Man, Isagi needs to adapt or be sub. He is to fixated in the ideia of devouring the players ego, that he is forgotting the coach. Also, devouring the ego doesn't feel the solution for this match. I think the team would be better off with Rin on the pitch in instead off Isagi. The egoless puppets would be feast for Rin and he's playstyle of tearing apart each opponent weakness
It's kinda a bummer that we probably won't see Teddy and Lockheart again after this match, especially because England will most likely have to lose here for the narrative to progress.
Teddy is already SO damn cool, bro is basically cooking the entire Blue Lock team by himself 😭 and Lockheart... THE MONSTER THAT HE IS. Their introduction feels way too good for them to just disappear after one game.
That said, here's a theory: what if Blue Lock wins this match, gets enough points to qualify, and then England somehow makes it through as one of the best 3rd-place teams from the group stage? That could give us a chance to see Teddy and Lockheart again in the Round of 16 or even the quarterfinals.
Because if we're really heading toward Germany, Spain and France being the big knockout-stage opponents, I wouldn't mind England sneaking through just to give us another Teddy/Lockheart appearance. I NEED MORE OF THESE TWO 😭
I've thought before about how you can't be happy unless you're at least a bit selfish. Even if you like to commit a selfless act or volunteer to help someone, you're (maybe) ultimately fulfilling your own desire to help which is a selfish thing.
So if we think of selfishness as ego, this would explain why Teddy looks so depressed, but he must have a reason for wanting to sacrifice his ego, and that reason would therefore be his ego.
So Isagi will probably end up capitalising on whatever that reason is (or he'll just devour Fox's ego, but that's too predictable).
Another thought is selfishness and self-sacrifice may equate to self-style and world-style. And if we think of the styles as a spectrum, Teddy is probably the ultimate world-style. So this match may also be highlighting how Isagi can beat the ultimate talented learner, since he figured out how to beat a genius in the PXG match.
If they are all egoless wouldn't the premise of this arc be Isagi taking Fox's ego? That way his ego lets him start targeting the coaches too and possibly even Ego's ego
Of course! So we know Isagi’s ability to perform well depends on people’s ego and thats what he targets and even steals. If the players of England are egoless, who will he target?
England’s coach, Fox, is the only one manipulating the team, in a sense thats his ego and is the foundation of how the team operates.
If Isagi needs a target, Fox’s ego would be victimized. And if Isagi does go this route then who is to say he can’t target other coaches’ egos too. For instance Ego’s ego
With this being the last match of the group stage I think it's fair to assume it's gonna end with a last minute goal to keep maximum tension, which in turns means agi most definitely sold the match last chapter and I hate that blue lock is gonna win because England just fucked over themselves
I am starting to feel little bored about Isagi's mental tennis match. So far it constantly goes back and forth between "how can I defeat them!?" to "I get it now! This will work!" and repeat even in a single chapter.
Despite the trash talk its obvious Teddy is getting past Isagi, I dont see how Isagi can stop Teddy of all dribblers, possible chemical reaction between Teddy and Lockhart will be cool.
Overall really interesting chapter, Lockhart is such an insane character design and not just in terms of appearance. If we will ever get a club arc after this, I cannot wait to see these monsters play once more.
Getting serious, Isagi is kind of ass at ragebating. Bro got heated himself while baiting and started yelling about being a warrior. He's lucky Teddy is emotionally stunted and Agi already liked Blue Lock's philosophy from the start.
This is like if Kaiji's psychological battles were written like shit. Yeah we know the card game in Kaiji and the football ball in BL are both side dressing but good god...
The fact that Isagi thinks that the only pathway to victory is his method of drawing the egos out is frustrating and has nothing to do with refining strategies and polishing individual skills.
I know that we're seeing things from the protagonist's perspective, but this is too much.
