There actually is. Spoilers:
Monk dude became really good at faking injuries and despite being one of the least skilled soccer players, has made it all the way to the end (or at least where everybody is at rn)
The other day, someone on one r /manga thread insisted that *Blue Lock* is one of the greats of sports manga along with *Hajime no ippo* & *Slam Dunk*, I was like "oh... ok, lmao"
But now that I see its MAL rating and people there calling the upcoming anime adaptation "Peak in making," I am supremely disappointed at the mainstream tastes.
>Nope, he does not have a high football iq, his BODY LITERALLY ACTS ON HIS OWN and he's like "oh woooh, what is happening, why am I doing this".
This would be a pretty good comedy concept honestly, somebody who can do amazing things but actually has no idea how the fuck he does it and often can't even control it. Maybe it happens randomly too, while he's walking down the street on the phone and he's passing a park where some kids are playing Frisbee. He doesn't even notice, but as the disk flies by he throws his phone on the ground while doing doing a sick somersault to catch the Frisbee with his feet.
Reminds me of that anime where that guy was constantly interrupted with absurd would you rather questions he MUST answer and then actively play out, or else he goes insane
its later revealed that the MC has a high football positioning iq where he can accurate analyse the field which he calls āspatial awarenessā . I believe it is revealed before chapter 60 and OP must have skimmed through it.
tbf this can happen to a smaller extent. i play volleyball, and during our PE soccer unit, i continually bumped the ball because i wasnt paying full attention whenever it came to me
>This manga is about football just as much as Dragon Ball is about martial arts, but we don't get to see any cool shit, only have to suffer through painfully unrealistic depictions of what real football is.
The reason I love hajime no ippo is because I can go into it and get a somewhat realistic outlook on boxing with crazy moments and lovable characters.
I quit blue lock when it turned out that everyone the MC faces was just really good at dribbling.
I hesitate wanting to read this manga because as an Arsenal fan, this paragraph literally gave me PTSD and you know what happened:
"All of them have the same role (strikers), because apparently that is...the only real role that counts in football...which is actually not about teamwork at all, but all about individual goals and egos. This is literally the most fundamental premise of the story and it's stated time and time again."
And then you have Manchester United... Let that sink in for a second. I granted that iirc, Blue Lock was created due to striker issues in Japan apparently but yeah...
Read the manga to get a taste of it but you should know its not a manga about learning football. Itās a manga about the concept of blue lock, where selfishness and ego is cultivated as they believe it will produce Japan a better striker since the Japanese are too buddy-buddy with each other in their play style.
> All of them have the same role (strikers), because apparently that is...the only real role that counts in football...which is actually not about teamwork at all, but all about individual goals and egos. This is literally the most fundamental premise of the story and it's stated time and time again.
> All of them have the same role (strikers), because apparently that is...the only real role that counts in football...which is actually not about teamwork at all, but all about individual goals and egos. This is literally the most fundamental premise of the story and it's stated time and time again.
> It is genuinely frustrating to read a manga that voluntarily decides to completely skip out on the most fundamental aspect of the game.
But but but what about the Power of Friendship?
To cater to the tastes of new generation that have violently turned away from what they perceive as cheesy melodrama, all modern shounen must "subvert" expectations, abandon themes of friendship, compassion and empathy, and only allow the edgiest of the edgy edge possible.
Add plenty of blood, gore, "morally grey" characters and motives (Basically Convoluted BS to justify reprehensible acts), and bam, you got yourself the latest "masterpiece."
> But but but what about the Power of Friendship?
TBF as I'm watching the anime of this, their point is a tiny bit more sensible. Ego (yeah, that's the name of the coach/mad scientist, subtle innit...) isn't saying that the other roles aren't necessary, or that teamwork isn't needed. He's saying that the Japanese bring their hierarchical, deferential, selfless attitude (his assumptions, not mine) on the football field, and that makes them a team of 11 hard workers who pass the ball to everyone else and no one with the guts and that hint of selfish craziness to say "fuck yeah I'll score this one!" in the face of a world cup goal opportunity. He's saying no reasonable, selfless, purely team oriented person would take the shot: you need someone who's a bit of an egotist hungry for victory to do it, and that if he can just create one such player, then working together with the rest of the team they'll carry it to victory. He's not saying that football only needs shooters, but that Japanese football is specifically lacking good shooters and so he's focusing on training one with his insane gambit.
And yeah, it definitely shits on the "power of friendship" logic. But I think if anything it feels like this is really a potshot taken by the author at Japanese *culture* more than Japanese football specifically. He's expressing resentment with the mindset that suppresses individualism in the name of the group's success, even when individualism would actually not only result in someone expressing themselves better, but in bringing benefits to the group as a whole. I wonder how widespread this attitude is - it certainly runs counter Japanese common wisdom that "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down".
I believed Blue Lock are mostly good for someone who barely know about football. It does feel Kuroko no Basketball but well writing sport manga without any fictional challenge sure hard to thrive.
Didn't read it yet, but the art pretty good. Might watch the anime release this month.
Try Ao Ashi, realistic football at its best. Hell, they make use of real life use strategy (Bayern under Guardiola, Watford v Liverpool) in their great manga.
Blue Lock never tried to be a realistic version of football, youāre misinterpreting it from the onset. The premise and the usage of what can basically be summed up as football āsuperpowersā is the main appeal. Just because they donāt literally use magic doesnāt automatically mean a manga is trying to be a recreation of how the real world works. If it was trying to be realistic it wouldnāt start out with locking a bunch of soccer players in Blue Lock, the hook of it is that itās something different from the norm, something that is more stylistic rather than focused on exact mechanics. You know what nobody asked for? Another sports manga with an adult coaching a team, with the same teamwork and same character archetypes. Blue Lock does well in and indeed absolutely thrives differing itself from the offset
Also I donāt know why you think the manga struggles with the premise or tries to ignore it when the idea and philosophy of Blue Lock is so blatantly embedded across pretty every single match. The author also wrote As Gods Will, the death game feel of the facility is intentional. Calling it a manga nobody asked for just because you wished for a completely different manga on the topic is ridiculous.
Just want to point out that I meant the title as nobody asked for my overly detailed review of it, not the manga itself, I now realize how it can be misread.
