Bluelock's U-20 Arc: A Game of Two Halves
The 8th of May 2019 is a night I will never forget. It was the night when my childhood Club, a team I had chosen on a whim as a 10-year-old playing FIFA, absolutely dismantled one of the biggest clubs in the world. Going into this game, Barcelona were leading three goals to nil after Liverpool lost in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, the most prestigious competition in club football. In order to advance to the final, Liverpool would not only have to score four goals to win but also prevent their opponents from netting a single goal. A challenge that was made harder by the fact that they were missing two of their three main attackers, Salah and Firmino, while Barcelona had the likes of Messi, Suarez, Rakitic, Busquets, Roberto, Pique, and Alba – a full squad of club legends. The chances of a Liverpool win were low. If you don't believe me, Barcelona themselves thought they'd sealed the match after this tweet. But the funny thing about history is that it's always written by the winners.
Liverpool ended up winning that final, but if you ask me to name a moment from that 2019 competition, my answer will always be that comeback at Anfield. It's a common saying in football: it's never over until the final whistle. And I never thought I would be using it when talking about an anime. Because just like how Liverpool clawed its way back to victory against Barcelona, Blue Lock somehow clawed its way back from a similarly hellish start. I guess in the case of this series, it's never over until the final episode.
The Rocky Start: Doubts and Disappointment
Blue Lock's U-20 Arc didn't have the best reputation leading up to it. The first five episodes were ripped apart by fans for their terrible animation, and rightfully so. It looked like garbage. Yet the hopefuls, or delusional as they were then, still clung to this idea that they would turn it around, while pessimists like myself saw no future in it, especially with how it started.
This Arc began pretty similarly to episode 1, where it was a buildup to the match. It feels surreal to see people aside from the players entering the Blue Lock facility. Up until this point, Blue Lock had a Squid Games vibe where we would only see the competitors. Imagine waking up day in, day out hearing. It's hard to fathom there were normal people two miles away from me. But what's cool is that majority of these scenes were anime originals, and it's the first time I've seen Blue Lock season 2 edge out over the manga. The way they introduced this Arc created an anticipation, an atmosphere similar to what you'd get from going to a real-life game. I really like the buildup scene.
But with 5 minutes left in this episode, it was time to leave an impression. This was regarded as the best Arc in the manga. Were they going to deliver, or were they going to prove the doubters right?
Flashes of Potential Amidst Animation Woes
I can name two standout moments at the start. The first was Bachira's dribbling. I was never the biggest hater of CG; I think when you use it for a small, significant part of the episode or anime, I don't care. And in this case, I thought it looked pretty realistic. The other highlight of this episode was Aiku making his big leap. I will repeat this as many times as I have to: the visuals were never the problem with Blue Lock. We saw in the first few episodes that they were capable of making eye-catching stuff. The problem is that it was clearly being substituted for a lack of movement. And if you ask me to pick: have very pretty stylized frames or make the 2D people move?
However, it's unfair to judge them based on just 5 minutes. Maybe the next episode will change my mind... wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... wait. This is what I call PSP animation. You know, when you hit your ult in a video game and they play a special cutscene? At this point, a lot of the same problems from past episodes were creeping up: like the lack of movement, the sliding images, the ball just teleporting from place to place. Which led to, in my opinion, one of the worst goals ever in this Arc: Sae's goal. I mean, they gave this man a trail of red farts. They gave this guy electroconductive feet. I don't know what those two are doing. And Aiku apparently has this guy on a leash.
I took a quick look at the manga, and it was literally the exact same scenes down to the very last stroke. This is the part where you expect me to say it spoiled the moment for me, that it ruined my experience and the Arc is doomed. But it's not. In fact, I'd argue it got the job done. Individually, these scenes may not look the best, but they got their point across: that the U-20s are a force to be reckoned with. And that's not me giving excuses for the lackluster animation; no, that's me giving compliments to the author of Blue Lock for writing such a gripping story. The reason why this still worked is because he did such an amazing job selling us the weight of the game. Yes, they could have made these scenes look better, but if it achieves the same goal of showing us the U-20 strengths, then the animators have to sacrifice quality somewhere, especially knowing the conditions they were in and the pressure that was put on them by the production company.
The Turning Point: Finding Hope
And in the end, we all know where the effort went to. The moment this showed up, I couldn't help but watch in utter amazement. The buildup was suspenseful. The abrupt cut of the soundtrack was unexpected. The move was executed fluidly. Not a single frame was wasted. Its impact was undeniable. Much like the players after coming back from 1-nil down, I started to Garner hope. Is Blue Lock finally back?
