Anime Series Blue Lock: Best Manga Series Review 2024

Introduction

In the world of anime, sports-themed shows have long been a beloved genre among fans. In this regard, “Blue Lock” shines as an exceptional anime that delves into the harsh realities of pursuing sports as a career. Here’s an in-depth review of “Blue Lock,” a show that captures the adrenaline-fueled action, the emotional depth, and the intense competition of soccer.

Storytelling and Character Development

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The show centers around a young soccer prodigy named Yoichi Isagi, who experiences a life-altering moment on the pitch. The premise of “Blue Lock” is intriguing, and it allows the show to explore the incredible pressures and consequences of that moment that changes the course of Isagi’s future.

The series is a masterful work of storytelling as it captivates with its intense rivalry, fierce competition, and the unrelenting focus of the characters. The show delves deep into the emotions of its characters, and the anime is all the more genuine discussing the challenges of chasing a dream.

One of the standout aspects of “Blue Lock” is its portrayal of the competitive nature of the sports world. The series doesn’t shy away from the intense pressure, rivalries, and cutthroat competition that define the world of professional sports. Isagi’s journey is portrayed with raw emotion, showcasing his internal struggles, fears, and fleeting moments of triumph.

Animation and Art Style

Visually, “Blue Lock” excels in portraying the adrenaline-fueled action of soccer matches while conveying the emotional depth of the characters. The animation and art style are visually stunning, capturing the moments throughout the show that keep viewers at the edge of their seat. The attention to detail also immerses the audience in the series’ gripping world and effectively conveys the message of the story.

Themes

“Blue Lock” goes beyond the realm of sports and delves into the human experience, shedding light on the resilience and fortitude required to chase one’s aspirations. The anime effectively explores themes such as teamwork, hard work, perseverance, ambition, and the pursuit of excellence.

Throughout the series, viewers become invested in the personal journeys of each character and understand that it is more than the victories or losses that define their progress. It is the lessons that they learn through their failures and successes that shape their journey.

BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE – EPISODE NAGI – | OFFICIAL TRAILER

Watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NCsj0anAt8

“My life was full of boredom. Until I met him.”

“That’s a hassle.” That was second-year high schooler Nagi Seishiro’s favorite phrase as he lived his dull life. Until Mikage Reo, a classmate who dreamed of winning the World Cup, discovered Nagi’s hidden skill, inspiring him to play soccer and share his outstanding talent.
One day, he receives an invitation to the mysterious Blue Lock Project. What awaits him there is an encounter with the finest strikers assembled from across the country. Nagi’s dream of becoming the best, alongside Reo, will take this prodigy to a world he’s never known.

A prodigy can only be shaped when someone discovers him….now, striker Nagi Seishiro’s incredible talent and persona will set the soccer world ablaze.

Directed by Shinsuke Ishikawa. Original story by Muneyuki Kaneshiro. Character Design by Kouta Sannomiya. Composition and Screenplay by Taku Kishimoto. Music by Jun Murayama. Produced by 8bit.

BLUE LOCK Season 2 | OFFICIAL TRAILER

Watch this video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/StlX879LIGk

Conclusion

“Blue Lock” is an anime that delivers on all fronts. With its compelling characters, intense storyline, rich thematic exploration, and captivating visuals, it offers a fervent and introspective narrative that will resonate with fans of sports and drama anime alike.

The show’s impact lies in its ability to delve into the human experience and explore what it means to aspire. It is this feat that makes it a must-watch and undoubtedly one of the best anime of its time.

Gallery

Review by People

I feel compelled to write a review for Blue Lock expressing my appreciation for it in response to the top three reviews for this anime being strongly negative, which I don’t think did it justice at all. This review will address the main detraction I’ve heard directed towards it and offer my counter perspective in hopes of providing you with some context to my appraisal of it. Skip to the end for a quick TL;DR if you’re not interested in all that noise and just want to know if the show is for you!
The main argument provided by people who dislike Blue Lock is (in my own words): “Blue Lock is not accurate to real soccer, and its premise is highly unrealistic and immersion breaking.” There are other common gripes with it, like some dialogue being over the top or cringeworthy, but I think many of those complaints can be traced back to this core thought.
While I understand the sentiment behind this reaction, it strikes me as a problem of expectations. No one with common sense is under the delusion that the soccer portrayed in Blue Lock aligns with real soccer. Why does it have to? Anyone who enjoys fantasy buys into much crazier premises without sparing it a second thought, because we find it more interesting to consider the space of possibilities not limited by reality.
Everyone gifted with an imagination (most people) is capable of becoming invested in unrealistic stories, and we apply fictional ideas to help us understand reality on a day-to-day basis. I think that we’re able to suspend our disbelief to the extent that the story respects its own internal set of rules as well as the extent to which the story can engage us with its original ideas. This way, even an avid soccer fan could enjoy a story which doesn’t directly match real soccer.
So does Blue Lock succeed on this front? Hell yeah, it’s fun as hell and I was totally sold. While the concept of this sports facility is obviously completely unviable in the real world for a myriad of reasons, this extreme high-tension environment permits exciting situations that wouldn’t be possible otherwise and serves as a constant reminder of the stakes.
All of these young athletes are so desperate to become the best that they have willingly allowed themselves to be locked up in this brutal facility, betting their dreams on their talent and perseverance. It’s a great metaphor through which the heart of the story is clearly visible.
Blue Lock is about analyzing your strengths and weaknesses, the nature of talent and the question of how much selfishness is necessary to become the best. Visually it’s incredibly strong, selling key moments with maximum hype, and puts its vibrant cast of characters who live and die on the strength of their ego front and center. Easy recommendation from me!
P.S. Did you know the Blue Lock manga is really popular in China, even more than One Piece? Makes sense, China probably already does this with its student athletes. lol