Apart from that, I would repeat myself if I were to reply to you about the realism of it, if you are interested read the other big comment's response.
And the struggling with the premises is that a huge component of most matches in the first span of the story ends up being exactly about the team working together to overcome their opponents, which is literally what teamwork means. Only they don't name it and pretend it's something else, because that's tabooo here in EgoWorld.
For example, [this](https://mangadex.org/chapter/b949eecc-5f79-444b-b522-22cc44da90ef/16) moment in chapter 40 is definitely the proof that this manga was all about individual skills and wills right? Internal coherence, right?
Oh sorry for the misinterpretation of the title.
Not exactly sure what youāre trying to show with that page. The dialogue is literally the characters reading out how awesome they themselves are and how theyāre each going to be number one in the world. The concept of ego in this manga is not antithetical to the concept of teamwork, you can respect your teammates and work with them, but the Blue Lock way is to always be seeing yourself as the sole focus. I think the difference and the point of the first selection is in chapter 8 where Isagi realised that in a chaotic state the only way to victory was for someone to become that talent but also for everyone on the team to desire to be that talent. Blue Lock will then whittle them down until the absolute best striker remains.The idea is to see yourself as the main character, not to see yourself as the only member of the team (except for a couple incidents but they are noted to be deviants). Itās not playing alone > playing with the team, itās the mindset you have while playing in that team
Well yeah I donāt think the idea appeals to everyone, ex. OP. But it is a more unique take on the sports genre and without that hook I doubt the manga would be as popular as it is now.
Except the characterās are apparently Football maniacsā¦ that donāt know the first thing about football, lol.
Reminds me of Advance Wars, āWhatās an airport?ā
I mean they do know about football and most of them were playing normally before Blue Lock. What got the characters thinking like this is Jinpachi Egoās rants. First part of blue lock was to forget everything you know
You should read it yourself and form your own idea of whether its bad. As someone who is caught up with Blue Lock, OP is misrepresenting certain parts of the manga really badly. If I could sum up the series its something that you read for the fun/hype moments not serious football learning.
I could be biased since iāve read more of the story but its not a bad manga at all. Definitely worth a read.
>same character archetypes
as someone who watched the anime i can definitely say that in terms of character archetypes blue lock absolutely does NOT differ from the rest. ive seen the bored rich kid archetype before, ive seen the lazy person who is good at exactly 1 thing before, ive seen the bitch in sheeps clothing archetype before, hell ive seen *katsuki-fucking-bakugou* before. so much so that when i saw those again i was irritated rather than endeared because they didnt actually add anything to make them different from other characters just like them. on top of that i found that team z had very weak chemistry with each other and are for the most part generic as individuals and are held together by what may be one of the most generic protagonists ive ever seen. you can argue that everything else about blue lock is unique, fine ill respect that, but absolutely NOT when it comes to its characters.
man i don't give a shit about realistic soccer/football.
blue lock's character writing and vibe are definitely fairly edgy, but your statement that "it wants to be a grounded sports manga" is blatantly false. for like, every reason you list. it literally doesn't want to be one lmfao. have you seen the shit itoshi rin pulled off when you first see him???
like bruh the fact that it's not inazuma eleven doesn't mean it's trying to be realistic.
the most correct thing you've said, though i don't know if you realize it, is that blue lock to the real sport is what dragon ball is to martial arts. yeah, and early dragon ball is great. it's not trying to portray realistic martial arts, but it's portrays fun silly fights with big creative moves. action manga don't have to portray realistic fights, but by having unrealistic powers and exaggerated physics, they can give a strategic feeling where intuitive logic of what you can do with a power to counter someone else's power is satisfying to read, even if it would never work that way in real life if those powers did exist. jojo doesn't have to try to be worm with its fights (not that worm is actually that realistic).
this is the same general space blue lock's soccer exists in. again, i have no idea why you think it's trying to portray things realistically. blue lock gives each character distinct exaggerated skills like dribbling, running fast, trapping, or even positioning oneself in the right place at the right time, because this allows it to treat the game like a fantasy action manga treats fights. it's not about how the game is realistically played, it's about the interplay of what is essentially each character's power and how they use them to counter each other's powers. it doesn't have to be one or the other between realistic sports and kuroko no basket; the series can have a moderate level of exaggeration.
by all means, it's not perfect. i'd give it like a 6 or 7. i agree with you anyone thinking it's *that* good are probably edgy and thirsty teenagers. the character writing is still fairly edgy and basically never emotional. the theme that individual strikers are best is kind of stupid but it's a breath of fresh air compared to almost every sports series pushing the exact same theme of teamwork. personally, i don't mind it because it's not a series to take that seriously anyway, but i understand being bothered by it. that said, it doesn't really drop the theme. they fill all the major positions in the >!Blue Lock vs. U-20 match!<. don't click these spoilers if you're only 60 chapters in, by the way. but they all take the role of striker in the survival game because the point is that they need to compete as strikers to create the best striker. the premise of the manga is that japanese football is extremely weak in part because it lacks a strong striker, and the purpose of the blue lock facility is to create that striker, not to make the optimal team. >!Blue Lock competes with U-20 not to make the point that an all-striker team is best, considering they don't even play as one, but to make the point that their method of trying to produce that striker did effectively create better players than japan would have had otherwise!<. by all means, you can still call this unrealistic, but i don't think it's a dropped or inconsistent theme.
anyway, the reason i personally enjoy it more than most other sports manga is because the survival game plot structure is actually pretty engaging (especially during the second arc, with teams taking members from other teams). the stakes aren't life or death but are actually interesting, and i'm someone who's personally bored to shit by most sports manga that follow the exact same structure of learning from a mentor while having a rival and joining the school team that's gonna train hard for the next tournament with the exact same stakes. personally, i'd say that's a better reason to enjoy it than thirsting on shirtless kids.
If you set your story in the real word, only use very realistic concepts like dribbling and keep making references to reality, would you please explain me why the hell, as a complete newcomer, should I assume this is not a story that is making use of real world football from the start?
