Julian Loki acts like an older sibling. PART 1
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Small disclaimer, as far as I’m aware his family hasn’t been mentioned in canon in the manga or the egoist bible; therefore I’m basing this off of his interactions with other characters in the manga. Also bear with me, I wrote a lot of words.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Julian Loki’s introduction: good sportsmanship
Julian Loki already acts differently than the other World 5 players in their introduction in chapter 90, both physically and personality wise. Julian is the only player that is not an adult since he’s 17, and the only one that practiced good sportsmanship throughout the whole ‘World 5 game.’
This is seen when he tells Leonardo Luna to not disrespect Japanese soccer to the Blue Lock team (when Luna states, “Gambling your lives on a wish that will never come true..Japanese people really are the world’s top masochists!” and with his handshake/conversation with Isagi before the match started.
Despite being the youngest on his team, Julian shows the most maturity and respect towards his opponents (which is something taught to young players of every sport for them to carry this sportsmanship into the rest of their career) even though some of his teammates are a whole decade older than him and have been in the world of soccer longer.
(I love Isagi’s little profiles he makes of different characters, and how he notices Loki’s polite manners and confidence but I’ll get back to that later maybe hehe)
Julian Loki- Master Striker in the NEL: Maturity & Adaptability/Flexibility
Julian Loki was announced as the Master Striker for France’s team PXG in the Neo Egoist League, which is insane when you take into account he’s coaching players around the same age as him. (Love me a mature boy) In chapter 244/246 I think the reader is able to understand a lot about Julian’s flexibility as a coach even though it wasn’t that much explicitly stated.
PXG is beginning a match with Barca, and they start with Rin as their main attacker with Shidou off the field. Later we see Rin get swapped for Shidou, so the both of them get their turns as the star and to score goals. This makes the most sense since we, as a reader, know that Rin and Shidou so far have had no chemistry at all and the two of them do not work well together at all.
However, Julian didn’t know that prior to them joining PXG. He had to figure out a solution to this in order for PXG to perform well on the field during matches. The games are set in a round robin format with two games every 10 days (if I’m not mistaken) and PXG has played either 3 or 4 times. Plus, these aren’t 90 minute games, they’re just to 3 points. These games are relatively short, probably less than 30 minutes long (idk, I quit soccer a long time ago.) This means aside from scrimmages and training practice, Julian had a rather small amount of time to develop a play style that would suit both of these very different strikers that refuse to work together.
Julian Loki found something that worked too. Whether he experimented by placing one of the two (Shidou/Rin) in for the whole game or talked with them both about what to do, Julian made a strategy that everyone benefited from. (GUYS! Ik he stated in chap. 246 that he experimented with their play styles to create two factions on the PXG line up, but pick up what I’m putting down yk?? Adversity!)
This shows how adaptive Loki is able to be in unfavorable circumstances and create opportunities from it. Julian has been trying to create an environment that encourages Charles to grow as a player. Because of Julian’s thought process of using both Rin and Shidou at different times to help Charles, we’ve witnessed how adaptable he can be.
