5 Reasons You Should Watch Blue Lock (Even if You Don’t Like Soccer)
Blue Lock is a Welcome Change
Tired of the same old Shonen trope of “Power of friendship”? Are you sick of watching the protagonist flex his plot armor? You won’t be disappointed when you start watching/reading Blue Lock! When Japan’s World Cup soccer team is in shambles and can’t seem to grasp the #1 spot, Jinpachi Ego shows up with a promise to create a world-class striker. His philosophy is this: because of Japan’s “team” mentality, their players lack the primal instinct to dominate. That a striker’s value comes down to one thing, scoring more goals than the opponent. However, where most would agree that teamwork is king, Jinpachi proposes a counter. Unadulterated Ego is the characteristic that drives a striker to greatness. This is what the training facility “Blue Lock” is all about. So let’s dive into why you should watch.
Ego is a Jealous Mistress
Normally in a shonen anime, the power of friendship will be leveraged to deliver some of the most powerful moments in fiction. However, if Haikyuu is a sports shonen that exemplifies this trope to its fullest then Blue Lock is its dark mirror. The driving factor of every character’s growth is tied to Ego. Every Step forward on the field must be taken with the intent to take your ego to greater heights as you grow into a striker. This makes everything any character does in the story anything but typical.
Bonds are broken, dreams are shattered, and betrayal is rife in this extreme training facility. Blue Lock is special because you CAN’T ask that of a typical shonen. The brilliant execution of this philosophy is easily one of the most interesting foundations of a story to come out of sports anime and manga to date. It’s obvious because not only does the writer subvert your expectations but they do so with meaning and confidence. Every time the series subverts your expectations it further contributes to the fact that you aren’t watching a typical shonen.
It also says something about the relationship between competition and the evolution of ability. For example, there’s a moment in the first season when a chummy duo becomes at odds with each other. Character A says that they’re moving on because staying with character B would slow down their progress. Obviously, character B is rubbed the wrong way and vows vengeance because of the betrayal. This in turn also spurs on progression for character B. Blue Lock doesn’t pull punches when it comes to the reality of competition. You’re either good enough or the environment tells you otherwise and you get the boot, FOREVER. Yes, in Blue Lock, when you get kicked out it’s not just out of the Blue Lock facility. If you can’t pass the tests and advance to the next level, you get blacklisted from Japan’s soccer association.
The Protagonist Is Just Another Player
Normally in your typical shonen setting, the underdog soars to greater heights past everyone at a certain point in the story, and more or less predictable as to when that will happen. Not in the Blue Lock. Yoichi is just another player that is trying to become the next world-class striker. He has no special abilities and is constantly told by others that are clearly better than him that he has no talent.
To add insult to injury, even when he feels like he’s made major progress he gets stricken down by other players who have evolved past him. Heck, he even loses some of his matches despite his best efforts. Sorry, Yoichi, no plot armor for you. Even when you compare him to his peers when he improves, you’re still looking for the next time someone has a breakthrough. The ebb and flow of progression during the games make for some of the most interesting situations in fiction that I’ve seen in a while.
The series does a good job of making character breakthroughs impactful without introducing hard power creep. Think of Dragonball Z. When Goku gets his next form he ALWAYS leaves everyone else in the dust, making them irrelevant to whatever threat comes their way. To this day I still wonder why they’re even training if not for a tournament. This isn’t because the writer can’t make characters powerful but it’s harder to do so convincingly given the framework he’s set up for himself.
In Blue Lock, this isn’t a problem because the catalyst for growth isn’t something that is exclusive to anyone. This allows for character progression to be steady and any breakthrough from a character has a chance to become impactful. It doesn’t normally feel like anyone gets left behind and when they do, you can bet on them catching up soon.
Supercharged Fundamentals
Sometimes in sports anime and manga, the writers like to take some creative liberty and add “superpowers” to the mix in an attempt to make the story more interesting. This is because the writer has a lack of confidence that the sport will deliver enough intrigue to the audience. The writer of Blue Lock takes a different approach. Everything, even the craziest stunts that the characters pull off are real techniques in soccer. The artistic liberty comes in with the depiction of the techniques.
When the main character strategizes, puzzle pieces start breaking off of him, and when he’s figuring something out the puzzle pieces come back to complete him symbolizing his revelations. When Yoichi imagines Rin’s thinking, his adaptability manifests as water like aura. When Chigiri breaks free of his fear of injury, it’s depicted as him bursting forth out of the metaphoric chains that bound him. He blitz’s everyone on the field to score the goal. These grandiose actions may look unreal especially when animated soo beautifully but at its core, it’s real soccer.
Taking Moments to Appreciate Soccer
You know that rule “show don’t tell”? Not applicable here. Imagine watching the world cup final game without knowing a thing about Soccer. Would be pretty boring and confusing right? Even more so if you don’t know how soccer works. Blue Lock does a great job of simplifying things even for people who don’t know anything about soccer through its exposition.
In contrast to this, many Shonen series will slow down the fights pacing to give a look into what the combatants are thinking inside, and a lot of the time it’s pretty obvious what’s happening during the fight. Why give us the information we already know or can figure out by ourselves?
This problem doesn’t present itself in Blue Lock. Instead, the exposition allows us to learn alongside the characters and slows down the game enough for us to feel what the characters feel and understand what they think. This helps us experience the storytelling as storytelling but also taught me how to appreciate soccer even though I didn’t care for it in the past.
Blue Lock is Compelling
Despite growing up being taught teamwork is king, Jinpachi Ego is able to appeal to the narcissist in Yoichi. Without directly speaking to him, Jinpachi’s philosophy cuts through the Japanese traditional idea of respect which extends to the core principles of teamwork. Japanese culture places such importance on the idea of respect that it’s reflected in their language, manners, and customs.
There’s even a whole part of their language dedicated to honorary terms. Bowing replaces the handshake and there are even different degrees to how deep you bow to show proper respect to different kinds of people. Disrespect and ego often go hand in hand which is why I view the story as a more subtle criticism of traditional Japanese values.
It’s very apparent from the get-go that Yoichi’s team in episode 1 was detrimental to his growth when you see the stark contrast in values throughout the series. Another reason why the story is compelling is that the stories behind the characters’ motivations add depth. It’s always cathartic when you see a great backstory just before an epic moment of growth from a character. Their egos are pushing them past their limits almost as if to throw up a metaphorical middle finger to the version of themselves they have transcended.
Does this sound like something you’d want to watch? and if you’ve already watched Blue Lock, what other reasons do you have to watch it? Who’s your favorite character and why? I’d love to know in the comments below!