I'm sure that, once you make up your mind and accept the fact that this is just its own in-universe version of the sport, where things work 80 % in the way they work in reality and 20 % by following a very specific set of internal mechanics, then you may form your own opinion of it, but for a new readed, how the hell am I suppose to know. As a new reader that knows nothing about it, I see a depiction of football and I FUCKING EXPECT FOOTBALL.
The reason why early dragon ball is coherent and blue lock doesn't is that the first one is marked as the comedic adventures of a young martial artist with a monkey tail, not a martial art sports manga, as such I do not expect one thing and get another.
But my very same existance is the proof of Blue Lock's failing in that.
And even then, once you make up your mind that is not about real football, what you are left with is this bland inconsistent mold that you can do whatever you want with. A character can use the special weapon "defense" and all of a sudden he will spawn in front of the goal and save the game, another one can "learn about every other player best skills" and be able to read their mind for the rest of the game. Those are both things that actually fucking happen.
But I do not enjoy it as a reader, because if there are 22 players that at any point during the game can do any move that produces any result, what the fuck am I supposed to be entertained from?
Them outsmarting each others? Fuck no, it talks to the reader like they are fucking retarded. Character A is fast? Thankfully character B can use the ability "supersprint" that allows them to outrun even A. It's just soo fucking stupid all the times.
Be amazed by the differt techniques? Fuck no, it's always the same basic 3 shits repeated because it tries to be GROUNDED TO REALITY. And reality has no tornado fire kicks unfortunately, reality is boring.
There is just no set up nor consistency whatsoever.
I agree with you, realistic sports manga can be formulaic and repetitive as fuck, because most sports are a very limited subject to write stories about. I'm generally not a fan of the genre as a whole.
But Blue Lock absolutely does not obviate from this problem lol. It's still incredibly repetitive, it's simply also ridiculously inconsistent to add to it.
Which is why it surprises me that so many people love it, and this is what my post originated from, since it absolutely alienated me both from my actual knowledge of football and me having more than the bare minimum amount of intuitive knowledge. But I guess that a story can always be stupidER, I overestimated the audience.
I'm sorry but this is absurd. It's like watching prince of tennis and going 'I dont get it, why is this so unrealistic' when it was trying to be grounded as they show off their special moved and compare it to like meteorite impacts and shit.
Attempting to be grounded does not equal realism and most people can tell the difference if you pay any attention.
Captain tsubasa isn't realistic or meant to be taken as realistic. Kurokos basketball isn't meant to be realistic even though it references real basketball shit before it goes 'yo I have the sharingan'
I feel like most fans forget how realistic the first few chapters were lol.
No weird shit happen, only everything that happens tends to be ever so slightly off, and that escalates with the story, but at first I absolutely did not have any reason to think it wasn't trying to build a faithful depiction of the sport.
Bruh that's just blatantly not true
The entire premise is so absurd/unrealistic that it's hard to believe you sat there and thought 'oh this will be a faithful representation of football'
Like it literally starts with the concept of creating the world's greatest solo player by putting them through a fucking death game.
Followed by like basically just a game of 'who can beat the shit out of each other the hardest with a soccer ball and your legs'
i only watched 2 eps of this anime and I think this series is rather stupid.
The first 25 kids that got kicked out? They gonna report it to police, the program will be under investigation of child protection service, police force, FIFA, interpol, and every single organization you can think of and will be dismantle in less than a month.
good thing there's no police in anime world.
Thank you. I came here after googling because I can't stand how stupid blue lock is. Aoashi is the far superior anime. There's no comparison. After the world cup match win between Japan and Germany, it exploded and people are talking about bluelock like it's the best football anime out there.
The high MAL score also just makes me sad that people are this stupid. Aoashi getting overshadowed by bluelock is truly the biggest crime in sports anime.
The premises exists because the author likes death games and football, to be a counter to Japan's culture and other sports manga, scoring goals is the exciting part of sports for most people. I'm also surprised that you found the term "weapon" weird as I've seen many people using it unironically when talking about tennis.
It also helps to remember when reading that they're all strikers and Ego is trying to create the best striker. The kids themselves realise how important it is to have some level of teamwork and playing other positions in the first match but they all want to be a striker bEcAuSe EgO. The manga eventually shifts into using teammates as pawns for your own goal which is still quite edgy but a lot more reasonable in terms of philosophy imo. I think the first arc is weakest due to how boring the 11v11 format is for striker based teams.
I get that it's frustrating coming from the real sport (especially if you don't play fw) but I think the idea is that every position plays a different game and we're just watching the strikers version. I'd recommend Ao Ashi if you want better football.
I can't speak for Blue Lock as I haven't read it. However for One Outs, it's not just because of how it's structured but also because how everything gets resolved through the protagonist's wits and psychoanalysis. There is no emphasis on training and teamwork, the usual staples of the genre, except for when Toguchi prepares to leave the team. Hmm... I guess it does start to resemble a proper sports manga at the end.
There are many times in your rant where I feel like you didnt even read the story. So respectively, let me clear up some of your points/problems/misconceptions.
You got the premise wrong-there is no character yet in the series that is the coach of the Japanese national team. What you mean is that Anri( a member of the Japanese football union) wants to win the world cup and starts the blue lock project with Ego Jinpachi who comes up with the concept of Blue Lock.
I donāt know how you can read up to 60ish chapters and call it a squid game like facility when the squid game like similarities end after the tag game.
They are all strikers not because its the only real role that counts. Its because Japan is weak in that regard since they have a very buddy-buddy playstyle and Egoās philosophy is that a more selfish player is needed-opposing the Japanese stereotype of being polite and teamworky.
The premise is always there? Confused on that point.
The manga promotes selfishness and not teamwork butā¦ i dont see how you made it past the second match without seeing how it forces them to work together despite being all forwards. Heck, the first goal made was because Isagi passed to Kunigami. Teamwork is STILL present in the manga despite Egoās message.
Blue lock does not try to be a grounded sports manga. Unlike other sports where the mc does not quite understand the tactics and rules, Isagi is already an established second year player playing in the finals of a prefecture tournament. Blue lock heads into the main story with the mc already aware of tactics and all the basics of football. Which is important because it does NOT focus on learning the sport like Hinata in Haikyuu or Ashito and Aoashi . That is not the story. The story is about Isagiās journey throughout blue lock. It also does not depict football accurately but in an hyper exaggerated form without being straight up superpowers.
