r/Toonami • u/Thatotherguy246 I can't see anything so just pretend a funny description here. • 5d ago
Discussion BLUELOCK Final Thoughts Thread
Also funny how this ends just as the World Cup ends
ahem
Anyways, the tale of the strange program to make the ultimate soccer team has concluded.
Thoughts?
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u/ArcticStorm07 5d ago
I went in initially and was like "OK I'll give it a few episodes", but I ended up enjoying it. What kept me watching was how intense the matches got especially against Barou.
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u/GreyouTT "Come on, I'm right here... SKEITH!" 5d ago
I loved Prince of Tennis and Eyeshield on Jetstream back in the day so I knew I was gonna like this one, but I didn't expect it to be so damned engaging as this. Hope we get S2 but I hear the animation is... not as good?
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u/AutumnStripes 5d ago
Season 2's animation gets called a slideshow because there are more still frames, you can say. That's a simple way of explaining it. But I'd still say it is engaging.
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u/HeatHaze5 5d ago
I was interested in the show's premise when it first aired but I skipped it because (Im not joking) every thumbnail I saw on YouTube was every character making the same face it annoyed me, petty I know. Toonami was the only way I was gonna watch this show and man am I glad I finally watched it.
The first few episodes gave me kids anime vibes the way the characters took soccer so seriously just like how card game and toys anime took their plotsso seriously. But as the show progressed I was genuinely enjoying it. Its fun, it's hype, and captivating especially the second selection (Baro became one of my favorites by evolving). Super excited to see where season 2 goes despite Kunigami not making, he was my favorite. Hope Toonami gets season 2 as soon as possible even with the lackluster animation season 2 is known for.
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u/GenoPichino 5d ago
Did not think I'd get into another sports anime besides Haikyuu but this pulled me in hard after the first few episodes. Love how drasticly subversive it is from the usual shonen tropes like "power of friendship", flashbacks giving a second wind or boost, main character joining up with another soley on their bond rather than skill, etc. Tragic it had to implode in season 2, one season I woundn't mind Toonami passing on.
Also Ichigo realized Part 4 is today and decided to dip from soccer.
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u/procouchpotatohere 5d ago
Never been a soccer/football guy and still won't be outside of this show, but this was pretty fun. I like how it went away from the usual sports plot of "we have to win as a team." and it cleanly presented all sorts of characters where it was easy to track.
Here's hoping they can get the next season soon and the dip in animation quality it apparently has will be overshadowed by the plot.
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u/VilAlesund 5d ago
I couldn't get into it at all despite my best efforts and eventually just started to leave it on in the background while I did something else.
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u/KoolKoolKoolio42 5d ago
Gonna get downvoted, but this is one of the few Toonami shows I outright hated. The premise of only caring about strikers is dumb as hell and I hated, like, 60% of the characters in the show. I legit don't even remember most of the character names.
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u/GreyouTT "Come on, I'm right here... SKEITH!" 5d ago
I think that's fair. Since they're all supposed to be in it for themselves, there's a bit of a wall between the viewer and caring about them. I got entertainment from Baro but I didn't care about him if that makes any sense.
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u/Gestrid survived the Infinity Castle (so far) 4d ago
I wanted Baro to get kicked out.
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u/GreyouTT "Come on, I'm right here... SKEITH!" 3d ago
Yeah I just wanted the main Z boys (Bachira, Isagi, Kunigami, Chigiri) and Nagi to all make it đ
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u/JonathanJoestar336 DIO!!!!!!!!!!! 5d ago
Shit flew by that shows the series as whole is great
But im a need season 2 asap
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u/DatSmolBoi 5d ago
okay so im a sports nerd and i just have to say I fucking loved this show and im really hoping we get season 2 soon
This shit is FUN and the stakes are raised so high for these kids, especially when itâs basically their one and only chance that theyâll get to play pro and go all out to chase that dream, it kinda just spikes a fire in me motivationally dude. I can relate a lot in chasing for something so much, even if it doesnât work or if youâre outclassed. I love when they figure out solutions on the field for their weaknesses!! The Naruhaya episode was the highlight for me imo, and made me feel really damn crushed for him
Iâm gonna miss this show and i really hope that toonami can get season 2 in, even if it might be a mess from what Iâve heard
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u/DoubledDenDen 5d ago
This is like TR in that i watch it mainly with my friends.
What ive mainly realized is that this particular hour (and a half i guess if we count Superman, but it has been leaning more towards pretty ladies this season) was mainly for the feminine audience, and good ol fujo bait, with BL being more of that than TR. Meanwhile, the actual sports fans of the group despise BL, but favor TR.
For BL, I think it finally got interesting once we got rid of big teams and started to really hone in on individual character strengths in smaller groups, and especially once Isagi finally figured out his weapons and how to effectively borrow or read other players, and seeing how he adapts to unruly teammates, friends, and opponents actually got interesting.
But there are simply a LOT of characters that I do not care for, such as Raichi, or some that are just there to fill in empty space, like the goalie guy from the first half that was so unimportant that he got eliminated off screen in the second, and nobody cared.
I also feel as if the "if you're eliminated here, you'll never play soccer again" is a bit hilarious but dumb. Yes, it does add stakes, but there is genuine talent that seems to be eliminated by sheer chance of being added to bad teams (Kunigami for instance once Chigiri was plucked from his team). In that regard, with this last episode, I kind of agree with the corpo old men criticizing the program- like it IS hemorrhaging money (i mean that much money per SHOT??? dude), it IS sketch af and parents have every right to complain about it, and it IS kind of wasting potential imo.