Nope. What the f#ck is this? Is this a move? Let's dissect this. So he lifted it with his left foot, he spins around, and it's stuck to his feet. Glue. And that's it. That's all we got. And somehow he dribbled past two people without getting barged into? You know, this reminds me a lot of that Shido goal at the start of the Season, how we saw one clip of his foot lifting up and the next he's doing some high-level Kamasutra.
This episode focused a bunch on the individual skills that the characters have. But before that, I want to mention that every time a deep, profound explanation of flow and improvisation came up, they must have thought I'd be pulling out my notebook and taking notes. But in reality, I pulled out my phone from how bored I was. Ego, you don't have to explain to me why giving backshots to someone is a realistic improvisation strategy of one's unwavering spirit. Bro, I'm just here for the hype. And hype it gave.
Spotlighting the Blue Lock Eleven
It was painfully clear that these guys were mere stepping stones for the real players of the match. Because while they were getting video game animations, Blue Lock 11 were getting the VIP treatment. You got Nico, who turned into Prime Toph, visualizing everybody's movements, downloading and reacting to every little twitch, stamping himself as the Exterminator of Strikers. Karasu, with his crow-like design, doesn't stop at his hair but starts with his brain, somehow always being three steps ahead of the enemy, able to analyze the game before anyone else. And who does it benefit? The lightning arrow of Blue Lock, Chigiri. One of my favorite characters and one of the most pivotal players in breaking defensive lines, the man who owns the right wing. These players got the recognition they deserved.
But it would have all been for nothing had he not been there. Again, this goal was never the most flashy, it was never the most appealing, but the storytelling behind it – the buildup, the music, the sound effects, the visuals, the voice acting – everything had to synergize perfectly to achieve this level of drama. And as much as it looked visually average, narratively, it was beautiful. 2-1 halftime.
Halftime Reflections
Reflecting on that first half... it was a mixed bag. The episode building up Sae and Rin's backstory before the second half felt somewhat underwhelming. Kind of like a lull before the inevitable storm. Was the momentum truly shifting, or were we just getting brief moments of brilliance papering over the cracks?
The Second Half Eruption: Shido Unleashed
Just like that, the second half was underway. With the U-20s down a goal, they had to do something. They had to shackle the Beast, unchain the demon that is Shido Ryusei. Immediately, his introduction struck a thorn in Blue Lock's plans. How can someone as unpredictable as Shido, a person who disrupts his own team's gameplay, be tempered? Before the match, Ego himself gave up on Shido, stating he was a player who was impossible to control. Impossible without Itoshi Sae. Yet again, a brilliant display of how the right soundtrack with the right voice acting, coupled with stakes and finally, finally gorgeous looking animation, results in one of the best goals we've seen so far.
Blue Lock tried to counter by bringing on Barou and Hiori, but even with bolstered reinforcements, they were no match against the demon. The second that ball went in the air... it only took 3 minutes. From a rising tension in music, followed by visuals of an unfertilized egg, a baby's cry, a deathly quiet hush, to a surge of pure, unadulterated, ecstatic inspiration – one which can no longer be contained until all that's left is a blast, a discharge, an explosion of Brilliance to produce Shido's perfect Offspring. The greatest goal ever scored in this competition.
This was the moment Blue Lock flipped a switch in my head. Before this goal, I was still spotting flaws in the animation, things that made me question whether they truly improved since the first episodes. But after that ball went into that net, my mind blanked. My shitty little analytical brain clocked out, and I was completely entranced, swallowed by the game's hype. From that point on, it didn't matter if I was being shown still frames or if no one was moving, because I was so invested in the story, my brain tuned it all out. And ironically, I think that's the point where Blue Lock made its comeback: right when they started losing.
Consumed by the Hype: The Final Stretch
Whenever I write these reviews, I have a list of notes that I take down while I consume the media. A common trend I notice is that for good shows, I typically start off with a lot of notes at the beginning, and they slowly peter out as the episodes go on, likely because I'm more focused on enjoying the show rather than criticizing and commenting on it. And that, to me, indicates that they simply did a good job when I can just sit back and enjoy what I'm watching.
