Manga Recommendation: Blue Lock
You know the typical sports shounen that we all know and love? The whole, "let's work together as a team and combine our strengths to defeat our enemy and reach the top" sports shounen. A good execution of that premise makes for a good story, yes, but if you're tired of that type of sports shounen manga and want to see a different take on the sports genre, look no further than Blue Lock.
(oh and don't worry, this is mostly spoiler-free with the pictures only coming from chapters 1-5)
Blue Lock basically takes the entire message of most, if not all, sports manga and just throws it away. What message is that?
You see, the premise of Blue Lock is that 300 of the best high school strikers in the entire country are gathered and isolated into one place: the Blue Lock. There, the aspiring strikers (including our protag) will have a chance to become the best striker and represent Japan. However, there's a catch.
They have to win against everybody else. If not, they're banned from participating in the football professional scene. Forever.
Yeah, it's a pretty ridiculous premise. Battle royale football? Not only that, I see many people who disagree with the whole "individual power over teamwork" because football (or soccer, as known in some countries) is a team sport, not an individual sport.
Nevertheless, whether you agree or disagree with the whole premise of "individually the best, fuck the rest", I would still suggest Blue Lock.
Well if you can kind of turn off your brain and read this more of something like Kuroko but more over-the-top rather than something more realistic like Slam Dunk, Blue Lock is a really enjoyable manga.
First off, the characters are mostly likeable, entertaining, and unique with all very distinct character designs and skillsets.
For example there's Bachira, the eccentric and spontaneous guy who can be unnerving yet is also pretty supportive and friendly.
Another one is Kunigami who is basically calmer, nicer Bakugo. He looks intimidating and all but he's actually pretty chill and friendly.
There's also more characters than that but I can't say much because I'll spoil them sadly. But I would say that everyone has their own vibrant colorful personality.
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Also the protagonist, Yoichi Isagi, definitely an interesting protagonist in his own right with a fun skillset. And personally, I think his skillset adds a lot to the flow of the competition. I won't spoil it here as his journey in finding and improving it is a part of the story. Other than that, I think the unique scenario really gives him a distinctiveness from the usual sports protagonist.
The premise, while absurd, gives the opportunities for unique scenarios — compared to the usual tournament over and over — such as old enemies becoming new allies or having to work against your allies.
It makes use of all the distinct characters we meet and basically gives the opportunity for not only the audience, but also the protagonist to interact with old enemies in more cooperative ways and get to know them better or even promote the rivalries between the "good" characters we've been attached to in the beginning. And if you remember the whole "if they lose, their dreams of football are over", it makes the matches much more personal and tense as you see these characters that you and the protagonist know and they have to face off against each other. They have to defeat the other and in the progress, destroy the dreams of the friends they made.
So while the games are not orthodox sports tournaments...
(oh and don't worry they do play football. A bit unorthodox yes, but they do.)
...the characters and their conflict make it feel like it has the same weight as the tournaments we commonly see in other sports manga. If I were to compare it, I would compare it to the whole "it's the seniors' last year, so we must win this year because they'll never have a chance again" trope in high school sports manga.
Lastly, I suggest reading Blue Lock because the art is so good. The important characters stand out and the action during matches is pretty clear. It definitely brings the matches to a different level.
So yeah, despite the premise of battle royale football possibly putting you off, or not being a sports fan, I really suggest checking Blue Lock out just for the characters, the engaging tension-filled matches, and amazing art.
If you're not fully sure whether or not you'll like it, I recommend checking out chapters 1 to 9 before making sure if you're into it or not.
Why not 1-3 or 1-5? Well, in my opinion, the first 1-5 chapters, while giving a good taste of what Blue Lock wants to be, I really think that by chapter 9, you will have a better grasp of what you'll expect from Blue Lock in terms of its battle royale-like premise and the characters themselves. And that if you really can't get into it by that point, I think it's going to be hard to like the rest of it.
That's all! Thanks for listening to my long-winded recommendation. Blue Lock is definitely a very unique take on the sports genre and an underrated gem so that's why I really want to recommend it.
If anyone has a sports manga (or even anime) recommendation, feel free to say them!
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