¶ Blue Lock
what's good , nerds . It's time for another episode of the zone podcast . It's jet black extreme and I'm joined by mira jane , and today's topic is blue lock . This is a title that is requested by mira jane as part of her birthday um gift to me , in a sense , so we're gonna do a review on that . So , without further ado , let's go ahead and on .
So luloc here to deal with the show . Well , with this anime slash manga series , the japan national team finished 16th and the 2018 FIFA and the Japanese football union . Keep in mind that in America we know football , as you know , with the helmets and the shoulder pads and you know but internationally , football is soccer .
The union hires this soccer enigma uh , ego , jim patty , but you know that's japanese pronunciation , so we kind of hear it as ego , but which makes sense because , based on what he's kind of about , uh , it kind of makes sense for him to be named that , but essentially it kind of makes sense for him to be named that .
But essentially Ego's master plan was to lead Japan to stardom with this thing called Blue Lock , which is being supervised by Henri Antetre Now . Blue Lock is this training regimen where you create the world's greatest egotistical striker and those who bail Blue Lock will not be permitted to represent Japan .
So if you punk out , nah , you're not going to nationals , You're never going to nationals , and the show slash manga is centered around Yoichi Isagi , an unknown high school soccer player , conflicted about his playing style , decided to join the program in order to become the best striker in the world .
Now , right off the bat , this series let you know that the power of friendship is left at the door when these boys agree to participate in blue lock . I mean , they do make friends there , so it's not completely ruthless , but it gets pretty ruthless behind those long walls . They make it very clear that strikers are built different .
How , yeah , you can have a midfielder and whatnot . Um , that's easy to train , but striker nah , a striker is built different to where . They gotta have that tenacity , they gotta have that drive , they gotta have a formula . You know , all the other shit , and even famous names like Pele , was fueled by EO more than teamwork . They said it in the first episode .
I don't necessarily agree , but can you imagine , the greatest soccer players in the world is like man , fuck all that power of friendship . I'm out of here . For me , that's essentially the vibe that they were giving off .
And Blue Locks isn't just a training regimen , it's also this ruthless survival game where only one of 300 players shall serve as a champion for japan to win the world cup , and I love how this series emphasized the stakes of winning and losing , shocking the boys and made even the audience on the grave and cruel reality of soccer , of sports and of life in
general . So , mary Jane , I turn it to you . What is it about this series that you loved about ?
The thing I love about Blue Lock is the intensity in each and every episode there is not a moment where I wasn't on the edge of my seat and also the fact that , like you said , the power of friendship Does not exist in this anime . There is no loyalty .
It's so out of the window that one of my favorite players and characters in the show Ditched his best friend and was bro .
Hate to tell you , but you suck , so I'm going with them . Oh , hold on . Okay , you're probably talking about my favorite part in this whole series where , uh , you have nagi and Ryo . Basically Isagi's team beat Nagi's team .
And the deal with this whole Blue Lock thing is where if you beat a team , you can choose somebody from the losing team to join your team or vice versa or some shit , so you can exchange team play . So it's like stakes in this shit too .
And what I loved about what happened with Nagi and I'm going to explain a little bit about Nagi and Ryo's um relationship uh , essentially , nagi wanted Isagi to play with um Nagi and Ryo and ditch umajira . But Isagi was like , nah , I like these guys , so I'm just going to stay over here .
And Nagi was like , oh well , if that's how you feel , then I'll join your team . And then that Bob showed up . Bro , that was like a rare Bob , because I was like , hey , I was kind of feeling that I was like hold up . Where's this coming from ?
Bro , I kind of I had to look it up and feel like , hold on , I need to look up this on ost , like where did this come from ?
like it was definitely a bob . I ain't gonna even lie . Blue lock has great music like . Their sound is absolutely insane oh , hell yeah .
And you know what . Speaking of which , let's talk about the characters a little bit now . I was gonna mention nagi and rio . Like I don't like how rio acting like oh , this guy nagi , he's a genius . Like he is so effortless with the shit that he does . You know how he caught that phone from dropping . Well , it was his phone , he was playing video games on .
Of course . He caught it with his foot and whatnot , like , oh yeah , you got talent , bro , I think you should play soccer with me . And he was like nah , I don't want to play soccer , I don't want to be followed .
I don't want to play soccer . I don't want to be balled all day . I don't want to do anything . Nagi's attitude was so .
He was literally like SpongeBob in that one episode . Nah , I don't really feel like it .
I don't want to do that stuff . I just want to play my game and chill and go to sleep in class . Let's be honest , we know he sleeps through every class .
But no , look that one after . You know they do these little skits after the episodes and one time he was falling asleep during class and Rio was like you're gonna flunk out of this school , you keep this up .
And then the test results come in and he placed second and I'm like you know it's like yeah , rio , rio um placed first and he can't be too mad , but it's like the same time it's like it's he was saying that it's impressive that you made second it is , and you know what ?
I'll be honest with you um rayo is not one of my favorite .
He got on my nerves yes , that's what I was going to mention how essentially he was banking on Nagi and I'm like , bro , you're not my girlfriend , why are you acting so weird , like .
He was really clinging . It's kind of weird because it's like he could sense and there's , like this , I think , a psychology behind it .
It's like he could sense that Nagi would be good yeah , but uh , oh , I love it when um rio felt betrayed by nagi on switching teams and I was like , oh , that's how you feel . Whatever , do what you want . Oh , like , bro , you really acting . Like the fact that he said that I'm like , and there it is .
It's like he knew that Nany was going to be good , but as long as he was never better than him .
You know what ? I'm sorry , mary Jane , but you just remind me of a thing that I hate . You know what really grinds my gears when you have friends to where , oh yeah , um , they're cool with you and all , you hang out with them and whatnot .
