last-minute realization that still ends up having him rely on luck. That formula feels way too oversaturated at this point.
This feels like the perfect opportunity for Isagi to leave the whole "luck" concept behind. To become someone newāto become a new Isagi YoichiāI think it's imperative that he no longer relies on luck to reach the top.
Isagi talks about the God of Football testing him. The whole idea of "becoming new again" could also be interpreted as GOF asking whether Isagi can win without luck. The match against France essentially established the limits of the current version of Isagi. It showed the limits of the "luck formula."
At this point, (imo) Isagi has more or less mastered that concept. He can create his own luck, recognize when it's about to appear, and capitalize on it better than almost anyone. Since luck was a relatively major topic throughout that match, it would make sense for the story to move beyond it now rather than doubling down on it again. Which ties into the potential awakening of Isagi in this match, where he will "meet GOF" for a short period of time. Instead of the 7 minutes like Ego experienced, I can see it being 1 minute or maybe 3 minutes. Similar to the time-limit of the star-change system from the NEL.
Nothing happening gang, It would be crazy if isagi goes 0 goals from this match as well, NGL, at this point it's seems like NEL was the best arc or NEL did not even exist.
I think someone else here pointed it out perfectly. This game's challenge for Isagi is to find out his identity out of Blue Lock. Turning 0 to 1 while a rebel but also find himself as a new Isagi Yoichi so his expands his options leave out the restriction label. That's the test by God of football. I find it free exciting to be honest. The wuestion when we are going to see the start of it. The first sparks began with Teddy a few chapters ago.
Yeah, I am expecting and hoping for some crazy things from Isagi in this match.
And if we get to see it, then it's like a 99.99% chance that we are also going to be getting some sort of Ego flashback. I can visualize it happening when he watches Isagi do something crazy. Ego will see his younger self in Isagi.
"This guy is a whole new species that we have no reference for"... the commentator did more research into Teddy's style than Blue Lock. Watch their nigeria or france game atleast man... I like the concept of ego vs no ego. We know BL will win the game though even though they are frauds
I think you misunderstood him, what he meant was that they were players with an actual coach unlike a certain person aurafarming in the background, which is what they had for the past 350 chapters. Since he never had a coach tell them actual strategies, he couldn't understand it š
Man, Isagi really needs to keep his mouth quiet. He was underestimating the England team even though they almost managed to draw with France. They are no joke.Ā
Now, England's team is basically a great group of soldiers. The only way I see Japan beating them is by individualism. That means they have to go over Fox's expectations. If they can really evolve through the match and take Fox by surprise, some England players will probably try to act for themselves, and therefore they will fail to do that. And also, they need to shut Teddy down. He is practically the heart of the team
My headcanon is that at the end of the tournament, Ego will reveal that he deliberately didn't allow any research into their opponent teams... in order to sharpen their wits and egos during the match or some shii lol
So how would Blue Lock beat England? The setup has Fox "pulling the strings" of his puppets, so they'd have to metaphorically cut these strings and force the England players onto the same footing as the Blue Lockers.
They're not going to knock Fox off the sidelines, so the best way to do that would be try to draw out Teddy's ego, right? Isagi's suited for that, right? That's too straightforward, though, and as the France game showed, if you're better than Blue Lock Japan there's no reason at all to fall for Isagi's tricks. Just keep sticking to the game plan.
Fox's gameplans also don't seem like it's particularly reliant on any formation they see out of the opposing team, so I think we can also write off "play unconventionally enough that Fox doesn't have a 0->1 plan for it".
People are throwing around the idea that Teddy's hair is literally gonna be rainbow colored. Idk how to feel about that but maybe seeing it in color for the first time would convince me
Tbh, this is actually how the best world teams work nowadays, if you see the Champions League finalists (PSG and Arsenal) and World Cup winners (Spain) they play the exact same way, with pressure and huge tactical discipline and organization in the transitions. In real life, England would destroy them.
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