Question to my beloved beautiful darling wife forevermore, what do you think Sae would do if he notices Hugo (hypothetically) telling Rin to do the same… aka become a mid-fielder and watching his reaction be completely different than his own? I love to hear you talk about Sae x Rin dynamics as usual😻😻😻😻😻😻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
ooh such a beefy meaty question for ky from wifey. this will include some blue lock manga discussions with spoilers so proceed with caution if you're an anime only for this one!
sae's position change and subsequent fallout with rin has always been a hot topic within the fandom. all of us are dying to know what happened, who it was that crushed his dream? sae is pretty vague about it, essentially just saying that he faced the "real world" levels of football during his time in spain, that he doesn't have the pieces needed to be the best striker in the world. so his ego shifts in focus, and he decides to become a midfielder who "controls" the striker. obviously the most common theory is that sae played someone who exposed this part of him, or made him realize it for the first time, which also lends itself to sae's literal xenophobia over his own birthplace by way of someone else's influence. kaiser was even a potential suspect at one point, but typically anytime there's a new character that's in that age range and european gets introduced--a portion of fans will suspect him of being the one who ruined sae's, and in turn, rin's dream. the main two at this point are bunny and hugo. bunny of course is the striker for spain's team, which makes him a great candidate. he clearly could have been on the youth re al team with sae at that time, and every time we see bunny in the manga, sae is genuinely tweaking. sae literally is going to play with blue lock U20s against spain because he cannot stand bunny that much...whatever it is, they have big beef. or at least, sae has big beef with him.
i don't think it was bunny that shifted sae's mindset. sae doesn't present his decision as if he is settling, as if this was the best choice he could make so he could still play the game he loves or be on the field with his brother. he doesn't speak negatively about it, really. he seems very comfortable with his position, and it compliments the play style of his that we saw even when the itoshi brothers were younger. he seems to identify with it and feel fulfilled in that way, which can also be his own personality flaws so to speak, all of this is just my own theory. so i think bunny has made an enemy out of sae, but it's unrelated to his position change, but obviously i can be very wrong here.
i think it was hugo. i mean hugo is obviously the french midfielder that just proved he has an affinity for trying to mentally sabotage his opponents with this whole midfielder conversion therapy thing. i hate him omfg. this definitely smells of potential, maybe a matchup that happened in sae's youth days where hugo got to him with this rhetoric, though i will say hugo comes off surprisingly genuine. he isn't insulting isagi this chapter, more so pointing out obvious facts such as his dribbling skills and lack of height. it seems hugo really believes it would be the better decision, and isn't only saying it to fuck with his head. i feel like this could translate into sae's own outlook and mindset.
i also dislike sae a good deal, as i am rin itoshi's biggest slut, and i personally don't think anything he potentially could have endured overseas is enough to justify the big shitbag he is to his little brother. BUT....
i think sae has decided tough love is the best method to ensure rin stays on his path, and doesn't change just because sae did. sae also hasn't been around rin in a few years so he doesn't realize how many assumptions he's making and the growth that he's already gone through in his absence. rin was always destined to have a way more intense and destructive ego than sae, rin is someone that is born to be a striker naturally. rin does have the measurable physique, instinct, eye, intelligence, athleticism, and ability to be the world's best striker. so i think sae wanted to use anger as a tool of motivation, but also to keep rin exactly on path, the way they promised. i am a bigger sibling myself, so i want to believe that sae wants rin to succeed. he just has the absolute worst way of showing that, maybe because of his own feelings of either jealousy or inadequacy letting rin down.
that being said! let's pretend that sae is playing in the match versus france, too, and not just spain coming up. let's say it's rin that's getting this fucking holy yap sesh from the frenchman, i think sae would be automatically enraged to hear it. to him, it was the right call--to his brother it is nothing but a lie. rin would be horribly bored and pathetic as a midfielder. this is the best way for them to be playing together on the global stage, in different positions, like they are now. but sae feels like he can't barge into the conversation...he can't shut it down. rin has to be a big boy and do it himself now.
and oh, rin is a big boy. he can read between the lines with this, anything to do with sports and his brother, and it's clear that this is all hugo's fault. this big stink and all this tension can be blamed on the dirty fuck from europe who thought he could boss him around. so rin wouldn't allow hugo to talk for miles like isagi did, he would shut him down efficiently--quick, with all the new motivation of destroying the guy that ruined his relationship with his older brother firing him up? he's gonna score goals on their head all night, and tell hugo repeatedly just a few simple words. "you're wrong." or "so what, you're a weakling." until the game ends. i think sae would feel...mmm vindicated by that. i don't think it's enough to unring the bell of sae's position change, but i think it is enough for rin to understand some of it, for sae to get a good look at his baby brother's new ego and abrasive side. i think sae is already proud, but in his heart he knows rin is the natural born striking genius between them, and he's relieved he won't doubt himself, and that sae is the only person who could make his brother do such a thing anyway.