But god forbid , if you start doing better than them , like you know how all you have big plans for yourself , or you want to do this , that and the third , and they discouraging your dreams or whatnot . It's like it felt weird at first , but then you realize some folks really just don't want you doing .
It's like they want you doing good , but they don't want you to do better . Like they don't want to .
They don't want it to look like oh , you're doing so much better than me that that it makes them feel some type of way I'm like bro , like I'm putting in the work , like I'm doing what I can for me , like you could have done something for you , but instead you're spending all that time and energy hating .
Yo , and that's real .
That makes me so mad how people can be like that , to where you don't want to even do nothing for yourself , but you want to get mad when somebody else went on Elevate .
Like , let's take this back a little bit to the first character . Who does that ? That was Watcher . Who on , I guess , but Watcher literally betrayed his whole entire team because he knew they were better than him .
Oh , you know what Mirror's Game . I got nicknames for these characters Well , not all of them , but mainly the ones that I bothered to take note of . I nicknamed Kuan Judas they're like Judas .
That's very accurate , very perfect . Some would say a little on the nose , but but when he betrayed his team , I'm gonna be so honest , I wasn't . I wasn't expecting it , this , this .
When it happened and when it was revealed , I was like wait , he really did this shit , like this nigga really started plotting against them just because , oh well , that's the only way I know I'm gonna get ahead . So what are you gonna do when it's the , when you do get ahead right and it's the next level ? Who else can you betray after that ?
Because everyone knows you're a traitor like ? I . Didn't even understand his point or incentive , but what I loved was after he got his ass beat , because he got after he got his ass beat . Oh , by righty like uh , no , I like how hold on , hold on , I like how , uh right , you like you're still a traitor , motherfucker .
And I was like but you know what ? You still our teammate . We still won , like I ain't too mad , but like you know what , take my hand , traitor . And I was like oh really , I appreciate that , though , bam . I was like don't you ever do some shit like that again , listen . Ever do some shit like that again , listen .
Okay , so I called rachi the bakugou of this series oh no , no , no . No , I got you because here's the thing . I would have said that , but apparently there's three bakugou clones in the series oh , true ish because there was on kira from the beginning . But you know he got knocked out um almost immediately , like that's not fair , he's um . Fucking .
Batsura came after me first , like what .
I mean , he's kinda nah , can't agree with you .
Well only by hairstyle , like the hairstyle . But then it was Kumigami who was more like the heroic Bakugou clone , to where he really low-key , wanted to be a hero and whatnot , but he also had like the bakugou um hairstyle too . But damn bro , like I was mad when kunigami didn't make it I was too , but you know who .
He reminded me of ichigo . Yeah , he reminds me of ichigo like this heroic need to be the hero , to be the savior of the team that I get mad occasionally and blow up , but I'm still the calm , cool one that reminded me of ichigo so much yeah , oh , you know , I'm sorry for saying this , but you know , every time I think of ichigo I'm thinking .
For some reason I keep thinking ichigo is like a blank slate of a character , like he doesn't personality wise , he just doesn't stand out that much to me kunigami well , there it is kunigami , because I mean , you want like , it's like you're rooting for him , but then at the same time , what else did he do ?
Right , it's like you were almost destined to be a side character . My dude , I'm sorry but this is blue lock on that whole hero motivation .
That might sound good on paper , but this is a whole different the whole mentality is you have to have a big ego , and if you ain't got one , get off the team bro yeah , yeah , it's like I'm feeling that energy , but this ain't , this ain't a place for that , bro .
But speaking of clones , you want to talk about clones ? Let's talk about the karama clone . Uh , mr androgynous chigri oh , oh .
I have the biggest crush on chigri . Can't even lie . He was so oh , you're not lying
¶ Blue Lock Characters and Realism
.
As soon as I saw him , I thought karama immediately and I was like I need a yokoko transformation when you go , take that brain out but hey , in midway in , when he was like okay , he had that injury in his right leg , and he was like nah , you know what , fuck all that if it tears it tears , like he was like fucking Ivan Drago type shit was like if it
tears it tears . And then he was like I was like hey , if it tears , it tears . And then he was like we're accelerating .
I was like hey , like I freaking really love him so much , and what I also love , too , is that he's a good solo character . Like he feels like an individual , even in comparison to everyone else . Like he's one of the fastest people on the team , if not the fastest people on the team , and he's constantly improving and accelerating .
It makes no sense how long his legs are , by the way like no logical sense . I know he's flexible , he gotta be , but I will say you know he's inspired by well , a lot of the characters in Blue Lock are also inspired by real life soccer players or football players . So he's inspired by Ryo Miyachi .
Ryo Miyachi is a Japanese player and honestly , I'm not going to lie to you If you go back and watch like highlights of Ryo Miyachi you're going to be like , yeah , they'm not going to lie to you . If you go back and watch highlights of Ryo Miyagi , you're going to be like , yeah , they got this down to a freaking science . That is chiggery in real life .
There's no denying it . It's insane , just how you would think in an anime . It's just unrealistic . No , Some of the stuff that Ryo miyachi does looks unhuman . I'm not even gonna lie to you now see that's what .
Another thing , that's one of the main things I want to talk about how blue lock applies , real life applications , or you know , like real life applications is being added to blue lock to where . How accurate is what they're saying in this uh series is compared to um soccer ? I honestly want to believe that for the most part . Yeah , I can believe that .
Um , there's some things , like I know , they kind of romanticize it with uh animations and whatnot , make it sound shown in this fuck , but at the same time , it's like you can kind of believe that , um , to an extent .
That's this is some of the links that they have to go through in order to be great soccer players yes , and and I think that's why I really am attached to blue lock , because I'm where you kind of start rooting for them as if you're rooting for a real football team .
It's like you're getting to watch the start and finish of a player's career yeah , it's like that's a funny thing too .
I'm gonna admit it here on the podcast where I went to sports games . I played sports like not professionally , not for like a team or whatnot , but I did play sports and yeah , they're fun .