This next part is where the anime went crazy, let's let everybody shine. It starts when Barou comes on to replace Otoya. He puts on his Ronaldo boots and begins chopping defenders left and right, leading to a shot that rattles the right post. It lands graciously to the professor, I mean Yukimiya, who dances past the U-20s with the most viby street ball performance they've ever seen. I don't even know what a gyro shot is, but Aiku blocks him, going into full Gundam mode, defending like a freaking Android to initiate the U-20 counter. The genius has the ball. Sae lands a peach of a pass to Shido, who's left with only the right side of the goal to target. Will he go top or bottom corner? Gagamaru makes the dive to go down, but the ball suddenly whips up! It's all but over when Gagamaru curls his feet up! Now it's the chameleon's turn! They shout for him to kick it out for a corner, but watching his true love shine more than anyone else on the pitch, he nails a perfect copy: a trap, a lift into a jumping turn! And just like that, Blue Lock's on the counter! Nagi's otherworldly touches put Isagi behind the defenders, but Sae makes quick work to cover. He isn't the only one who recognizes Isagi's genius though. An outstretched leg to pass to Rin, but Aiku is hot behind his tail! The King is back! With the game tied, Itoshi Sae finally gets serious. Yes, he wasn't even serious before. He kicks it up one notch, dribbling past all the Blue Lock players in elegance, while Rin cuts off his final pass to Shido. It's Blue Lock's ball once again! This time it's the Monster! Bang bang, then schwift and turn and zoom! Lifts the ball up, kicks it to the ground! It's only the goalie left! Goes past him, but oh! Mr. Japan Idol has evolved to Hollywood pimp!
With that, we finally caught up to the climax. I'm sure everyone reading this has finished watching Blue Lock. And if you haven't, I don't know why you'd willingly keep spoiling yourself till this portion of the article, but regardless, the final action sequence between Rin and Sae was a masterpiece, reminiscent of JJK's Sukuna versus Mahoraga. It felt like I was watching a completely different anime.
Animation, Animators, and the Real Villains
I want to give credit to Hajime Mandai, the person who worked on this episode, and all the other animators who put in unbelievably strenuous work from the start to give us at least something to watch. I gave the animation a lot of f in my last Blue Lock piece, but I want to clarify that I was not attacking the animators in any way. How could I, when... okay, I don't know if I'm just not in on the joke, but I've seen way too many people claiming that only one guy worked on five episodes of Blue Lock and that's why it's bad. Listen, if you genuinely think that's true, then Blue Lock's animation should be the least of your worries; you need to work on getting that high school diploma, my guy.
No, obviously it wasn't just one guy working on the anime. Martin Kei Sugano is the animator in question, I'm assuming, who said that he was supposed to work on the layout of five episodes. [Animator quote context: "I was supposed to be part of five episodes... yeah I did uh 22 cuts of just layout"]. But after just one, he decided to leave, given the cutthroat schedule and mediocre pay. [Animator quote context: "I think the pay wasn't enough because like draw the characters was tough because the character has a lot of details..."]. So already, he did not work on all five episodes. And even if he did, he would have only worked on the initial layout. We're talking the rough drawings that build the framework for animation. After that, you got other people who'd probably have to refine his work, add more frames in between, add colors, add effects, and a whole slew of that not a single person could have feasibly done on their own, let alone with Blue Lock's terrible production schedule.
I just need to make this painfully clear because this goes beyond plain idiocy, lack of comprehension, or critical thinking. It shows the dangers of misinformation and how people will believe anything they hear on the internet. I bet you 99% of people who said this got it from someone else, and that someone else was probably also misinformed.
If you're wondering why I'm so mad, it's because by doing this, you're letting the real villains off the hook. Blue Lock looks like this not because of one animator, but because the people above that animator aren't paying them well, they're not giving enough time, they're throwing away hundreds of painstakingly drawn cuts just to rush the episode out. They're the ones telling people like Martin, "Hey, get these 500 drawings done tomorrow, we'll probably burn most of it and pay you enough money to buy a Kit Kat." Those are the people you should be criticizing – the ones who slap their big ass logo at the start of every episode and Blue Lock's other production committees.
Final Thoughts and Hopes for the Future
I'm not delusional enough to think this article will change the trajectory of Blue Lock moving forward. In fact, I'm probably never going to be able to work with Blue Lock seeing as I've effectively called out their corporate overlords. I'm just speaking from the perspective of someone who got his career started because of a show I fell in love with, and seeing that show be desecrated and have its wings clipped as a result of greed breaks my heart just a little bit.
In the end, if you think I'm being overly dramatic and it's not that bad, I'm happy you're satisfied, 'cause they're probably going to use that as an excuse to not improve. I really hope they place more care if they're making season 3. But until then, I hope you guys still enjoy reading my dumbass takes.