To be the best. You have to work the best, you have to train the best, eat, and sleep the best. Sometimes, it even takes going through extreme measures, in order to find that best out of someone. Even if what is presented, wouldn’t be called Football to you. Football may just be a sport to some, but for a load of people it’s very serious business. People eat, sleep, dream football.
People travel endless miles, travel to different countries, no matter the cost, to watch their team perform. It may be a sport, but it’s a lifestyle for so many, to even many nations, who want to grasp it by the horns, and be the best in the world.

This is Blue Lock.

But to be the best, you need to basically start from somewhere, You can’t be the best with mediocare, or just good enough level of talent. You have to find the best. Or even make and train the best.

Story and characters: 8
While there are flaws within it’s story context, as there is a dozen other positions on a football picture, and you cannot win alone as a striker by yourself. Football is a team effort, and here in Blue Lock, they show it in both forms.
Points where they’ll show how good it is working within the team, but all the while showing the greatest, can do it by themselves. The best get results, the best deliver, where it be on their own, or with a team. It’s proven within the game itself. Taking quotes from real footballers, in order to further prove their points.

The characters within the show are quite bundle. The best players aren’t just known for their skills alone, they have the personalities to boot. Sometimes you need the right kind of characters, in order to succeed. You cannot be weak, you cannot be a weak link, you cannot suffer under pressure. With so many conflicting and determined characters within this line up, and with the story it presents. It’s going to be a good product.

Art and sound: 8
Blue Lock has an interesting kind of style that sets it apart from different animes. Just by looking through the characters eyes, is proof in the pudding. Hell, some even look a bit soulless. As if there is a massive focus, a massive serious attention from everyone who is in this process. Everyone has the determination to be the best, and if you don’t, you’re weak, you’re out. Simple as that.
I’ve described some shows as having an in your face style, but with Blue Lock, it’s more described as a determined seriousness to it. While one may laugh at the idea of Japan ever wining the World Cup, but with how this show is presented. It’s no laughing matter to them. The sound quality too, is top notch, and can’t put a foot wrong.

Blue Lock is a different spin on a usual Football anime that has come over the last few years. But it’s certainly left a very serious, and impressive impression. Give it a watch for sure.

Excuse me, wtf?
Do people who didn’t like the anime REALLY understand how it works?
Do you really prefer that the “sport” genre is ALWAYS THE SAME THING THAT WE ARE TIRED OF SEEING? (And i say this as an absolute sports fan, including animes).
The next football anime, what will it have NEW if Ao Ashi already addresses everything?
That’s why i like different proposals when well executed, and Blue Lock does it perfectly.
Story: 10/10
In short, Japanese football cannot progress, they do not have decisive strikers and this is their weakest point, so they need drastic measures to solve this problem, in this way, Blue Lock emerged, which aims to create the best striker in the world, the one who will carry the Japanese national team and make the country win the world cup.
ONLY HERE we can already see something to be considered, ALL other football animes always have the same idea of ”joining a team and going out trying to win all the championships ahead”, Blue Lock innovates, it manages to stand out precisely because it is different from the others. You can look at it and think that the purpose is empty, but the amount of plots that are happening involving Blue Lock is ABSURD, they are things you would never expect and that’s fantastic.
Animation: 8/10
It’s not perfect like Bleach’s animation this season, BUT, it’s still extremely good, even more so for a football anime. It presents different angles of view, graphical representations, solid transitions, an art with highlighted lines,
and even has the apex moments where the animation becomes surreal, the only questionable thing in my view is the sudden 3D models that may not be to taste from everyone and they can save the budget (but it’s still good) like it did in Episode 8, but it’s clear that the focus is on the action scenes and that really has to be the priority.
Soundtrack: 8/10
Both the opening and ending songs in addition to the Ost’s are very good, they are not memorable as Haikyu songs, the ones you even want to listen to on Youtube, but they represent the atmosphere of all events well, especially the hype moments omfg.
Characters/Development: 10/10
Players practically have their main skills where they are better than others, but at the same time they evolve their other points to become complete strikers, which is precisely the methodology, a PERFECT striker.
The main characters have backstories where things are shown such as why they play football and why they enter the Blue Lock, many of them establish relationships between them, both positive and negative, like conflicts, not everything is a rainbow. Characters have a variety of personalities and appearances, I like, not much to say here.
And some quick answers
– Blue Lock has nothing cringe, the dialogues and facial expressions are the essence of the show, it works AND MUST exist
– No, they don’t play football alone, in Episode 3 you’ll see why that’s wrong, selfishness doesn’t mean picking up the ball and playing alone, it’s just a mix of “knowing you’re capable of deciding the match in hours needed + player confidence + will to win at any cost” :)