But from an outside point of view , you know , like watching it gets kind of boring , like I don't know , like it just feels like a whole bunch of um balls being passed around and whatnot . I'm like okay , well , I it's not that boring , but it's more like it doesn't excite me .
It's like I have to watch it with other people and like , okay , well , I'm kind of following along with what's going on . I'm not like a big fan , but it's , you know , like um , it used to be combat sports that mainly grabbed my interest . You know like fucking or archery or what not .
It's like something where , like , okay , you can kind of see an art style to it , but with Blue Lock and other shows that we're going to review , like Kuroko's Basket , maybe Haikyuu and what not , you get to see how . So that's how it feels to playing these sports . I'm like okay .
And it brings the sports almost to life . In a way , it gives them more life than they already have . So I definitely fell in love with Blue Lock and I definitely fell in love with all of the characters . Honestly , there wasn't a character that I was like , except Rayo .
There wasn't a character that I was like , oh , I don't want to know how they're going to progress . I wanted to know how each and every last character's progression was going to look .
And that kind of brings me to Nagi and watching him progress Play bad genius , yes , yes , watching , I did not think , like after the first match between um , after they uh moved on to where they have to start choosing teammates , I did not think . During the first round of selections , when it was time for second .
So I didn't think he was gonna go anywhere , I thought he was gonna chill with rayoyo . I did .
Nah , you know what the crazy thing is . You know how he's a main character . He's not like the central character , like Isagi is . But you want to know how you can tell that Nagi is a main character ?
The fact that he's getting his own movie , which a trailer just dropped today , and the movie will be dropping on april 19th man , I'm so excited for it and I'm so glad you brought it up , because I I did not think we were gonna get a movie about that .
I honestly wanted a movie more about um , uh , bada , oh , the king Borrow .
I wanted a movie . I thought that's the movie we were going to get , just because he plays in such an aggressive manner and it's so volatile .
The red lightning and shit . Oh the footwork , oh my gosh .
His footwork is absolutely insane , by the way he did that .
Double , triple , chop shit oh my god , his .
So it's crazy that chops are an actual , real life thing , like being able to do that is absolutely crazy , and seeing in the way they live now like I can't watch football without picturing it in animals yeah , that's the see .
That's just the thing . That's what I love about these sports anime to where it helps me gamify actual games . To where it's like from now on I can't imagine soccer being played any other ways .
Like I'm just imagining what if these players like feel like they're in the fucking uh anime or a movie where they have like superpowers and shit , they're using all these special , or a movie where they have superpowers and shit , they're using these special techniques to win games ? I'm like you know what that would make games fun , not gonna lie .
Like for instance Nico the Sniper .
Yes , yes , yes . And then I do want to say shout out to Mario Balotellii . He's an italian soccer player and that's who borrows , based off of her . If you look at their hairstyles , I just want to say I like the cut .
I did like the cut did you listen ?
go look at , um , how mario betelli's uh hairstyle has transformed throughout his time in the league and it gets more like what Burrows is and it's so crazy that it just progressively gets to the point that it is now . But yeah , I mean he's super .
It's weird because like he's the nicest soccer player that anyone , everyone says that he's one of the nicest people that they could ever meet . But in true fashion , when he's on the field , he , he has his moments . He is so temperamental when he is on that field and they don't know when he's gonna blow up , and his strength is literally .
When I say he body checked the dude so hard I thought I thought he was gonna be in the ground forever , like I didn't think he was gonna get back up at all , but yet like Borrow's Borrow's definitely I was wishing that he would have gotten his own movie oh , listen , listen .
my favorite part about Borrow was when he was playing with Isagi and Isagi was looking at him like pass me the ball . And I was like okay . And I was like is this my role now ? Just a side character that just pass the ball to ?
the other player .
And he was like no fuck off , give me that ball .
Like that man said , I will never be a side character , ever in my life .
And the fact he was literally picturing it to where I'm like . Yeah , I'm chilling at the house , not doing much of my life , cracking a beer , watching my boy E-Sugi on TV no , he said that would never be me ah , that can't be me . What oh that ?
can't be me . What I love too . There's like a similarity between Baro and Bachina .
Ah , yeah , the Jinchuriki .
Yeah , yeah , like I love how they have this .
I told you I got nicknames for these goons . I mean but , to be fair , he doesn't have that monster quote unquote inside him anymore because Isagi helped him out .
Well , mainly it was like oh well , you know , isagi kind of helped me , inspired on to resolve on these issues that I have in my head , and it took me to not play with Isagi to realize , you know what , I can't fight on my own , I can't play on my own . You know what ? I think the monster's gone now .
I thought he was kind of schizophrenic but I'm like nah , nah , it's not like a complete personality shit , because if we we said that , we might as well say that about all these boys , because when off the field they're like friends , they're like buddies and all that shit .
on the field , I'm like they just become ruthless but I think that's kind of the fascination with sports too is like when these people are off of the field they're just regular people . But there's a switch , and I think ego refers to it as like a flow . I think that's what he called it in the show .
It's like when you step on the field . Instant demon time .
Yes , there's this instant thing that just clicks in their head and you know what , forget that .
I think Bodger might be a a little bit the look in his eyes , though , like I mean . I know all of them have it , but like him specifically though it's the look with the smile .
That's what it is .
Yeah , he reminds me of like Lux where , like he's always smiling like a little psychopath , yeah .
Yo , oh , and honestly , first episode kicked that dude straight in the face out of his sleep . Ow .
Oh , the way he did it , though , it was like hey man , I'm just gonna kick him . He's like no , he fucking like did a .
He did like a what do you call it ? Like a breakdancer spin kick .
Yeah , that's what it was Like , what the ?
hell .
He did that prone on his side .
Just from like he wasn't even on . That man was face flat Arms Like taking a nap .