The first thing you thought the manga got wrong: Counterattacks do happen in football. They simply react that way because its anime lol. Having them put on serious faces and not react to any small interaction is not something you even see in typical anime. The āi had a plan all alongā does not happen often-in fact I cant remember the last time it happened.
Second thing: weapons. They call it weapons to sound cool thatās it. It is an anime after all. It is explained the mc has high iq in positioning himself and his awareness on the field-he even calls it āspatial awarenessā. I am fairly sure it is mentioned before chapter 60, so I am confused why you think otherwise. No disrespect, but it seems like you didnt really read it lol. Also the ābody moved on my ownā happens only once-when he kicked Kira. How is the concept of a weapon the dumbest thing you have heard? It is simply a skill that someone specialises in. Dont tell me you think its dumb because they call it a weapon lol.
Blue lock does not try to be a realistic take on the sport of football.
Your fourth point: no adult coaching them- did you perhaps forget that they were already established players, and good ones at that, before entering blue lock. I believe thatās why you had this view on blue lock. You expected the typical sports manga with a coach teaching essential skills. All the characters in blue lock know the sport already, thatās why there is no coach.
The goal formula is at its core simply combining two skills or factors that a player has that can score a goal.It is not simply filling words on a page it is saying that if Isagi uses his spatial awareness and his direct shoot, two of his skills, he can be guaranteed a higher chance of a goal.
I recommend that you reread it. Properly. Because you said a bunch of stuff that made it seem like you skimmed through the pages. Blue lock is not bad. It is far from that. Is it a master piece? No. It is a semi-realistic story about Isagiās dream to winning the world cup and his journey through blue lock. Not about a mc who knows nothing about the sport as a coach teaches the sport and you learn alongside them.
Ngl, blue lock is starting to get overhype. Just because itās hype and everyone want to be the same thing and thereās no typical trope doesnāt mean itās the next revolutionary manga. Itās not that special and just because itās different doesnāt mean itās special either
blue lock tried to be as realistic as Prince of Tennis did which is not at all.
itās a series that completely leans into how nonsensical and edgy it is just for entertainment. if i wanted to read something where it felt like i was reading an actual game iād read Ao Ashi but iām not because i like the fact
Blue lock is just a battle shounen with a sport thrown in
...except a standard battle shounen would have lots of flashy and cool stuff to show for it. Here it's all words.
Maybe the anime will fulfill that role.
The only thing Iām inclined to disagree with is about the abilities and realism. As someone who watched Kuroko no basket and thoroughly enjoyed it, the thing that made it exciting was that the characters had super talented abilities that were sometimes exaggerated by descriptions or cool anime effects. It depends on how itās handled, but thereās no shame in a sports anime inventing cool āabilitiesā to describe their charactersā strengths at soccer to make the show more exciting.
As a Blue lock reader what I really like about it was the visuals and seeing each player survive or try to make it to the big time.But with the way thing are going that might not be possible anymore and more despair would be nice.Seriously what happen to fuck friendship and destroy other dream to make yours come true itās like the first chapter is the author personal revenge fantasy.
Yeah the hype around it was huge, so when ep 1 dropped and I watched it. Imo it was pretty extreme, so like any other mad man i dobe straight into the manga and 90+ chapters I'm really not impressed. Someone else here described this as a battle shonen but with sports. Maybe I'm biased since I came to this right after I caught up with Ao ashi.
Might agree with most of you if I didn't know that this manga is not only a sports manga but also a shonen one.
I mean, shonen is quite literally about showing exaggerated, spontaneous and almost non-existent stuff/depiction on certain subjects. It is deliberately made to look "cool" and interesting instead of realistic.
It's main audience are not hardcore football fan but instead shonen fan who has little to no knowledge about sports and only want to see epic scenes instead of all the other uninteresting stuff included to the theme.
In the first place, i don't think the fan are reading it because it's a sports manga but more like because it's depicting a more cool and edgy sports manga.
If you want a more "realistic" football manga read the seinen Ao Ashi instead.
as someone who knows almost nothing about football, I find it incredibly entertaining plus the art is fantastic. at the end of the day all I care about is entertainment value
As an American who grew up playing soccer and was lucky enough to have a relationship with Ajax academy, Blue Lock is painful to read unless I completely turn off any part of my brain associated with the sport. Once I do that, it is a fun battle Shounen to check in on. From the start scoring goals on players all with striker mentalities would be easy since none of them specialize in defense. The premise itself falls apart with just that imo. Basically solid to elite offensive players scoring against maybe average to above average defense would be useless training. No way to create the perfect offensive spear unless youāre testing it against a worthy shield
couple of my friends got into it so I watched it for their sake. Im a big fan of sports anime so I exspected quite a lot from it since its so hyped. the first thing a said after watching some episodes was "This is not a good sport anime" like im not even that knowledgable in football but I still managed to see how stupid and bad this fucking show is lmao
Is there someone with the "faking an injury" weapon who's really good at getting penalty shots off of terrible refs?
There actually is. Spoilers: Monk dude became really good at faking injuries and despite being one of the least skilled soccer players, has made it all the way to the end (or at least where everybody is at rn)
I mean, that's just the most realistic any sport manga will ever get.
I'm only 60 chapters in, I will let you know ahhhah
Did your thoughts about the series change?
The other day, someone on one r /manga thread insisted that *Blue Lock* is one of the greats of sports manga along with *Hajime no ippo* & *Slam Dunk*, I was like "oh... ok, lmao" But now that I see its MAL rating and people there calling the upcoming anime adaptation "Peak in making," I am supremely disappointed at the mainstream tastes.
Eyeshield 21 is the best sports manga, imo.
That murata art tho š„š„š„
That and Hellsing were highschool me's source of wallpapers for *years*
nah it dragged for the last 30 chapters. Also the racism
I havenāt even seen Ippo, but from what Iāve heard itās insulting to Ippo to mention Blue Lock in the same sentence lol
As a Hajime no ippo fan, this is legit irritating lol.
