Blue Lock episode 23 aired on Saturday throwing us a bunch of fastballs from all sorts of directions. The episode wasn’t necessarily bad—it wasn’t—but it felt like a mesh of random scenes tossed into one episode. In fact, it had a chance to end the first season on the best cliffhanger possible but it kept going. Some high moments, some odd ones. But I feel like this would’ve been better if this season ended on a certain scene from this episode.
Isagi Joins Rin and Bachira
There were definitely a bunch of scenarios in my head and discussion my fiancée and I had when discussing who would go where after this match depending on who won. But ultimately, seeing Isagi being chosen by Rin does make sense in some ways. For one, you have the two best players at Blue Lock in terms of situational awareness. Given that Isagi is the most expendable and that Rin’s team already has players that match the traits of Nagi (somewhat with Rin), Baro, and Chigiri it makes sense in that way.
On the other hand, I still feel Nagi could’ve been an ideal choice. While Isagi was shown, literally by graphs, that he’s just a less physically gifted Rin, I felt like Nagi could’ve been a plug at any position on that team and would be better adapted for Rin’s use. But as Nagi broke the fourth wall in this episode, he clearly makes the case that Isagi is the main character in this story and he’s a side character which ultimately makes sense. We’re following Isagi’s journey, not Nagi’s. Luckily, part of that journey includes playing with Bachira and I couldn’t be happier with that scenario specifically.
After Bachira was robbed of his big moment by his best friend at Blue Lock, he now gets to play alongside him once again and it’s glorious. Between Bachira’s newly developed level of dribbling and egoism, and Isagi becoming better and better with each match, it’s going to be a blast seeing those two play together again. Plus, we get more of Bachira so that’s definitely a positive side of all that occurred and will occur.
However, what I don’t like is Isagi’s desire to constantly create “rivals”. With every new “rival”, the word becomes desaturated for me. Isagi literally told Baro a handful of episodes ago that he was his new rival and now Rin is his rival? Make up your mind. Either just say everyone is your rival or pick one specific person.
Ego’s Pointless Lesson
I’ve mentioned in the past that I often enjoy the lessons and perspectives that Ego brings to the table even if I don’t agree with them — methods and all. However, I hated his spiel about luck being anything but what we consider “luck” in the first place. Not that I disagree or agree with it, but having all of this lead to Isagi having his next “piece” being this “luck” just seems so cheesy. Everything else up to this point has been a refined piece for Isagi and one that he has to hone on his own and figure out.
Yet in this episode, Ego means to give the best players at Blue Lock a speech about why luck is vital to being a successful striker? Really? That’s the big piece of advice before heading to face world-class soccer players? It felt like such a big waste in the middle of the episode between two big occurrences—Rin picking Isagi and facing off against the World Five.
That wasn’t a bridge between two moments, it was more like a giant crack in the sidewalk that you’d just have to leap over or go around. I would’ve loved to see more of Isagi and Bachira moments. I understand it’s just taking from the source material but it’s the first time with Ego I genuinely couldn’t care less what he was talking about, details and all from the match. Although, I guess saying it’s pointless is wrong considering Isagi doesn’t think that way. So, again, we’ll see how this plays out.
Swing and a Miss
Blue Lock episode 23 had a classic cliffhanger right there and for some reason decided to go for one more episode. I don’t know if this was a production committee decision or a tv scheduling situation, either way, Blue Lock messed up here. It did and there’s no other way of putting it. Having the season end with Isagi getting hyped about facing the World Five would’ve solidified a damn-near-perfect season for the anime.
It would’ve given me that next big thing to look forward to and giving us what could’ve been a fantastic season finale. But with one episode left, and an entirely new match starting, I’m a mix of curious and worried about how it’ll end. That being said, I’ll continue to give Blue Lock the benefit of the doubt considering it has made a habit of surprising me time and time again.
The introduction to the World Five was cool. But again, it presented its own problems. Having a native English speaker as the player from England was a nice touch and he had the name and physical appearance to really put together a solid overall character from that country. But why was it just him?
The guy from Brazil sounded more American than anything and the player from Spain looked like he was from Sweden. I understand wanting to really give the World Five players their own unique appearance but having a guy representing Spain look like he’s ready to get a sunburn just by stepping out of the house is a weird choice.
Blue Lock Episode 23 Wrap-Up
Is it weird of me to say that arguably my favorite part of the episode was the additional time at the end with Baro, Nagi, and Chigiri? Not just the humor that came with it but it also gave a quick, hilarious glimpse at how the three are kind of untied without Isagi there.
It makes me wonder how they’ll pull themselves together to advance and who might be joining their team later down the road. Episode 23 of Blue Lock was good in some ways, but I just found myself constantly questioning some parts while having a genuinely good laugh at others.
Episode 23 rating: 7.5/10
Blue Lock episode 24 will air on Saturday, March 25. If you enjoyed Blue Lock episode 23 then make sure to vote for it in our weekly poll!
Images via Crunchyroll
© Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Yusuke Nomura, Kodansha/”Blue Lock” Production Committee
