Here’s a familiar premise for you: a group of humans with diverse backgrounds and skills are isolated from the outside world—and reality—and forced to face off against each other until one is left standing. Sounds a lot like The Hunger Games, Battle Royale, and Squid Game, right? It’s a reliable plot device that works well in a variety of genres. If you want to create an inescapable slow burn with plenty of dripping tension, the aforementioned titles have you covered. But never did I think that usually feel-good sports anime genre would take this approach.
EnterBlue Lock.
Adapted from a hitmanga, Eight Bit studio’s Blue Lock is the soccer (or football, whatever) series that’s taking the anime world by storm due a furious combination of elements. By sidestepping worn tropes found in other sports anime, introducing a team of empathetic characters, but most importantly, turning the fairly straightforward game of soccer into a high-stakes cut-throat melee, I found myself on the edge of my seat as opposed to leaving the game early.
From the first episode, it’s clear that we’re no longer in the optimistic, triumphant land of previous entries in the sports anime universe, which is the hook that grabbed me off the bat (or boot? Again, whatever). Top soccer players throughout Japan’s high schools are invited to the prison-like training compound known as Blue Lock in order to become Japan’s best striker by essentially throwing their comrades under the bus and weaponizing their individual skills to an unhealthy degree. Excellent. The mastermind behind the controversial program, Ego Jinpachi, lives up to his name. By creating tiered levels of increasing difficulty and back-stabbing, the hungry players have no choice but to use each other as stepping stones if they want to come out on top.
That’s pretty dark for a sport that hinges on the power of cooperation and teamwork, and it’s a breath of fresh air, to be honest. I’ve seen the volleyball series Kaikyuu! and even caught a few episodes of the quintessential sports animeSlam Dunk, but they both slipped into the all-too-familiar gooey territory of friendship and idealism.
Look, I’m not a misanthrope and there’s nothing wrong with real tear-jerkers like Remember the Titans, Cool Runnings or even Sandlot. In fact, the majority of sports films and shows tend to lean into the more wholesome aspects of the pastime, which has proven successful. However, if you truly want to arrest the audience’s attention, you’ll need something stronger than the fairly straightforward story of 22 guys kicking a ball around on the grass and into a net. You’ll need something, or someone, twisted.
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Yusuke Nomura, themanga-kabehind Blue Lock, has enough experience and accolades under his belt to properly dismantle the idea of soccer and turn it into a monster. Speaking of monsters, his mentor was Hajime Isayama, known for the manga juggernautAttack On Titan, to whom young Yusuke was an assistant.
Springboarding from AoT in 2014, Nomura collaborated as illustrator on another apocalypticmangacalled Dolly Kill Kill, in which wasp-like insects and massive murderous dolls descend upon humanity. Kind of sports-like, no? Nomura filled the pages with illustrations featuring psychos grinning eerily ear to ear with straight-up crazy spiral eyes that would show up again years later. Alongside fellowmanga-kaMuneyuki Kaneshiro of horrormanga/film As the Gods Will fame, the two artists would pen their magnum opus in 2018, Blue Lock.
Some of my favorite parts of Blue Lock are actually the disturbing facial expressions. From the skull-like smile of the obsessed ringleader, Ego Jinpachi, to the lunatic gaze of the main protagonist, Yoichi Isagi, you’ll never see Lionel Messi convey emotions like this. What’s more, players like the eccentric Bachira actually have a metaphysical monster living inside of them, whispering commands on and off the field. These off-kilter moments create a dichotomy between the practicality of soccer itself and the pitch-black psychological playground the characters live in. The show also restrains itself from letting its characters getting too close to anything resembling companionship, keeping us well-aware that loss is inevitable and right around the goal post.
And lose they do. Not only does a loss signal your dismissal from the Blue Lock compound, but that poor player is then banned from playing for the national Japanese soccer team henceforth. With those kinds of stakes, the intensity of each missed shot, foul and goal is amplified up to 100. Coupled with the trademark fast-slow-fast animation that is common in anime, cleats don’t just kick the ball, they all but crack it open with immeasurable force, giving every match the impression that you’re witnessing elite soldiers engaging in battle.
I’m still making my way through Season 1, but already the amount of contenders is thinning. Blue Lock’s finances are dwindling. Alliances are forming…and god, the air in here, isn’t it stifling? The show gives me anxiety, but in the best way possible. Are we sure this is still a sports anime? I mean, there’s more suspense packed into a 20-minute episode than an actual 90-minute soccer match. Now the only thing we need is a medieval war series about golf. Make it happen, MAPPA!
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