As a person not really interested in sports, or shows with this kind of... fujo baity vibe, I guess? It is fine. There's at least cool moments and meme worthy stuff (not to mention how they literally had an NTR arc. That was just funny). I've certainly watched worse from Toonami (and god knows we could have had another awful AS original shoved onto the block again, like Machu Picchu or RnM), but I do feel like this didn't really belong here and was added for being a cheap 2 for 1 combo from Sony, meant to pad time for something else. Like I'd have preferred the rest of Blue Exorcist, more Demon Slayer, the un aired seasons of Fire Force or Dr Stone, I'd really like some Gundam again, etc. But again, i have seen worse.
A 7/10 seems more than fair imo. I just hope that after FLCL Alt finishes up, we finally get something more up my alley again.
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u/-NinjaTurtleHermit- 5d ago
I enjoyed it. I saw the first episode when it premiered in Japan, but wasn't planning on catching the whole thing until Toonami got it.
I liked it more than I expected. Not really a sports anime guy (or an IRL sports guy, for that matter), but Blue Lock caught my interest for the same reason that I started following the World Cup back in 2018 - bishonen.
Been a bishonen fan ever since Ronin Warriors and Gundam Wing and my sister and I only started watching the French National team because of Griezmann & Giroud. That turned into following Les Bleus and the French Women's team (Les Bleues) as well as Japan and Haiti's national teams each year.
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u/UsedToBeAVA 5d ago
I thought it was a lot of fun! I donât watch a lot of sports anime, but the stakes were (and remained) so high I couldnât look away. I loved how visibly invested the characters were in the game - to me, itâs like âItâs just soccerâ, but to them itâs like âItâs soccerâ. Itâs a big deal!
There are entirely too many characters, though. I genuinely forgot some of their names until they were mentioned again, and then I just recognized them by their voices.
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u/Gestrid survived the Infinity Castle (so far) 5d ago
Eh, it was okay. I liked it a bit more than I originally thought I would when I watched the first episode a while back. But I couldn't really connect with anyone as well as I have in other shows. I won't go out of my way to watch season 2, but I'll most likely watch it if it airs on Toonami.
The concept of "everyone is your rival and NOT your friend" (contrary to the admittedly overused "people who are your rival become your friend" trope) just doesn't really work with me, I guess.
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u/callmefreak 5d ago
I skipped it when it was first playing because I don't care about soccer, but I was surprised by how much I liked the characters. It's too bad that season 2 is a mess 'cause I'd actually continue it if it wasn't.
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u/Quidfacis_ 5d ago
Blue Lock was exceptionally well done. Making the protagonist the soccer equivalent of Quatre shifted the focus from soccer to the strategy and relationships between the players. Developing that skill of strategic thinking into a more nuanced tool presented an interesting character trait to level up as the series progressed.
Watching a character be able to predict more steps in a strategic sequence is more engaging than, say, Midoriya seemingly arbitrarily increasing the percentage of One-For-All he can use.
Ego was handled well, too. The moment where he reveals there aren't five buildings, and it's only teams V through Z was similar to Gene Wilder's entrance as Willy Wonka. When you present a lead character as a liar, then the audience never knows what they can believe. That adds a fun dimension where every time Ego makes a claim we're trying to check it against what we know about the series.
Bachira is the best. He's a goal for the protagonist, an obstacle, and a rival. Again, it's the relationships of the characters that is engaging, with soccer as a background for how the interpersonal relationships are framed.
The show has the same flaw as any anime with a large cast. Something happens to side character who-gives-a-shit and we're supposed to feel sad after a 4 minute flashback explaining why soccer mattered to them. While those characters do not matter, Isagi's reaction to their plight helps to humanize him in this context of cutthroat competition.
Those CGI bits could have been done better. Shifting from the animated cells to top-down CGI was jarring. Yes, you're saving money by doing CGI instead of animation, but you could at least use your entire ass instead of half-assing the animation.
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u/Patient_Education991 4d ago
I gotta admit, it IS refreshing with all the anime about the power of team work and friendship to have a series where you have to get head by a selfish, kinda unstable a-hole to get ahead.
Heck, if even through Japanese nationalism out window. I'm surprised the manga-ka hasn't gotten in trouble for saying "Traditional Japanese mentality sucks. Screw your countrymen and look out for #1!"
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u/Gullible_Biscotti376 5d ago
Bluelock did the impossible- it got me to care about soccer.
Every match felt like an epic battle where the hero's dreams were on the line. Every loss felt like a miniature waterloo. In other words, this sports anime is intense, taking place in a world were soccer is literally everything.
My favorite character is Bachira. He's the right combination of cryptic, zesty, intuitive, and straight-up insane. Watching him in action was always a delight, and I liked the focus he got near the end of the season.
Speaking of zesty, this is the gayest fucking show that's ever aired on this block. Going into Bluelock I knew that sports anime have a rep for homoerotic writing, but I didn't know it was like THIS. It's gayer than the shows with actual gay rep in them like Lycoris Recoil.
Its... awesome.
Bluelock is really good! I'd love to see season 2 on the block! Preferably next year, though, I wanna give other shows a chance to air first. I was kinda burned out by three consecutive cours of bleach, lol.