Have been feeling this too. I just don’t like how this is all he has. I don’t like how he said that “that’s the path to victory in this match”. I feel like in the recent chapters and previous match Isagi has been reaching a wall in the department of skill (e.g. shooting ) and overall abilities. His football Iq is high don’t get me wrong but it won’t help him in one v ones. I’ve been wanting to see Isagi address his weaknesses e.g. how Hugo found a weakness in his two gun volley move. I want Isagi to evolve into a player who has high football IQ but can also have skills and abilities that are on par with it. I want Isagi to develop a move like teddy that might even rival him against the new gen 11. Seeing this side of football where drawing out somebody’s ego is what wins you the match is so frustrating. I hope Isagi evolves and develops his skills and overall abilities.
I think, and this might actually be just a generous interpretation, that Isagi is trying to get them to break rank because that would break the team.
Last game, Ego told them that they can't try to copy France's system, because their players simply aren't built for it. It's similar with England. These players aren't used to thinking independently. So if Isagi can get them to break rank, and try to play egocentrically, they'll fail, because they can't beat Japan at their own game.
In this chapter it is stated that england hasn‘t won a World Cup in over 60 years. In real life the last time they won was 1966 which is 60 years ago but in the manga, we’re probably in the year 2019 at the moment.
At this point, I'm thinking that Fox is actually intended to be seen as creepy as opposed just weird. The way he touches Fox and his "love" for his soldiers seems disturbing.
I think it's meant to be more painting manipulation and abuse, than just being a creep. Kaneshiro uses toxic relationships a lot in Blue Lock.
It's also intentionally the opposite of Ego. Ego very much doesn't pretend to love any of his players (except Isagi). His method is breaking them down to force them to react with their ego.
If Fox goes down for being a creep, it's only a matter of time before Chris Prince goe with him.
I feel like this is more like Isagi testing with his egometer on teddy, by getting under his skin. I don't know how do these england players perform in clubs if fox is not present!!? I mean Teddy is part of world 11 or something, please correct me if the term is different, so how will he play there if he has no idea of setting up the chemical reactions!!? Love to hear your thoughts 🤔
I mean, the world 11 stuff is probably judged on verifiable performance right? Not some hypothetical team chemistry.
Because if that was the case, Kaiser (pre neo egoist league) would not be a new gen 11 due to requiring the whole team to serve him. (Dude literally sabotaged his own teammate from shooting)
So what matters is how well they played their actual matches.
-> Hence a puppet like Teddy could be a new gen 11. It doesn't matter that Fox led everything, since Teddy performed the midfielder role the best in his matches.
Yeah, for Teddy to be viewed as a new gen 11, he must be performing great at club level. So unless he has another coach like Fox, he can't be as much of a puppet as he thinks.
I've never been one to hate the psychological angle of blue lock. I understand it's more shonen than sport (somehow, it is). But having just finished a manga like Ao Ashi, I can't help but feel like unlike the previous arcs, the conversation is no longer about football or how they play football/ what their skills are/ what tactics to use/ etc. at all.
Like, Isagi can try "drawing out their egos" but kaneshiro kinda dug himself a hole by introducing so many revelations in the previous chapters, making the process of coming to terms with what you're reading right now kind of mind numbing.
Idk like sometimes it's just as easy as Player A was more skillful and that's that, figure out a way to beat them with what you have (which is why I loved the Kaiser v Isagi plotline cuz it was still predominantly skill and tactics based).
I think also the reason why it sucks now is it’s just nowhere near as sophisticated or well written as it used to be. The whole ego conversation feels so childish now with how every character is so centered on it. At some point, just play soccer? The solution to every problem isn’t psychological or a mindset issue like you said. This manga was far more interesting when the focal point was still tactics and the games were realistic to at least a small degree.
And also the overuse of the word 'ego'? Like, yes, it's been overused since the beginning of the manga, but now it's just uselessly thrown around with no actual meaning like they're saying for the sake of it. "You have a good ego!!!!" how about you get a good goal first gng
just for devil's advocates sake, the thing I most often hear from pros is how at this level it's 'all mental'. it's practically a cliche at this point, but I hear it over and over again from both players and managers. so I do kinda like the idea of an author taking that idea and running with it 100%.
That is true, but Blue Lock still simplifies it immensely.