¶ Discussing Character Dynamics and Growth
First of all , can we just talk about how he was so Unbothered with everyone going else around Him too , just completely Unbothered by the situation , and then just wakes up like ooh , fun time . Yeah , nah , he's still a schizophrenic . I'll take that . He gonna get that . He gonna get that one .
Yeah , who else did I like in this show ? Gagamaru the wild car , to where it seemed like he's always doing something crazy with the headbutts and whatnot . I was also digging the hair too . I like the hair too . Really yeah , yeah , you mean he yeah yeah , he's the one with the white hair but with the black tips .
yeah , those the real straight face too , like his face was , so did he did anything change in his face ever no , yeah , he was pretty much a straight face dude he was so straight face , doesn't he ?
um , I really didn't pay that much attention to his character , to be honest with you I just thought it was weird how like , oh how he was willing to uh that one time to where he fucking crashed into the goal just to prevent it from being uh scored by the other team or some shit like that .
That's so true . He is definitely got striker energy . He's not going to let you score . Mind you , he had never been a goalie before . That was never . So that was completely and totally new for him to a new position for him to be playing anyway . So , yeah , game was really cool .
Now that I think about , now that I'm like remembering yeah , he was pretty cool . I really liked um rin , I really liked want to read . He was a terrible person . You know , I felt like Ren .
He was like that one kid that's like um cut above everybody else and he just feels like he's always looking down on everybody .
Yeah .
He's like . I want to say he makes Chard from Mega man Battle Network look a little more chill because Chard is like yeah , he's the type of dude that trains all the time and he's proficient in what he does , but he only looks down on land . For the most part . Everybody else is like okay , he's being fair With Rin in this show .
Yeah , he kind of shits on everybody . He you know what . So for me he was the sasuke of this show I wanted to say that , but even sasuke's not that rude I mean no , no , no , sasuke's not that rude , but in the correlation Ren does have an older brother . And he does have an older brother , Ah shit , you're right . Yeah , and that's why he is .
It's like I just gotta beat this certain somebody and my life will be complete .
Yeah , that's it , Like I just gotta surpass them . Like his brother's already a professional football player , so it's like I feel like that was the connection to Nardole . I was like , okay , I see this , this is the older brother that he has to be right , so that's why he's so rude to people .
That's honestly true , because everyone just refers to him as like , oh , your son's little brother .
Yeah , even the world vibe to where like hey , we know your brother , like why y'all talking about ?
this right like y'all ain't even have to bring that up . And and then , oh , what I did love , too , was that all of the other characters watching ren was like man , that boy speak english , dang oh yeah , how they were all like .
Well , everybody said isaki was bugging him about . Hey , can you teach me English ? I was like man , they teach this shit in high school , weren't y'all paying attention ?
You were not paying attention . Very obvious that their mind was completely on football .
Now see , those are the example of um I want to say , uh , you know , jocks , meatheads or uh , there was like another name for it to where it's like they . You know those um people that always got like a certain sport on the brain , like um , fucking what's his name ? From nifty classified ?
Uh , the dude that always had like a basketball in his hand , like um blonde dude like I forgot his name , shit .
But yeah , it's like they always got that one sport on the brain you know that makes sense , but it seems like all of them have it right . It just seems like yeah well , hold on .
Well , it's uh nagi like . Obviously he's like yeah well , you know soccer's fun , but so I don't know .
Well , yeah , I think that's the thing . I think that's going to end up being the transformation we see with Nagi . I think that's the long run transformation , yeah , is that Nagi's going to care more about ? I don't even think it's going to be football , it's just winning , like .
I think he's going to end up being one of those people who just cares about , like , furthering himself and being better . Um , but we haven't talked about Asagi enough , and I don't know if this is an insult , and you tell me . So Asagi is based off of Filippo Inzaghi .
I can't pronounce his last name , I pronounce it wrong every freaking time but he's also an Italian player and the reason Asagi is based off him is because Filippo is known as a basic player .
Yeah , you know what is known as a basic player . Yeah , you know what . You just remind me of how . Uh , isaki was the only one that I didn't mention . His nickname for isaki is obviously the average joe , like you're saying , but he's such a blank slate it's like , yeah , he has no technique , nothing really about him , stands out , stands out .
But then here comes the second Nickname , dc , which is short for Devour and Conquer , because Whenever he be watching people , he's kind of like Deku in a sense , to where , like he take notes of people , like I see what you're doing here , you know , with his spatial awareness and whatnot .
But okay , I'm , okay , I'm picking things up , I'm learning things now and that's gonna be my weapon to where it's like my direct shot , that's gonna I also love how , like when he's analyzing , he literally breaks down into like miniature puzzle pieces and forms during the game .
Right , like I'm kind of wondering if that's what's happening in real life . Like , are these players actually able to analyze in a situation and just be like , oh gotta , gotta switch it up . Nope , that's not working . I gotta evolve , I gotta get better . During this match , like right now , it's just super interesting the way they did that animation .
I freaking loved it . Honestly , it kind of creeped me out a little bit because he did break into puzzle pieces , but it was still super cool .
I think the other thing gift that isagi has is that he's he's an unintentional leader yeah , yeah , you kind of notice that um as you progress through the series to where it got to a point to where , oh , he's the best player on the current team that he was in and whatnot .
So , to a point , oh , even when he was beaten by ren in the later episodes , he was good enough to be chosen to play against the world five and eventually be part of of the 35 um players . That's part of the third selection .
Because now he's got to a point to where the big wigs are saying , hey , man , um , we got parents complaining , we got no visible evidence that this blue long shit works . We need to shut this down , especially after you paid those world five people like 100 million just to show up and then 1 million per goal .
You knew , you do know that it's five goals per game , so that's 5 million per game on top of the 100 million just to show up . And you know , no , no , we're shutting this shit down , we're shutting it , it down .