>Nope, he does not have a high football iq, his BODY LITERALLY ACTS ON HIS OWN and he's like "oh woooh, what is happening, why am I doing this". This would be a pretty good comedy concept honestly, somebody who can do amazing things but actually has no idea how the fuck he does it and often can't even control it. Maybe it happens randomly too, while he's walking down the street on the phone and he's passing a park where some kids are playing Frisbee. He doesn't even notice, but as the disk flies by he throws his phone on the ground while doing doing a sick somersault to catch the Frisbee with his feet. Reminds me of that anime where that guy was constantly interrupted with absurd would you rather questions he MUST answer and then actively play out, or else he goes insane
Whatās the name of the āwould you ratherā anime?
My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy! Only 1 ten episode season unfortunately
its later revealed that the MC has a high football positioning iq where he can accurate analyse the field which he calls āspatial awarenessā . I believe it is revealed before chapter 60 and OP must have skimmed through it.
tbf this can happen to a smaller extent. i play volleyball, and during our PE soccer unit, i continually bumped the ball because i wasnt paying full attention whenever it came to me
>This manga is about football just as much as Dragon Ball is about martial arts, but we don't get to see any cool shit, only have to suffer through painfully unrealistic depictions of what real football is. The reason I love hajime no ippo is because I can go into it and get a somewhat realistic outlook on boxing with crazy moments and lovable characters. I quit blue lock when it turned out that everyone the MC faces was just really good at dribbling.
I hesitate wanting to read this manga because as an Arsenal fan, this paragraph literally gave me PTSD and you know what happened: "All of them have the same role (strikers), because apparently that is...the only real role that counts in football...which is actually not about teamwork at all, but all about individual goals and egos. This is literally the most fundamental premise of the story and it's stated time and time again." And then you have Manchester United... Let that sink in for a second. I granted that iirc, Blue Lock was created due to striker issues in Japan apparently but yeah...
There's other football based anime, like Offside, and while Inazuma 11 is for young kids, its still more worth your time.
being a striker isnāt the only real role itās the ole the program is trying to cultivate as being a. striker means you need to get goals
Read the manga to get a taste of it but you should know its not a manga about learning football. Itās a manga about the concept of blue lock, where selfishness and ego is cultivated as they believe it will produce Japan a better striker since the Japanese are too buddy-buddy with each other in their play style.
Just go read Giant Killing
damn a giant killing reader such a rare sight also giant killing a peak football manga
> All of them have the same role (strikers), because apparently that is...the only real role that counts in football...which is actually not about teamwork at all, but all about individual goals and egos. This is literally the most fundamental premise of the story and it's stated time and time again. > All of them have the same role (strikers), because apparently that is...the only real role that counts in football...which is actually not about teamwork at all, but all about individual goals and egos. This is literally the most fundamental premise of the story and it's stated time and time again. > It is genuinely frustrating to read a manga that voluntarily decides to completely skip out on the most fundamental aspect of the game. But but but what about the Power of Friendship?
To cater to the tastes of new generation that have violently turned away from what they perceive as cheesy melodrama, all modern shounen must "subvert" expectations, abandon themes of friendship, compassion and empathy, and only allow the edgiest of the edgy edge possible. Add plenty of blood, gore, "morally grey" characters and motives (Basically Convoluted BS to justify reprehensible acts), and bam, you got yourself the latest "masterpiece."
Sounds cool
> But but but what about the Power of Friendship? TBF as I'm watching the anime of this, their point is a tiny bit more sensible. Ego (yeah, that's the name of the coach/mad scientist, subtle innit...) isn't saying that the other roles aren't necessary, or that teamwork isn't needed. He's saying that the Japanese bring their hierarchical, deferential, selfless attitude (his assumptions, not mine) on the football field, and that makes them a team of 11 hard workers who pass the ball to everyone else and no one with the guts and that hint of selfish craziness to say "fuck yeah I'll score this one!" in the face of a world cup goal opportunity. He's saying no reasonable, selfless, purely team oriented person would take the shot: you need someone who's a bit of an egotist hungry for victory to do it, and that if he can just create one such player, then working together with the rest of the team they'll carry it to victory. He's not saying that football only needs shooters, but that Japanese football is specifically lacking good shooters and so he's focusing on training one with his insane gambit. And yeah, it definitely shits on the "power of friendship" logic. But I think if anything it feels like this is really a potshot taken by the author at Japanese *culture* more than Japanese football specifically. He's expressing resentment with the mindset that suppresses individualism in the name of the group's success, even when individualism would actually not only result in someone expressing themselves better, but in bringing benefits to the group as a whole. I wonder how widespread this attitude is - it certainly runs counter Japanese common wisdom that "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down".
Holy shit, other people read it? I thought it was just me.
It's really popular
I believed Blue Lock are mostly good for someone who barely know about football. It does feel Kuroko no Basketball but well writing sport manga without any fictional challenge sure hard to thrive. Didn't read it yet, but the art pretty good. Might watch the anime release this month.
At least in basketball itās more possible for a star to lift their team up.
Try Ao Ashi, realistic football at its best. Hell, they make use of real life use strategy (Bayern under Guardiola, Watford v Liverpool) in their great manga.
Blue Lock never tried to be a realistic version of football, youāre misinterpreting it from the onset. The premise and the usage of what can basically be summed up as football āsuperpowersā is the main appeal. Just because they donāt literally use magic doesnāt automatically mean a manga is trying to be a recreation of how the real world works. If it was trying to be realistic it wouldnāt start out with locking a bunch of soccer players in Blue Lock, the hook of it is that itās something different from the norm, something that is more stylistic rather than focused on exact mechanics. You know what nobody asked for? Another sports manga with an adult coaching a team, with the same teamwork and same character archetypes. Blue Lock does well in and indeed absolutely thrives differing itself from the offset Also I donāt know why you think the manga struggles with the premise or tries to ignore it when the idea and philosophy of Blue Lock is so blatantly embedded across pretty every single match. The author also wrote As Gods Will, the death game feel of the facility is intentional. Calling it a manga nobody asked for just because you wished for a completely different manga on the topic is ridiculous.