I decided to finally make a MAL account purely to write a review of this show, and in all honesty I’m not surprised by the amount of people that called this show “cringe” or “awkward.” Reading these kinds of reviews make it very apparent that the people writing these reviews are talking from a perspective in which they don’t come from a background of playing sports growing up, or specifically playing sports at the highest competitive level.
With that being said, Blue Lock is probably the most creative show in terms of showing what goes on inside of an elite athlete’s mind, taking not only the physicality required to perform, but also shines light on deep sports psychology.
People that call the idea of the “monster” inside the players cringe don’t realize that during interviews with people like Kobe Bryant and Michael Phelps, they themselves talk about having a “darkness” inside them that they tend to tap into when getting into their individual flow states.
An entire chapter in a book called Relentless, written by Tim Grover (who was Michael Jordan’s performance coach), is dedicated to this darkness that exists only within athletes of the highest level.
There are countless other examples of this show getting into different aspects of sports psychology, and at times it gives me chills because of how accurate it can be (which would fly over people’s heads if they haven’t played sports at a higher competitive level)
So, for people that would like to explore the truth of elite athleticism and be open to this perspective, Blue Lock is definitely for you. But for those that don’t understand what it actually takes to reach the highest levels of sports, where players dedicate their entire being to becoming the best (either because they haven’t lived that kind of life or just want to watch this anime comparing it to shows like Haikyuu and Kuroko), then this show really is not for you.
Calling this show unrealistic just teveals that you have not lived a life where you dedicate your ENTIRE being to a sport, which is totally okay, but when giving a review of this show (or starting/continuing it), please take this perspective into consideration.

It’s not the best, it can’t even be compared to the manga in many cases, but what this anime of kids kicking balls with abruptly high egos has achieved doesn’t make any sense, the Blue Lock project is real.
To begin with, the soccer that is narrated here can be taken in many ways; impress you, disgust you or love it, but one thing here is true, this is fiction. All of this coupled with a dark aura (technically edgy. and it’s awesome) makes the anime something unique, making a sport seen as “simple” (without analyzing it too much, since all sports have a lot of content) into something absurd.
but entertaining and fun. As the characters threaten each other with death for the simple fact of having lost the ball or because they are simply jerks, but each one is unique, thus having their own weapon, differentiating them from the rest (along with part of their attitude, aura and representative color and further).
Now I would like to talk more in depth about the series, setting aside the context and the amazing (and edgy) characters.
-FIRST, the animation… this causes a lot of commotion, it is true that it is not up to what it should have had, but some scenes are visually incredible, and the drawing almost never disappoints, to improve would be the use of cgi (for background characters or far shots) and still images with the ball moving or with sound effects or something that makes it appear that the image is moving.
-The first and second arc, the first and second selection… are quite good. The material is entertaining (the second half seemed like a video game to me, and I love it) and it makes new characters or characters that hadn’t been seen before shine and become very fond of them, each one having their moment of prominence. Although they are little compared to what will come in future seasons (hehehe).
-And lastly… the amazing and mostly overlooked (by vast majority though it may not seem like it) amazing music and OST’s. BLLK’s OST’s are incredible, they give a lot of emotion to the scenes and make you feel motivated, or scared, like many of Rin’s OST’s, causing a feeling of danger to the viewer. And then, that it is not important in the reviews, the Openings and Endings.
To start with, the 2 Op and Ed have great animation and amazing music, even though the first Op is controversial because it doesn’t reflect much of BLLK (the lyrics do it perfectly, but we’re not Japanese and we understand almost nothing or nothing), and then there is the madness of the second Op, Judgment, with a quite innovative and new artistic section, as well as a very good song by the group ASH DA HERO.
Beyond this there is not much more to say about Blue Lock, the truly good is yet to come and we are not prepared for it, luckily everything manages to live up to it.
If you have come this far, I thank you and I hope you support my review, I wish you a great day.
(I don’t speak English very well, so much of this review has been done with a translator, I hope I didn’t mess it up and that your eyes didn’t hurt from reading some mistake, once again I say goodbye, thanks for reading).

Read More Reviews: [ https://myanimelist.net/anime/49596/Blue_Lock/reviews ]