Caught up! Blue Lock now holds 2nd place on my sports series ranking, Haikyuu 1st.
The intense competition coupled with top-tier art, I mean those double spreads go harder than no other
, creates for quite an adrenaline rush. I disagreed with the initial philosophy and the dialogue can be over the top, but the entertainment more than makes up for it and Ego's sermons have gotten better. Sit back and enjoy the show.
One concern i have right now is the pacing. The current match while good, has been a bit too long, and we still have 2 more matches with Isagi, especially one against Rin, and then snippets from others, makes me wonder how long this arc will stretch. On the other hand, want to say Ego's Neo league was an absolutely brilliant idea, love it.
Best Matches: Blue Lock vs. U-20 > Team Isagi vs. Team Rin 2nd selection > Isagi, Nagi, and Barou vs. Chigiri, Reo, Kunigami
Favorite characters:
Bachira: Best boy, his combination of personality and playstyle, puts him at top for me. His development in the 2nd stage, coming into his own was great, and his further evolution in the Neo-league was a fun sight. Plus his backstory was cute and Bachi-mama
Barou: The King is awesome, definitely the best aura in the series. His goal in the U-20 match is my favorite moment in the series. He's got the best combination of size, athleticism, and skill in Blue Lock. While the villainous, one vs all playstyle is cool, he's got to improve on it and play team-oriented. Hopefully, we see that in the Neo-league.
Nagi: Honestly, just love his approach, so simple-minded and easy-going. The spectacular goals are the cherry on top.
Beyond them, I like Chigiri, Isagi, Aiku, Hiori, and Shidou. The masters so far have been pretty good too, pretty hype when they enter the game.
Regarding Isagi, pretty solid mc. My favorite part of him is how he always returns back trash-talk. Also, looks like he's putting it all together and becoming a great player, whereas before he had great moments, but was overall inferior to the top guys.
My least favorite is easily Kunigami right now. Always found his style boring, and now from the wildcard, he's just stronger and can use his other leg. His play has been extremely mediocre in the Neo-league, on defense he's a turnstile and on offense, really nothing noteworthy to speak of besides getting 2 undeserved goals
. His stats should be C pass, C dribble, A/B offense, S/A shoot, S physical, D defense. To top it off, he now has this shitty, edgelord personality, which I'm glad the other players have remarked upon him. I mean, unless players literally died in the wildcard survival, his attitude doesn't make much sense.
Reo was my initial most hated because of his annoying obessision and possession of Nagi, but he's tolerable now.