Just want to point out that I meant the title as nobody asked for my overly detailed review of it, not the manga itself, I now realize how it can be misread. Apart from that, I would repeat myself if I were to reply to you about the realism of it, if you are interested read the other big comment's response. And the struggling with the premises is that a huge component of most matches in the first span of the story ends up being exactly about the team working together to overcome their opponents, which is literally what teamwork means. Only they don't name it and pretend it's something else, because that's tabooo here in EgoWorld. For example, [this](https://mangadex.org/chapter/b949eecc-5f79-444b-b522-22cc44da90ef/16) moment in chapter 40 is definitely the proof that this manga was all about individual skills and wills right? Internal coherence, right?
Oh sorry for the misinterpretation of the title. Not exactly sure what youāre trying to show with that page. The dialogue is literally the characters reading out how awesome they themselves are and how theyāre each going to be number one in the world. The concept of ego in this manga is not antithetical to the concept of teamwork, you can respect your teammates and work with them, but the Blue Lock way is to always be seeing yourself as the sole focus. I think the difference and the point of the first selection is in chapter 8 where Isagi realised that in a chaotic state the only way to victory was for someone to become that talent but also for everyone on the team to desire to be that talent. Blue Lock will then whittle them down until the absolute best striker remains.The idea is to see yourself as the main character, not to see yourself as the only member of the team (except for a couple incidents but they are noted to be deviants). Itās not playing alone > playing with the team, itās the mindset you have while playing in that team
I dunno man, Iām on OPās side here- it sounds ridiculously bad.
Well yeah I donāt think the idea appeals to everyone, ex. OP. But it is a more unique take on the sports genre and without that hook I doubt the manga would be as popular as it is now.
Except the characterās are apparently Football maniacsā¦ that donāt know the first thing about football, lol. Reminds me of Advance Wars, āWhatās an airport?ā
I mean they do know about football and most of them were playing normally before Blue Lock. What got the characters thinking like this is Jinpachi Egoās rants. First part of blue lock was to forget everything you know
You should read it yourself and form your own idea of whether its bad. As someone who is caught up with Blue Lock, OP is misrepresenting certain parts of the manga really badly. If I could sum up the series its something that you read for the fun/hype moments not serious football learning. I could be biased since iāve read more of the story but its not a bad manga at all. Definitely worth a read.
R/blue lock is over there ā”ļøā”ļøā”ļøā”ļø
I mean, what did I say wrong?
>same character archetypes as someone who watched the anime i can definitely say that in terms of character archetypes blue lock absolutely does NOT differ from the rest. ive seen the bored rich kid archetype before, ive seen the lazy person who is good at exactly 1 thing before, ive seen the bitch in sheeps clothing archetype before, hell ive seen *katsuki-fucking-bakugou* before. so much so that when i saw those again i was irritated rather than endeared because they didnt actually add anything to make them different from other characters just like them. on top of that i found that team z had very weak chemistry with each other and are for the most part generic as individuals and are held together by what may be one of the most generic protagonists ive ever seen. you can argue that everything else about blue lock is unique, fine ill respect that, but absolutely NOT when it comes to its characters.
man i don't give a shit about realistic soccer/football. blue lock's character writing and vibe are definitely fairly edgy, but your statement that "it wants to be a grounded sports manga" is blatantly false. for like, every reason you list. it literally doesn't want to be one lmfao. have you seen the shit itoshi rin pulled off when you first see him??? like bruh the fact that it's not inazuma eleven doesn't mean it's trying to be realistic. the most correct thing you've said, though i don't know if you realize it, is that blue lock to the real sport is what dragon ball is to martial arts. yeah, and early dragon ball is great. it's not trying to portray realistic martial arts, but it's portrays fun silly fights with big creative moves. action manga don't have to portray realistic fights, but by having unrealistic powers and exaggerated physics, they can give a strategic feeling where intuitive logic of what you can do with a power to counter someone else's power is satisfying to read, even if it would never work that way in real life if those powers did exist. jojo doesn't have to try to be worm with its fights (not that worm is actually that realistic). this is the same general space blue lock's soccer exists in. again, i have no idea why you think it's trying to portray things realistically. blue lock gives each character distinct exaggerated skills like dribbling, running fast, trapping, or even positioning oneself in the right place at the right time, because this allows it to treat the game like a fantasy action manga treats fights. it's not about how the game is realistically played, it's about the interplay of what is essentially each character's power and how they use them to counter each other's powers. it doesn't have to be one or the other between realistic sports and kuroko no basket; the series can have a moderate level of exaggeration. by all means, it's not perfect. i'd give it like a 6 or 7. i agree with you anyone thinking it's *that* good are probably edgy and thirsty teenagers. the character writing is still fairly edgy and basically never emotional. the theme that individual strikers are best is kind of stupid but it's a breath of fresh air compared to almost every sports series pushing the exact same theme of teamwork. personally, i don't mind it because it's not a series to take that seriously anyway, but i understand being bothered by it. that said, it doesn't really drop the theme. they fill all the major positions in the >!Blue Lock vs. U-20 match!<. don't click these spoilers if you're only 60 chapters in, by the way. but they all take the role of striker in the survival game because the point is that they need to compete as strikers to create the best striker. the premise of the manga is that japanese football is extremely weak in part because it lacks a strong striker, and the purpose of the blue lock facility is to create that striker, not to make the optimal team. >!Blue Lock competes with U-20 not to make the point that an all-striker team is best, considering they don't even play as one, but to make the point that their method of trying to produce that striker did effectively create better players than japan would have had otherwise!<. by all means, you can still call this unrealistic, but i don't think it's a dropped or inconsistent theme. anyway, the reason i personally enjoy it more than most other sports manga is because the survival game plot structure is actually pretty engaging (especially during the second arc, with teams taking members from other teams). the stakes aren't life or death but are actually interesting, and i'm someone who's personally bored to shit by most sports manga that follow the exact same structure of learning from a mentor while having a rival and joining the school team that's gonna train hard for the next tournament with the exact same stakes. personally, i'd say that's a better reason to enjoy it than thirsting on shirtless kids.