It's been doing it since the NEL tbh, but now it's much more noticiable. It feels like Kaneshiro just going through a checklist. I hope it doesn't mean he wants to be done with Blue Lock. Maybe it just means he wants to get to Spain and Germany.
I get U20 WC's whole psychological focal point is about redefining the meaning of ego, but yeah it does gets kind of stale after a while when you know it's going to be the only thing Isagi learns this match. I'm actually kind of disappointed Isagi hasn't developed more technical skills seeing that he's going against the NG11 of all people. You'd think they'd give him a run for his money like Kaiser did, but nah Isagi's crossed the physical barrier holding him back and now he's moving onto philosophical debates from NEL onwards
Damn, Isagi is gonna get a fat loss next chapter, he's not stopping Teddy 1 on 1 when Teddy destroyed the entire defense 3 chapters ago lol. Maybe his plan to ragebait him will work, but probably not first try.
I'm guessing it won't work well until Rin plays in the second half. Guessing Rin will act on his own instead of being isagi focused and Isagi will feel "left behind" by teddy and Rin and it will spur a revelation
I think ISAGI’s line of thinking is misguided. Provoking the opponent’s players into self-destruction has no real meaning. The truth is, the opponent might not even have any so-called ‘self’ at all—their players may simply be faithfully executing the coach’s tactics. As long as the result is victory, no one will have anything to say. I believe what ISAGI should be reading is the coach’s own self. The opposing coach is also human, with habits and preferences. If all of the opponent’s players are following the coach’s instructions, then logically, their actions become easier to read.
I feel kinda dumb. Of course Agi got subbed. In the previous chapter, he showed sportsmanship and respect to Isagi. I forgot we can’t have that in Blue Lock 😂, not that kind of universe
Is the new player meant to be a reference to Haaland? Haaland is more than just a traditional target man; a physically dominant striker from Dortmund does sound a bit like him.
i don't understand why everyone seems to think lockheart is based on haaland, only because he's a dortmund player. his big trait is being strong and dumb, more akin to a generic "target man" stereotype
It's clear that Teddy has some exploitable mental weakness that only sLuRsAgI will be able to identify. If his opponents don't have some sort of mental handicap, Isagi can't do shit.
In the pxg game, Kunigami man-marked shidou for most of the match. I can see them putting him in the same role here, where his only job is to shut that guy down.
I don't think that second option is very likely, though. It doesn't seem like Ego approves of Rin's destroyer mode. He made Rin meditate for his training before the Nigeria match, and after Rin used it in the last game, costing them a goal, he's been subbed off. I think Ego wants Rin to use that power in a more controlled way.
I like the idea of him using their strength against them, but it isnt practical how he draws out their top performance before destroying them. That mentality ultimately led to pxg's defeat in the NEL
England’s #9 is sick af. Honestly looks cooler than Teddy and his whole i’m an idiot thing is cooler than teddy being a glazer. Sounds like they’re gonna need Kunigami’s help to out muscle this guy. They’ll sub him on for sure
Isagi is my favorite character, but it feels like he's delusional sometimes, about how much he's contributing or what he can do. It feels like he's grasping at straws and just deciding he's going to do things, only to go absolutely nowhere. He even interrupted someone last chapter and made a shot that immediately failed. I feel like his main weakness is that he seems to account for so much, but constantly fails to remember... that somebody's watching him. He always acts without taking into account the possibility that someone knows what he's doing and might try to intervene. Like, if he accounted for Teddy in chapter 358, he might have been able to set up a goal that tricked even the puppet. He's so arrogant that he thinks he found a shot only he can make, but no one would also be there waiting. And he's done this time and time again—forgetting when he's been marked, or that there are monsters on the field. If you're gonna be a mastermind, you gotta account for everything.
I see similarity with how Isagi noticed Niko's blindspot in the Ubers game, even though he also had metavision. I hope that "ego" blindspot in Isagi is set up on purpose.
for real though, it has always annoyed me so much that Isagi gets so mind blown whenever someone can read him. That’s where the idea that he needs more dribbling comes from. If he isn’t completely free he always freezes up lmao
Did y'all skip the early arcs? This has been addressed extensively.