And then that boy Ego , he was like , nah , you know what , just need to trust the process , because we're going to show you some results and that's what I kind of like about Ego to where he was the type of dude . That's where , all right , idiots , let me explain it to you . Luck isn't just this magical element that you think it is .
Luck is a tool that you can use to where , when you see a coincidence , you take that opportunity and run with it , just like how one time uh I was , I was shopping , uh , one of the shopkeeps had like this dragon ball z uh hat on and obviously I was 3d printing . And I slid to him .
I was like , yeah , you know what man , I've been working on some dragon ball z was 3D printing . And I slid to him . I was like , hey , you know what man , I've been working on some Dragon Ball Z 3D printing . Maybe I can make something for you . And then you know that's what I'll do . You know the Apple movement and everything you know .
Sometimes you gotta strike up business when the opportunity comes up , and I feel that .
That's so true , like I did the same thing with the walking dogs , but that's not the point . Yeah , that's not the point . But what I love too about this whole thing , isn't it kind of interesting that this man wants to invest in people and actually curate the possibility . Yes , it's for the betterment of Japan .
Like , don't get me wrong , ego being real selfish , right like nah , I just want the japanese team to be number one , but at the same time , do you think that this is a good example of what if people actually invested money into people's futures and their talent and their potential ? Do you think this is a good example of that potential outcome ?
Yeah , because when you think about it like , think about it like this we have football players , basketball players in America to where they're getting full ride , scholarships to colleges and whatnot , getting top of the line training with machines and everything , personal trainers and everything they got to commit to this diet , which are going to be taken care of .
You know , kind of like a compensation type thing , and obviously they got to stay in shape and whatnot . Obviously , when you're representing a whole country on a national scale when it comes to playing these sports and it's all competitive and everything , yeah , it kind of do get that serious .
So I kind of understand ego's um point to where , if we're gonna get any kind of respect , um , in the sports area because you know how people be like , oh well , if it came down to , uh , let's say , basketball , who the most likely gonna win ?
If it was like , uh , not to be racist I'm not trying to be racist imagine you're going up against a whole bunch of Asians that's like I don't know average height , at best I'm gonna give them that much credit versus six foot five black dudes like who you think gonna ?
Yeah , so yeah , like it kind of does matter to where you need to raise the best black dudes like who you think gonna . So , yeah , like it kinda does matter to where you need to raise the best of the best and money gonna be spent to raise the best of the best . So I kinda get it Like it might be extreme measures , but sometimes , um , you gotta Yo .
I think most players , if not even like it might be extreme measures , but sometimes you got to .
No , I think most players , if not even like gym rats , would say that you will never reach the next level staying on the same level , like you're going to have to live bigger ways , you might have to face tougher challenges , otherwise you're not going to get anywhere .
That's why I kind of appreciate blue out , to where blue lock was one of those training regiments where it doesn't really hold your hand throughout the whole thing .
That's true like what I really truly love too about it was the fact that , um , they made the stakes so high .
You kind of talked about it in the beginning , but this to to the players it was like if I leave blue lock , I can never play again , like not even not just professionally , no , like they're gonna go back to freaking high school and they're just never gonna touch another football again . This is it for them and that was .
And I think sometimes people need that push and I think that's what blue lock is all about is that final push to be great , to have that tenacity , to have the gall to really go for it . And blue lock man , it's so freaking inspiring .
I don't think there's not an episode where I wasn't just , like you know , feel like I can go conquer the day today , anything that they can do . I can do better Besides playing football . That's truly how Blue lock um did for me .
But , uh , what was like some of your favorite like moments well , aside from when I was mentioned about borrow and um others , let me think , uh , the part where isaki finally figured out his , uh , his goal , his technique and whatnot . He was trying to piece it together with the puzzle pieces , obviously , and then the animates .
He got crazy there when he was um striking the goal . I did like that part . Um , obviously , the whole thing with the world fight was , uh was a big thing because it goes to show that , okay , y'all were pretty good with all these matches .
Now let me give you a taste of the real world and y'all going to go up against the real players , like the national players , and they got to see how the national players play and it's like like , oh , so this is what they're like .
I mean , yeah , I mean , I watched them on tv but I didn't realize they were like this , like it's almost like they give off a whole different vibe when you play against them versus just just watching them .
¶ Discussion on Blue Lock and Motivation
Yeah , um , what else ? I'm sorry for drawing blanks , but like I feel like I either already mentioned my favorite parts or I'm just not thinking of enough of them um , I can say mine .
Mine was any episode that bachira , or anytime time Bachi was talking to this freaking monster . I don't know why , but I definitely related to having that freaking monster the backstory with his mom . Yeah , that part was so . I really liked that part . It was so sweet and so sad at the same time .
And the way she was saying how , yeah , there's a lot of people who have a dream , but then they grow up and then they just discard their dreams to do whatever to fill the void in their lives . And I don't want that for you , megan . Yeah .
That's a lot of that for you , megamu . Yeah , that's a lot of . Honestly , I wish a lot of parents would say that that's so sweet . What do you think , though ? Because I think it's really sweet , and I think that's why Basher is the way he is with everyone else too , because it's like he's pushing everyone else to like towards their dreams .
I mean , obviously I love it because that's one of the main things about the zone itself . It's about the passion , like if we get our paper cool cool , I like that .
But it's more about the passion , it's more about the principle , it's more about putting something out there that people can believe in , like , say , for instance , one day maybe we want to make our own video games or our own anime or whatnot , and it's like , yeah , the money would sound good .
But it's more about putting out stories that people can actually like , people that you know , stories that people can actually relate to , and not in the whole pandering way , but more like spiritually speaking . It's like it really speaks to you on a spiritual level rather than just placating to your identity . You know what I mean .
So I want to be kind of that yeah , no , I completely get it like that's .