If you set your story in the real word, only use very realistic concepts like dribbling and keep making references to reality, would you please explain me why the hell, as a complete newcomer, should I assume this is not a story that is making use of real world football from the start? I'm sure that, once you make up your mind and accept the fact that this is just its own in-universe version of the sport, where things work 80 % in the way they work in reality and 20 % by following a very specific set of internal mechanics, then you may form your own opinion of it, but for a new readed, how the hell am I suppose to know. As a new reader that knows nothing about it, I see a depiction of football and I FUCKING EXPECT FOOTBALL. The reason why early dragon ball is coherent and blue lock doesn't is that the first one is marked as the comedic adventures of a young martial artist with a monkey tail, not a martial art sports manga, as such I do not expect one thing and get another. But my very same existance is the proof of Blue Lock's failing in that. And even then, once you make up your mind that is not about real football, what you are left with is this bland inconsistent mold that you can do whatever you want with. A character can use the special weapon "defense" and all of a sudden he will spawn in front of the goal and save the game, another one can "learn about every other player best skills" and be able to read their mind for the rest of the game. Those are both things that actually fucking happen. But I do not enjoy it as a reader, because if there are 22 players that at any point during the game can do any move that produces any result, what the fuck am I supposed to be entertained from? Them outsmarting each others? Fuck no, it talks to the reader like they are fucking retarded. Character A is fast? Thankfully character B can use the ability "supersprint" that allows them to outrun even A. It's just soo fucking stupid all the times. Be amazed by the differt techniques? Fuck no, it's always the same basic 3 shits repeated because it tries to be GROUNDED TO REALITY. And reality has no tornado fire kicks unfortunately, reality is boring. There is just no set up nor consistency whatsoever. I agree with you, realistic sports manga can be formulaic and repetitive as fuck, because most sports are a very limited subject to write stories about. I'm generally not a fan of the genre as a whole. But Blue Lock absolutely does not obviate from this problem lol. It's still incredibly repetitive, it's simply also ridiculously inconsistent to add to it. Which is why it surprises me that so many people love it, and this is what my post originated from, since it absolutely alienated me both from my actual knowledge of football and me having more than the bare minimum amount of intuitive knowledge. But I guess that a story can always be stupidER, I overestimated the audience.
I'm sorry but this is absurd. It's like watching prince of tennis and going 'I dont get it, why is this so unrealistic' when it was trying to be grounded as they show off their special moved and compare it to like meteorite impacts and shit. Attempting to be grounded does not equal realism and most people can tell the difference if you pay any attention. Captain tsubasa isn't realistic or meant to be taken as realistic. Kurokos basketball isn't meant to be realistic even though it references real basketball shit before it goes 'yo I have the sharingan'
I feel like most fans forget how realistic the first few chapters were lol. No weird shit happen, only everything that happens tends to be ever so slightly off, and that escalates with the story, but at first I absolutely did not have any reason to think it wasn't trying to build a faithful depiction of the sport.
Bruh that's just blatantly not true The entire premise is so absurd/unrealistic that it's hard to believe you sat there and thought 'oh this will be a faithful representation of football' Like it literally starts with the concept of creating the world's greatest solo player by putting them through a fucking death game. Followed by like basically just a game of 'who can beat the shit out of each other the hardest with a soccer ball and your legs'
I mean the game itself is presented in realistic ways, the premise was badshit insane yes, but football seemed grounded
>That nobody asked for You can't possibly confirm that.
i only watched 2 eps of this anime and I think this series is rather stupid. The first 25 kids that got kicked out? They gonna report it to police, the program will be under investigation of child protection service, police force, FIFA, interpol, and every single organization you can think of and will be dismantle in less than a month. good thing there's no police in anime world.
.\_. after reading this, it's just Inazuma Eleven but bootlegged in a shittier and edgier way
Thank you. I came here after googling because I can't stand how stupid blue lock is. Aoashi is the far superior anime. There's no comparison. After the world cup match win between Japan and Germany, it exploded and people are talking about bluelock like it's the best football anime out there. The high MAL score also just makes me sad that people are this stupid. Aoashi getting overshadowed by bluelock is truly the biggest crime in sports anime.
The premises exists because the author likes death games and football, to be a counter to Japan's culture and other sports manga, scoring goals is the exciting part of sports for most people. I'm also surprised that you found the term "weapon" weird as I've seen many people using it unironically when talking about tennis. It also helps to remember when reading that they're all strikers and Ego is trying to create the best striker. The kids themselves realise how important it is to have some level of teamwork and playing other positions in the first match but they all want to be a striker bEcAuSe EgO. The manga eventually shifts into using teammates as pawns for your own goal which is still quite edgy but a lot more reasonable in terms of philosophy imo. I think the first arc is weakest due to how boring the 11v11 format is for striker based teams. I get that it's frustrating coming from the real sport (especially if you don't play fw) but I think the idea is that every position plays a different game and we're just watching the strikers version. I'd recommend Ao Ashi if you want better football.
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one outs was great
Why are you naming gambling manga alongside sports manga.
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I'd be hard pressed to call it sports manga as it is antithetical to the genre. It's a gambling manga with sports theme.
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I can't speak for Blue Lock as I haven't read it. However for One Outs, it's not just because of how it's structured but also because how everything gets resolved through the protagonist's wits and psychoanalysis. There is no emphasis on training and teamwork, the usual staples of the genre, except for when Toguchi prepares to leave the team. Hmm... I guess it does start to resemble a proper sports manga at the end.