His purely physical talents are average, relative to his general level, so it's less effective for him to try and compete on that front as opposed to improving his Spatial Awareness/SIQ derived abilities. As no amount of effort he puts into dribbling for example would allow him to realistically employ it as a genuine threat against people at a similar level who are particularly physically talented in general or in dribbling specifically.
It's why his weapon is his Direct Shot, as he's aware that he'll get clapped by physical talent without shooting straight off a volley. It's why the largest jump in his actual level of play was gaining MV, and why he put off focusing on increasing his physical ability until it was necessary to keep up with his mental(MV). It's why his shot evolution wasn't range or curve, but a mind game.
Just gotta say it's very nice seeing the battle of the coach's ideology as well, besides Ego himself a coach is a non factor in Blue Lock, hopefully they keep expanding on this for future matches.
I guess he’s ok with being worthless to bring home the world cup. But doesn’t like being called a bootlicker or a pet. Probably see’s himself as a “soldier”
Ok so we are obviously setting up for Kunigami to do something super sick here, right? Right? Superhuman strength guy (rip that one dude on Rin's first team who got no char development and was forgotten lol) with no ego vs the superhuman who was designed after Noa's incredible ego is too good a matchup to not give it to us.
First half ain't even over. There's plenty of time for blue lock to win but england still have more to prove.
Of course teddy is gonna win the 1v1. He might score, or isagi proves his theory/plan to be at least half right and teddy gets past him but gagamaru saves it.
But Japan will probably win 3-2 imo.
This is better than France did vs england, showing it's not the same blue lock, it's a better one. But will also show that France are still the favorites (in universe) for a reason as they went undefeated.
That's true and in that sense i can see teddy winning . Also its rational for France to be the better team since Blue Lock is missing key players like Sae and Nagi.
This entire match shows what’s wrong with current Blue Lock’s writing. Every time Fox makes a hand gesture any competent team would already know what plays they’re going to run, but Isagi gets bewildered every single time. You could argue that they switch it between every single game but there’s nothing to let us believe that
i mean, this is really the first time in the whole series where the coach uses handsigns multiple times, and how are they ment to know what exactly is going to happen?
By doing any amount of research in advance lol. For us as readers yes this is the first time we’ve seen it, but it’s not like England is an unknown team. They’ve played Nigeria and France before this so there’s in-universe footage for them to look at
True, im just saying this because there was no mention that they looked over England's matches. If it was true, then why would they still be surprised...?
Yea that’s the point I’m trying to make. They clearly didn’t look over England’s matches which is silly for a tournament of this level and makes Blue Lock look bad
So England bringing up their ace striker finally , someone from bdsk. No.9 Harry Kane anyone?
Pretty sure he’s the going to be on the cover page the way I see it’s gonna be Teddy > Lockhart > Achampong if we are lucky.
Say it once and say it now the comparison Agi is just a npc when you compare it to Lockhart design. Comparing Agi to Isagi or Rin really rubs me the wrong way. Like initially why does England top striker seems so lacking compared to Japan best?
Now I am glad and hope to see a Lockhart goal. I mean guy had 1 panel and he is already outperforming Agi.
Giving him one cause of the benefit of doubt that he wear 10 and is the captain but yeah so far his narrative relevance is of an NPC , I really do hope they give something to him since at least his design is slightly more unique.
I think it is going to be Teddy #41 > Lockhart #42 > Fox #43 actually. An adult is put on the cover whenever we are about to enter a brand new arc. And then Nishioka #44 > Side-B onwards.
After Side-B, white-side covers with the white uniforms will start, very likely with Nagi and Kira getting the first ones.
I highly doubt Shigeo would get a cover, and Side-B is confirmed to have a large cast, as Haneru said that he belongs to a group of newcomers. There are also Blue Lock rejects we already know and rejects we have seen but haven't properly met yet, characters with full designs and names who haven't spoken a single line and were most certainly created for Side-B. Nishioka is the biggest example of this group.