One thing I I really appreciate about being part of the zone too is like people are passionate , people are excited to talk about the things they love and the things they want to do , and everyone has , even if it's their own individual goals , but also at the same time , you know , it's just like Blue Lock Everyone has their own individual goals , but like when
it's time to work as a team , they have to figure out how to work as a team and still pursue their own individual goals , literally Exactly .
There you go , but yeah , obviously I'm going to like Blue Wild because it honestly speaks to me on a spiritual level , to where I'm like . You know what I need to get my shit together .
Mm , hmm , you know , it reminds me of what um ego said when he said nothing should bring you more joy than your own goals . Live only for that glorious moment , and if you can't , then you're no striker at all . To me , that's like you're no go-getter at all . You're not gonna go and achieve your goals , you're just gonna chill .
You're just lazy , you're you're comfortable with the way life is around you . To be a striker means to be , to be uncomfortable exactly and honestly .
that's why I was saying how blue lock kind of reminds you how things are in soccer and sports and life itself , to where life itself is more about survival , not comfort . It was never about comfort . It's more about how you adapt to changes and how you evolve through adversity and whatnot .
It's one thing to where it's like it feels counterintuitive when you say it like that , but honestly , this is why I say that I can't fully subscribe to the idea of the path of least resistance , to where on paper it sounds good but I want to do work that I can be proud of at the end of the day , at the end of my life , to where I'm in my deathbed
thinking you know what I did good in his life and then gone that's true .
You know what I just had a thought isagi is really uh . Isagi is really midoriya yeah he really is and I didn't make that connection until just now , but he's really freaking midoriya , because he's able to analyze the field , he's able to place people where they need to be .
He understands all of those things , but then at the same time , when it comes to what he wants , he's going to go get it when he wants that freaking goal . When that man said I can smell there's a goal here , I literally was like what do you mean ?
oh , another part that I like was I believe it was when he defeated um nico in that um one match . And then he was looking over nico with , uh , nico having tears in his eyes and everybody else on nico's team was feeling defeated and and he was like , look at me , I crushed their dreams and it feels so good .
Bro , did you see Ego Like yeah , yeah , he was like yes , excellent , I see potential in his voice .
He understands , yeah , it's crushed their dreams . He understands , yeah , it's crushed there .
I mean , he was kind of like that when the first Training um exercise With the uh Igarashi , the uh Connie clone To where essentially the whole thing was yes , I like how , between uh Fucking Isagi and Batsura , they chose to go after the strongest Players . Those are the type of strikers I want to fuck with yes , exactly , and that has been the sentiment .
Listen , nagi subscribed to that sentiment so hard . He's the epitome of that sentiment , like how you just really leave your best friend not once , twice , twice . He left that nigga twice and was like he's still terrible , like I don't , I don't know what to tell you , get back like you're just sorry .
It's like , if anything , it's more like , um , you're holding me back , like and that's ironic too , because you're the one who got me into this shit it's like having that one friend that thinks that you're the shit and whatnot , and essentially they're rooting for you to make power moves and whatnot , but the main thing is they don't really want to help you build
the empire , they just want to ride the coattails .
Yes , and they don't contribute . Want to help you build the empire . They just want to ride the coattails .
Yes .
And they don't contribute nothing really yeah .
so I'm like I appreciate the support , but I'm like you're not doing anything for me , man .
Right , and they always try to remind you
¶ Blue Lock Characters and Progression
. Like you remember when I did that one thing , like 10 years ago .
Really .
I was there for you years ago .
I'm like , what have you done for me lately ?
That's what Nagi said . Nagi said what have you done for me lately ? And Ray also did like bro , you remember I got you into soccer . You wouldn't even be here without me .
No , you wouldn't be here without me .
Exactly that's what he should have said . He wouldn't even be considered for Bullock without me , bro , like they wasn't even checking for you , they were really checking for me .
Now I'm the genius . You're just the guy that scouted me out .
And you know what , though , if Rayo would have been comfortable with that , I think Rayo would have went farther . I do . I think he would have went farther .
I'm like really , Y'all can't Kunigami , but kept Rayo .
Right , right . I didn't even want to talk about that .
I'm like we could have had Kunigami . I'm like Nobody . Listen .
We . Why did we have to lose Kunigami ? I don't , and it made me sad because I just as much of a blank slate and as much as he reminds me of Ichigo . I still wanted to see more of him and it sucks that we're just not gonna . What if they do ? What if he does come back ? What if they make a way for him to come ?
back . I kinda hope so , because you know season 2 has already been confirmed . So I'm like I'm of hoping he makes a come especially the whole cut scene thing going on on at the end of the last episode , to where you see him going down on exit lane and then he just like pounding his fist against the wall .
I'm like , come on , what y'all gonna do like bro , I just hope that Ego comes around Like hey , bruh , there's a second chance . It's gonna be harder , though we gonna really have to strip you , okay .
No , ooh , you know what It'll literally be like , that one arc in my Hero Academia where Todoroki and Bakugou had to take , like this provision , this remedial course test in order to catch back up with the rest of Class 1A .
Yup , yup , it'll be just like that . That would be so good . You know who I was surprised to . I know Nico wasn't going to make it , but I was kind of surprised that we didn't get to see Nico again though , because Nico was good .
Yeah .
He was good . I can't say that he wasn't . And the twins with the eyebrows the Juan Nima brothers .
Yes , how the bigger brother like , finally taught at the end .
I was like he can talk .
I was like oh well , you know , the younger brother's not around , so I gotta speak for myself now excuse me what you mean .
Couldn't you have done ?
okay , sure it was literally like , um , the first brush hour to where you find out that Lee can actually speak English , like , so you do . I was thinking the whole time like , uh , yes , I do . Um , you assumed I didn't know . I'm like assume I don't get you .
Yeah , we're gonna review that trilogy , by the way , ladies , don't worry , it's gonna be in May , may , may .