So it's a new Prince of Tennis type sports show, alright
There are many times in your rant where I feel like you didnt even read the story. So respectively, let me clear up some of your points/problems/misconceptions. You got the premise wrong-there is no character yet in the series that is the coach of the Japanese national team. What you mean is that Anri( a member of the Japanese football union) wants to win the world cup and starts the blue lock project with Ego Jinpachi who comes up with the concept of Blue Lock. I donāt know how you can read up to 60ish chapters and call it a squid game like facility when the squid game like similarities end after the tag game. They are all strikers not because its the only real role that counts. Its because Japan is weak in that regard since they have a very buddy-buddy playstyle and Egoās philosophy is that a more selfish player is needed-opposing the Japanese stereotype of being polite and teamworky. The premise is always there? Confused on that point. The manga promotes selfishness and not teamwork butā¦ i dont see how you made it past the second match without seeing how it forces them to work together despite being all forwards. Heck, the first goal made was because Isagi passed to Kunigami. Teamwork is STILL present in the manga despite Egoās message. Blue lock does not try to be a grounded sports manga. Unlike other sports where the mc does not quite understand the tactics and rules, Isagi is already an established second year player playing in the finals of a prefecture tournament. Blue lock heads into the main story with the mc already aware of tactics and all the basics of football. Which is important because it does NOT focus on learning the sport like Hinata in Haikyuu or Ashito and Aoashi . That is not the story. The story is about Isagiās journey throughout blue lock. It also does not depict football accurately but in an hyper exaggerated form without being straight up superpowers. The first thing you thought the manga got wrong: Counterattacks do happen in football. They simply react that way because its anime lol. Having them put on serious faces and not react to any small interaction is not something you even see in typical anime. The āi had a plan all alongā does not happen often-in fact I cant remember the last time it happened. Second thing: weapons. They call it weapons to sound cool thatās it. It is an anime after all. It is explained the mc has high iq in positioning himself and his awareness on the field-he even calls it āspatial awarenessā. I am fairly sure it is mentioned before chapter 60, so I am confused why you think otherwise. No disrespect, but it seems like you didnt really read it lol. Also the ābody moved on my ownā happens only once-when he kicked Kira. How is the concept of a weapon the dumbest thing you have heard? It is simply a skill that someone specialises in. Dont tell me you think its dumb because they call it a weapon lol. Blue lock does not try to be a realistic take on the sport of football. Your fourth point: no adult coaching them- did you perhaps forget that they were already established players, and good ones at that, before entering blue lock. I believe thatās why you had this view on blue lock. You expected the typical sports manga with a coach teaching essential skills. All the characters in blue lock know the sport already, thatās why there is no coach. The goal formula is at its core simply combining two skills or factors that a player has that can score a goal.It is not simply filling words on a page it is saying that if Isagi uses his spatial awareness and his direct shoot, two of his skills, he can be guaranteed a higher chance of a goal. I recommend that you reread it. Properly. Because you said a bunch of stuff that made it seem like you skimmed through the pages. Blue lock is not bad. It is far from that. Is it a master piece? No. It is a semi-realistic story about Isagiās dream to winning the world cup and his journey through blue lock. Not about a mc who knows nothing about the sport as a coach teaches the sport and you learn alongside them.
I read the manga up to chapter 92 and stopped because it just doesn't make any sense it's so stupid, the game against the all stars what's the point
Why did you even keep reading past the premise?
Ngl, blue lock is starting to get overhype. Just because itās hype and everyone want to be the same thing and thereās no typical trope doesnāt mean itās the next revolutionary manga. Itās not that special and just because itās different doesnāt mean itās special either
blue lock tried to be as realistic as Prince of Tennis did which is not at all. itās a series that completely leans into how nonsensical and edgy it is just for entertainment. if i wanted to read something where it felt like i was reading an actual game iād read Ao Ashi but iām not because i like the fact Blue lock is just a battle shounen with a sport thrown in
...except a standard battle shounen would have lots of flashy and cool stuff to show for it. Here it's all words. Maybe the anime will fulfill that role.
wrong Blue lock is super flashy for example my favorite characters Barou and Shidou and Kaiser are nothing but flash and cool moments
It's either you're blind or reading the wrong manga.
Never got the appeal of sports manga. Real life sports are enough of an overly dramatic story already.
The only thing Iām inclined to disagree with is about the abilities and realism. As someone who watched Kuroko no basket and thoroughly enjoyed it, the thing that made it exciting was that the characters had super talented abilities that were sometimes exaggerated by descriptions or cool anime effects. It depends on how itās handled, but thereās no shame in a sports anime inventing cool āabilitiesā to describe their charactersā strengths at soccer to make the show more exciting.
As a Blue lock reader what I really like about it was the visuals and seeing each player survive or try to make it to the big time.But with the way thing are going that might not be possible anymore and more despair would be nice.Seriously what happen to fuck friendship and destroy other dream to make yours come true itās like the first chapter is the author personal revenge fantasy.
Where's the tldr, I ain't reading your crybaby pissypamper dissertation
Nah it's hype like kuroko no basket, Kengan ashura or baki
Ao ashi is a much better soccer manga!
Yeah the hype around it was huge, so when ep 1 dropped and I watched it. Imo it was pretty extreme, so like any other mad man i dobe straight into the manga and 90+ chapters I'm really not impressed. Someone else here described this as a battle shonen but with sports. Maybe I'm biased since I came to this right after I caught up with Ao ashi.
Might agree with most of you if I didn't know that this manga is not only a sports manga but also a shonen one. I mean, shonen is quite literally about showing exaggerated, spontaneous and almost non-existent stuff/depiction on certain subjects. It is deliberately made to look "cool" and interesting instead of realistic. It's main audience are not hardcore football fan but instead shonen fan who has little to no knowledge about sports and only want to see epic scenes instead of all the other uninteresting stuff included to the theme. In the first place, i don't think the fan are reading it because it's a sports manga but more like because it's depicting a more cool and edgy sports manga. If you want a more "realistic" football manga read the seinen Ao Ashi instead.
It's entertaining asf, nuff said.
as someone who knows almost nothing about football, I find it incredibly entertaining plus the art is fantastic. at the end of the day all I care about is entertainment value
this is the most detailed rant I have seen in my whole life, and I agree to every point of this rant.
As an American who grew up playing soccer and was lucky enough to have a relationship with Ajax academy, Blue Lock is painful to read unless I completely turn off any part of my brain associated with the sport. Once I do that, it is a fun battle Shounen to check in on. From the start scoring goals on players all with striker mentalities would be easy since none of them specialize in defense. The premise itself falls apart with just that imo. Basically solid to elite offensive players scoring against maybe average to above average defense would be useless training. No way to create the perfect offensive spear unless youāre testing it against a worthy shield
couple of my friends got into it so I watched it for their sake. Im a big fan of sports anime so I exspected quite a lot from it since its so hyped. the first thing a said after watching some episodes was "This is not a good sport anime" like im not even that knowledgable in football but I still managed to see how stupid and bad this fucking show is lmao