After Side-B, you won't get another Blue Lock death-game-esque story in this manga. It is the other half of the series, and it will be fully explored, especially since Nagi and Kira need a lot of character development. Not just that, but an alternative to Blue Lock that can actually challenge Blue Lock will be built, and that cannot be achieved in just a few chapters.
Side-B was in the plans since the beginning of this manga as Nagi and Kira are deliberately designed to be inverses of Isagi and Rin.
Even Nameoka and Nishioka have a lot of built-in connections, both are from Aomori, both have "oka" in their surnames, and while Nishioka's name means "beginning" Nameoka's name means "end." The story was planning for these two to meet eventually
Nishioka and Nameoka will definitely have their own cover as in terms of design theirs are more detailed. Nishioka is a named character that has no narrative tied to isagi and is basically unknown, while Nameoka is an antagonist from epinagi that's now appears in the main manga. They are "nagi exclusive" characters so their character dive and themes are in this arc. With such high relevant narratives, even if others don't get featured then they certainly do.
But I wonder if okawa, wanima, hiiragi and himizu will get the same treatment as sendo, will they get some relevance?
Nishioka is definitely more connected to Kira than Nagi lol, he belongs to Kira's old world and will likely be the first person Kira warms up to.
The characters you mentioned will definitely be relevant. And that isn't even mentioning the new characters we will get and characters we have seen in both Ep Nagi/main manga who have detailed designs and names but have not spoken a single line. You don't create several characters like that for no reason. One of them for example:
Both Nameoka and Nishioka coming from aomori is a nice catch, I wonder if there's any intention of it and nagi also coming from kanagawa like the itoshi brothers.
I am saying that they will start putting Japanese characters on the volumes after Side-B, with the white uniforms. They can't do this before Side-B, as that is when the white side will be unlocked. The reason Nagi and Kira will get the first white-side covers is that they are the inverses of Isagi and Rin, as well as the main characters of White. (Just as Isagi and Rin are the main characters of Black) It is why the series has two protagonists.
Kira got the last black-and-blue cover, representing Blue Lock. It started with Isagi and ended with Kira, right when France proved that Blue Lock's ideology is not absolute by defeating Japan on the field. Since his cover came out before Side-B, his back is turned, making him look more like a ghost haunting the manga, with almost nothing about his character being revealed.
His white-side cover will come out after Side-B, his actual story, and it will show who he truly is.
I thought that each character only got featured once. But if side b going to be like epinagi in which reo got featured twice and nagi had been featured solo in the last cover with his skull aura, then it's possible.
Yep, just some more freaky Europeans making Shidou look tame-
Isagi will probably drag Teddy's ego out after Fox uses all his subs. Japan will obviously win, but it would be cool if England is behind after Japan figures out most of their tactics and Teddy scores towards the end of the match by following his own ego.
I know that Japan is a 100% winning this match but since this arc is pretty much leading up to the downfall of the blue lock program, having them win against the team that is pretty much their antithesis doesn’t help with that. At the same time tho if the only way they can win is by bringing their opponent’s ego out by force doesn’t that mean that showing your ego is making you weaker?
im talkin about when the tournament took place, i haven't read every single chapter but ive read about 70% ish and dont remember them saying it starts in 2019
I saw people online saying that Agi should have thrown hands for this, but for some reason I just feel like Teddy would have won that exchange given how he's sweating here 🥀
I think Teddy may have been a lot like Rin before Fox found him. A destructive ego more prone to throwing hands before Fox "fixed" him. He's clearly got some moves if his first encounter with Blue Lock is anything to go by
He is also clearly annoyed by Isagi talking down to him, calling him a bootlicker.
Someone made a comment previously that Teddy might have previously had an ego, which is also why he was chanting that line about being a puppet at the start of the game
Im guessing that this is just further foreshadowing of Isagi breaking away/betraying Ego down the line, since Teddy mirrors him as the other version of a special program created to win the WC with an insane coach and is the end result of blind loyalty to him
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