The following contains spoilers for Episode 8 of Blue Lock, “The Formula of a Goal,” now streaming onCrunchyrollandNetflix.
Coming out the same week as Japan’s shocking defeat of Germany in theWorld Cupin real life, Episode 8 of soccer animeBlueLockis setting up what promises to be a dramatic match as well! And with the real Samurai Blues doing well in the World Cup, there is no better time to start watchingBlue Lockif you aren’t already. After all, the premise is to create a top striker for Japan’s national team to help them win the World Cup - which may be a reality sooner than we realize.
With a score of 8.24 now,Blue Lockhas dropped to the tenth position on MyAnimeLists’sFall Anime Rankings. Admittedly, anyone who thought from thefirst episodethat this was going to be moreSquid Gamethan sports anime is likely to have dropped it by now. But for anyone who wants a sports anime trying to overthrow tropes and bring some excitement to the screen,Blue Lockhas been delivering.
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Opposites Attract
As this week is setting up the biggest match yet of the anime for Team Z, the one that will determine their futures in the Blue Lock program, it makes sense that it also is building up the rival team more than usual, too. We saw a bit of Team V’s quirky main characters last week, and this week we saw a bit of their backstory revealed. And if we thought they were a bit strange last week, well, this week only compounded that.
The two leading characters on Team V are Reo Mikage and Seishiro Nagi. Both are not your typical sports anime hereos, and neither play soccer for any sort of usual motive. Reo is the son of arich businessmanwhom everything has come easy to, and wants to win the World Cup because it is the one thing that is out of his reach and denied him by his father. Nagi is his total opposite; he just wants to drift through life and do nothing, never working, not even moving if he has to. He only plays soccer because Reo does nearly everything for him.
Despite being total opposites and having really strange motivations for being in Blue Lock, Reo and Nagi area fierce team. They are also top scorers so far in the program, and ranked way above anyone on Team Z. Episode 9 ends with Team Z having a hopeful strategy against Team V turned right back against them as Nagi and Reo do the same moves even more successfully, making them difficult opponents, indeed.
The Return of Barou
Back inEpisode 3, “Soccer’s ‘Zero,'” we met Shouei Barou, an intimidating scorer who powered through the game. We predicted that even if Team X did not get through the competition - and they are unlikely to - Barou would move on anyway. And this week, we got to see Barou again in a one-on-one impromptu match against Isagi.
Isagi did not stand a chance against Barou, but he did use thebigger man’s plays to learn his strategy. Isagi is really taking to heart what Ego said about a true striker being able to reproduce their goals, not just score when luck is with them, and is trying to find his own formula for creating goals. It is interesting to see how much Isagi still pales in comparison to a player like Barou, showing that he still has a long way to go if he really wants to become the best striker at Blue Lock.
Episode 8 was all aboutstrategies and formulasagain, and it’s likely that Isagi’s own formula is going to be revealed in an upcoming episode. Barou was only the beginning, and we will likely be seeing more of him again soon as well.
The Big Match
The big match of Team V and Team Z only just began at the end of Episode 9 ofBlue Lock, and has set up next week to be all about the game. The background information is out of the way - we know about the main characters on the rival team, and most of the players on Team Z have also already shared their backstories or personalities at least. Now, we can focus on the big match as it all comes together.
The loose canon on the field, though, is definitely Kuon the betrayer. As of this week, he still does not feel bad about what he did to his team to further his own self-interest, and claims he will not be doing anything for this critical match. Interestingly, we got to see just a tidbit of his backstory this week as well, revealing that he was the only one on his high school team who actually took soccer seriously, which is what has pushed him to look out for himself and no one else.
Do we really think Kuon will do nothing for the entire match? It seems unlikely. Though what role exactly he will play is yet to be seen; right now he is still set as the top player on Team Z, but that is based on goals scored alone. As Ego himself said, Kuon is not a good striker right now. He only got his goals because of his betrayal, as they were set up for him. If he is going to redeem himself, well, he has a long way to go toearn our trustagain!
