Anime Review!

Blue Lock

Not-your-typical soccer anime, this show is centered around strikers and lives up to all the hype surrounding it. I actually put off watching this show because so many people were extremely excited about it, but I'm so glad I finally watched it. So don't Lock Off because we're hopping straight into the review!

My rating: 8 out of 10.
Crunchyroll rating: 4.9 out of 5.

Rating breakdown:
Overall: 8 out of 10
Plot Potential: 7 out of 10
Plot Development: 10 out of 10
Characters: 8 out of 10
Animation Quality: 10 out of 10

Please note: There will be spoilers. I will be talking about specifics of this anime from the beginning on. If you would like to watch the show first and then come back, please do. Also, please keep in mind that I haven't read the manga but plan to do so. I ask that you please not share any spoilers from the manga here so as to not spoil it for those of us that haven't read as far as you.

Going into this anime, I was prepared for it to fall flat or fizzle out at some point because, honestly, a show all about strikers? I know little to nothing about soccer (or football as many of my friends call it) so a bit of the excitement of it all is probably lost on me. 

Just so you know, I do know some basics of the game, but I rarely to never watch it.

Anyway, I was prepared for the spark and fizzle. But as I watched, it became apparent to me that there was instead going to be a roaring fire that carries the show through to the end of the season. 

It begins the way many other sports anime do: the main character lost some key game or game that matters to them personally, and is now a sniveling mess, at which point something out of the blue comes to them. That something, in this case, is a chance to become a certified athlete. This of course is the spark that lights his candle and causes him to pursue his dream, even though he doesn't think he's good enough. Especially after hearing Ego's speech.

Honestly, I'm lowkey convinced that Ego is a bigger genius than the show suggests with a major beef against the sport of soccer. I don't know who hurt him or what happened in his past, but here we are.

So anyway, this guy named Ego gives this huge speech to the athletes that amounts to join the Blue Lock program or get lost and admit you're inferior. This prompts them to agree to the program, all 300 athletes. 

From this point, they're put through various trials. They have to play tag and whoever is 'it' at the end of a set time is out permanently. Then they play games against the other five teams in the building. This is also an elimination stage where only the top two teams and the top scorer on the other three move on to stage three, which is another elimination round. 

Stage one sees the strongest player in team Z eliminated with the help of a player named Bachira. Isagi, our main character, is the one that eliminates the cute but strong player. He is one up from the bottom of the stack and someone Bachira takes immediate interest in. As he put it: he can tell Isagi has a monster in him, too. 

Please note here that the "monster" he's referring to is his ego as a striker. His instincts, if you will. It's not uncommon in sports anime for players to have a monster instinct. As the story progresses, there's no doubt that Isagi definitely has monster instinct. 

Anyway, 11 of them progress to the second stage. There, they face the other 5 teams. Long story short, the whole team advances after overcoming past traumas or what they saw as their own limitations. Along the way, one of them ends up betraying the team, which really brings the team to life as they struggle to beat them. They ultimately pull off a victory even though the other team had everything leaked to them. 

They barely manage to make the top three in the end. This means the whole team goes on to the next phase, which is making 100 penalty shots within a certain time frame. Ones who fail go home, but even though the show isn't very clear on it, I believe the whole team gets through that phase, though the next stages are grueling. 

Stage two of phase three is teaming up with two other people and having a match against another team. The losing team gets one player picked and they start over. The team that now has four players moves on and plays against another team of four in stage three. This pattern goes on until there's a team of five. This team of five plays a match against the five best players in the world. 

Isagi and Bachira team up with another player named Nagi, who is basically a soccer genius that lost to them and now wants to follow Isagi because he looks up to him now. Did I mention this guy has been playing for 6 months and is one of the strongest players? No? Well, I have now. 

Anyway, they play against the top three players and lose. As the losing team, they lose Bachira to them, so Isagi and Nagi now have to find another player. Long story short, they find someone and make it to the next round, where they play against Bachira and his new team. They ultimately lose, but they choose Isagi to move on with them. 

Now with a team of five, they play against the team of the best players and lose. Their skills get assessed along with the other two teams of five that make it to the final stage. There they find out that they will next be playing a high-stakes game against the Japan national team. This is where the show ends, hinting at a second season. 

Overall, I don't take much issue with the show. Maybe I should watch it a second time to really get it. At the moment, I'm super curious about who Ego really is. He's someone very important and a tactician, someone who bears a grudge against the soccer association that hosts the national team, and someone that seems to know a lot about them. My theory is that he was a player who wasn't taken seriously at some point and tendered his resignation. 

Another thing that I take some issue with is the way that Isagi's "vision" develops. He reassembles himself, his thinking, and his values several times through the show, but he never uses a plan that works twice. I understand being flexible, but then there's such a thing as too flexible. You feel me?

Don't get me wrong here - I don't think the play should always be the same. It never is in real life. I've seen enough games to know that. But use some ploys that worked before. Like once he realizes near the end of the show about the vision of the top rated player in Blue Lock, I don't get why he doesn't use it more. He simply panics and loses his own vision until the last minute when he finally catches up to him and is a step ahead of him. 

That's all I really have to say about this one. Feel free to come at me in the comments, but please don't spoil the manga for me. I plan to read it eventually. ;)

Anyway, arrigato for reading and hanging out. Mata ne!