May , maybe , maybe May .
Yeah .
We'll see . You know what you're so right , it was definitely like that . It was like that final . That was like a little final reveal , a little nugget . You know what my favorite this is ? The I'll say this is kind of like one of my last things , and it's more of a funny one was the scene I think it was like the end credit scene .
I can't remember if it was in the episode , but when they were all in the shower , in the tub together , and all of them and basically uh , nagi was just floating by and borrowed like bro , bro , you can't just be floating and swimming in the public bath , like you can't do that , like you're supposed to be here to take a bath .
And he's like what you talking about ? I just swim , bro . And he's telling everyone hey , get that towel out of this tub , don't wash your hair right here . Did you use conditioner ?
I'm like these boys act like prima donnas after the games .
Baro is a heavy prima donna . Baro was heavy on it . He made them clean their room . That little nugget I thought was really funny .
And to see them regular , I guess see , that's why I can't say these characters are one-dimensional , because it's like , yeah , you were thinking that some of these characters just fill a role , but nah they're . They got more personality outside the games and you get get to see that in the locker rooms and shit .
Yes .
Oh , you know what this reminds me of , how Blue Lock is kind of classic . How I say this is because , oh , depending on your rank and what you do and how many goals you score , that depends , that heavily affects your living arrangements , your food .
Like if you ain't shit , you're eating natto and pickled fucking radishes , but meanwhile you got chigiri and fucking kunigami , which still pisses me off . These boys were doing so good . They get stir-fried vegetables , while you got chigiri and fucking uh kunigami , which still pisses me off . How like these boys were doing so good .
They get , like , uh , stir-fried vegetables and curry and bro , it's like he was just staring at them .
Eat like bro , can I please ?
nah see , my favorite part was when uh isagi and um , what was the other guy ? The , the connie clone was um . Rolling up on kunigami was like hey man , can we have your um curry ? Um , you can have our food . And I was like oh boy , if y'all insist . And then chiguri was looking over them like hey , I want curry too . Nah , you know what ?
Yeah , you don't want that shit . You want that shit . You want this , sir , fried vegetables , I'll trade you . And I was like and then I'm fucking Kunigami folded like hell . oh the way Chigiri offered it , though Looking like a fucking chick when he did it too . It was like do you want my food ?
I was like no , are you kidding , I'm not gonna lie to you . And then it makes it even more funny when Rao was calling him Missy .
Mr Put it on .
Yeah .
Man .
Made that hilarious . Um oh you know what ?
uh , another guy that I forgot To mention , uh Zontetsu , um the Eater clone with the glasses .
Oh , With the uh .
His whole deal was having like high speed and whatnot yeah . Like doesn't he kind of uh feel like an Eater clone ?
He kind of does he does , you're not wrong , he's definitely an Eda clone . He kind of does he does , you're not wrong , he's definitely an Eda clone . Because he had high speed , he wore glasses , his hair was interesting .
It's more like fucking aerodynamic . That's what he's going for .
Yeah .
Yeah .
Honestly , he's also another one of the players I thought somehow magically was gonna appear later . I'm not gonna lie to you . It the the final , like the second , the second selection , that part going into the third selection and the fourth . It just just I was like dang , a lot of people are gone .
Yeah .
When you think about it , like I'm not going to lie to you , it just I kind of , and then you realize like that's not , that's really how sports work . Some of these people just never make it Like they just played .
Kind of feels like the Hunter exam from Hunter x Hunter . Now you think about it Like people just getting cut left and right , like not everybody survives this whole thing .
You know it kind of like that kind of feels where a tournament survival game style thing , to where you have a whole bunch of people entering this thing but not a whole lot of people make it to these levels , to a point to where you see people dropping like flies at a certain level . Yeah , like um , who was it ? Uh , you know who I'm .
I was really intrigued by , and then at the same time annoyed , uh , talking me to , the really nervous dude who was on the team with Reign .
Oh , oh , okay . Okay , was that normal looking dude that was with them in the World 5 ?
Yeah , like the Reign .
Yeah , okay , I didn't catch his name . I was like he , just like he was more of a blank slate than Isagi . Damn , I'm like I couldn't even get a read on this guy . I'm like he . He looks so normal .
He made isagi look like fucking yugi from yugi he did like it , just he just was , and then his whole power thing was his , uh , his inability to believe in himself until the last moment , like it was his nervousness . That's technically his power , and I'm like , is that really a power though , is it ?
But I guess self-doubt can be just that overwhelming , and I and I think it's interesting they highlighted a made a character as kind of a a main side character is him who has that much self-doubt ?
nah , you know what ? This reminds me of a saying that they will say in letter kenny have you ever seen letter kenny ? Okay , it's on hulu , well , technically disney plus now , because you know , um , disney plus bought , well , completely bought out hulu . But point being is that look up letter kenny , it's pretty funny .
The first episode will have you hooked , believe me . But point being is that they do what is called chirping , which is like a Canadian variation of roasting , and one of the main characters , wayne , will say guys like Tokimitsu , you're so 5'11" You're so 5'11" .
You're so 5'11" .
It's like you don't know whether you want to be the main character or the side character .
I got to say that to somebody . I got to use that somewhere . That's hilarious . What ? Who am I ? I'm going to say that to my brother .
That'll be funny you're like you're so confused what ?
the hell does that mean ?
just tell him like it just means that you don't know whether you want to be A or B .
I think the problem is he gonna be insulted both ways cause he's like 6'4 , like he gonna be like , but you're the short one , what are you talking about ? Okay , listen , you're still five , eleven , because he don't know . Oh my god , hey bro , if you , if you out there listening , I ain't , i'ma talk shit . Forget you , bro . You don't know , you're so .
511 what have I done ?
you have started a war .
You're gonna get so many text messages oh shit , all right , well , um , was there anything else that we need to talk ? About with Bulak . No , I think we pretty much covered the first season . Yes , and oh man , I can't wait for the second season already .
I'm like God , this was so sick . I'm super freaking stoked for the second season . I can't wait to see the moves , I can't wait to learn more about the plays . I can't wait to see what new , what new players they base them off of . Because , I'm going to be honest with you , messi has seen Blue Lock and he was kind of mad that he was only mentioned .
I'm like oh , can you imagine he's like hey man , can y'all put me in the show in the second season ? Like and Imagine he's like hey man , can y'all put me ?
in the show in the second season . Wait , it's even funnier . It's even funnier because as soon as Bluelock dropped , kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem released a song together and they said 5'7, . I'm messy girl . And everyone was like so are they watching blue lock wow because , like that was , it was kind of trending at that blue lock was trending .
Messy was trending because he had only got mentioned in it and didn't have a player based on him and then the song dropped . So it's just like okay , but I think that's really it to
¶ Motivation and Ambition in Creativity
wrap up Bluelock . I do want to wrap up and I want to ask what motivated you , like what ?
do you think Bluelock motivated you to do outside in your personal life ? Well , it motivated me to create new stories that people can actually like . You know , like how they say that the comic book industry , well , the MCU specifically , kind of fell off , and I'm like , and also video games .
Like they're saying that video games , the quality of it kind of fell off , and I'm like you know what , I always wanted to be in that position and to see how we kind of slacking nowadays it like it's got to a point where games like stellar blade , coming from , um , japan in , uh , april , and people are kind of hyped , hyped about that , towards , like , finally
, good looking women . And I'm like , yeah , I mean yeah , but you know , I kind of want to go back to a times where , yes , let's make video games great again , let's make anime , uh , hype again , kind of like what jujutsu , kaisen , other examples are doing right now . But , like you know , kind of bring that back up .
What I mean is that with blue lock , funny enough , I kind of struggled with having self-confidence in myself and , um , not recently , but more like in my 20s , I just was running around lost and confused , not sure what I want to do with my life and all that shit . And then , funny enough , it's like part of my goal .
Well , I want to do something for my friends and my family , so my goal isn't completely selfish . But I had to stop and realize that for a goal to be this grand and ambitious , I gotta have at least a little ego . You know the kind of ego to where I'm like uh , if I want to be the best , I gotta act like the best .
So that's what blue lot did for me . To where I'm like I gotta remind myself that , hey , man , you're not gonna get anywhere when you keep um doubting yourself or you're not um pursuing um success when the opportunity arrives .
You know , like , how you have ample amount of time to make things happen , but just kept on twiddling your thumbs and you know how the devil's um idle hands . The devil's work . That's what I meant yes , yeah so that's why I'm saying that it reminded me that I can't afford to spend too many days doing nothing like .
See , I understand that I'm not trying to burn out , but I can't afford to waste time anymore . I'm in my 30s now like I can't afford to like , do uh nothing like , not absolutely nothing . But you know , at this point I need to push myself to bring this team to where it needs to be .
You know , like wanting to have , like our own studios open up so we can be creators of a grand scale and , you know , offer the people something they'll like . You know I want to be the game developer or anime director or whatnot .
That be like we hear the fans and we'll give them what they want , not completely pandering to them , but you know , in the spirit of things , where it's like , okay , is this really what the fans want , we'll hear them out .
But for the most part we'll already have an idea of what they want , because you'll see shit like jiu-jitsu kaizen and how you know like they're fucking boxing and shit . That's what people like .
That's why how , um , jiu-jitsu kaizen picked up so much popularity , especially in the black community , to where there's a point where this guy uh , rags be petty , did hood jiuutsu kaisen ? That was the funniest shit I've seen in a while .
And the fact that jujutsu kaisen has been recognized by the black community so well that I want to do that for the um fans too . To where ? Let me come up with some shit . To where you see people fucking , boxing and weaving and doing some badass shit , because that's , I know that's what the people like , because I like shit like that too .
So it's not disingenuous when you do something like that . It's more like spiritually , instinctively , you already know what the people want . Uh . But what pissed me off is when you have these creatives putting out something . Uh , for people who's not true fans of the work . It's more like how come this and that's not in there ?
like you need to be more inclusive and well , nah , and I'm like , but you're not even a hardcore fan like we are so like it just feels weird how it's like some folks just invade these fan bases just to make all these different changes and alienate the people who made the fan base as big as it is . So no , I'm going back to the good shit now .
We need to go back to the days of when good games and good anime and good movies was very clear . You know what I mean .
Yeah .
Yeah , I like that , that's all I'm saying . Um , oh yeah , a few more notes on blue lock . Uh , visually I'd say it was very well drawn and animated . Especially during the games I could feel the intensity of with the plays , with the personification of the boy spirit Manifesting in their eyes , their footwork , their kicks , etc .
The sound effects and music matches the intensity of the series . Once again , that rare bop , episode 12 . I did like that shit and yeah , that was pretty much it . With that being said , rating time oh yeah , one more thing about the visual was some cgi , that felta little weird . But the cgi didn't overstay its welcome .
So I did appreciate that to where if it was like if people kept using ai art . But some people actually use ai as a reference instead of letting the ai do all the work , and that's why I appreciate about Blue Locks , where they didn't let the CGI do all the work for them .
Yeah , it was definitely With that being said , give this a rating , I would give season one five stars
¶ Anime Series Review
. I just didn't see a problem with it . I genuinely enjoyed it . Same , I give it five stars . I just didn't see a problem with him .
Um , I genuinely enjoyed it same , I give it five stars .
No , wow there you go , uh certified banger of uh anime series . With that being said , that will conclude our review . We will be back when we maybe talk about episode Nagi and Season 2 . But until then , stay nerdy , my friends . Great things are coming . We are zoning out , take it easy , thank you . Outro Music .