Why Blue Lock Season 2 Is Good Despite the Flaws

The new season of BLUE LOCK has been jokingly described as a ‘PowerPoint presentation,’ slideshow’ or ‘still frame animation.’ While those criticisms aren’t entirely unfounded and I would also prefer if it had the animation quality of Demon Slayer, I am going to focus on ‘the bright side,’ or rather, what I think BLUE LOCK Season 2 is doing well and why I think many fans, including myself, are still able to enjoy it as a good anime.

How Popular is BLUE LOCK Season 2?

Let’s first establish whether fans care about the anime in the first place. BLUE LOCK was the highest selling manga of 2023, selling over 10 million copies last year and topping the likes of JUJUTSU KAISEN and ONE PIECE following the first season of the anime. There was obviously going to be a large number of manga fans with high expectations for the big BLUE LOCK vs U-20 JAPAN arc.

Not to say that the anime-onlies didn’t also get disappointed. The Season 1 finale set up Isagi to compete against the best following their clash against the World Five. It also introduced Ryusei Shido, making the sequel even more exciting to look forward to. When the time eventually came for those big moments, the lack of outstanding animation sequences we’ve grown used to in other mainstream anime hit an expected wave of criticism.

blue lock season 2 good ryusei shido shot

Still, the anime has frequently ranked among the top 10 shows in our weekly polls, climbing up to the 2nd spot in the latest one. This is hardly on its own a credible argument to say that it’s popular since those polls have averaged ~9-10 thousand people every week this season. That’s why I took a look at it stats on Crunchyroll, the platform streaming it. Since Crunchyroll disabled comments earlier this year, I only had likes/dislikes to reference, and here is the status at the time of writing:

Episode Ratings for BLUE LOCK Season 2 (as of December 13, 2024):

Episode 1: 53k likes, 670 dislikes
Episode 2: 31k likes, 3.7k dislikes
Episode 3: 31.7k likes, 2.5k dislikes
Episode 4: 26.3k likes, 1.2k dislikes
Episode 5: 27.3k likes, 563 dislikes
Episode 6: 31.8k likes, 921 dislikes
Episode 7: 39.6k likes, 827 dislikes
Episode 8: 30.1k likes, 720 dislikes
Episode 9: 27.5k likes, 1.1k dislikes
Episode 10: 27.5k likes, 482 dislikes

That is an average of 32,500 likes and 1260 dislikes (or roughly 34,000 reactions total). Note that the numbers are rounded so they aren’t completely accurate, but they give a fairly good idea of what we need.

For reference, only DAN DA DAN has had significantly more engagement than BLUE LOCK Season 2 on the platform from Fall 2024 shows, while other big hitters aimed at a similar audience like Re:ZERO Season 3, Dragon Ball DAIMA, and Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 are behind or very close. Here’s how they are doing on the platform at the time of this writing (comparing the average – total/number of episodes:

Dragon Ball Daima (9 episodes): Likes: 34.47k, Dislikes: 467
Re:ZERO Season 3 (8 episodes): Likes: 26.21k, Dislikes: 181
Shangri-La Frontier Season 2 (9 episodes): Likes: 21.99k, Dislikes: 597
Tower of God Season 2 (23 episodes): Likes: 22.86k, Dislikes: 705

As all rankings are biased based on the audience, I took a look at Imdb to have a wider range of reference, I also checked imdb for their ratings of the new season of BLUE LOCK. The first season had an average rating of 8.08/10 with an average count of 1,035 reviews. On the other hand, Season 2 has an average rating of 7.55/10 with an average count of 758 reviews. There’s what it looks like:

Episode 1: 7.4/10 (1.1K ratings)
Episode 2: 6.0/10 (1.1K ratings)
Episode 3: 7.1/10 (852 ratings)
Episode 4: 6.7/10 (670 ratings)
Episode 5: 7.3/10 (644 ratings)
Episode 6: 7.8/10 (719 ratings)
Episode 7: 8.8/10 (1.0K ratings)
Episode 8: 7.9/10 (592 ratings)
Episode 9: 7.9/10 (497 ratings)
Episode 10: 8.6/10 (398 ratings)

My point with this is that, while criticisms of the production quality have been vocal, the overall reception suggests many viewers are still enjoying the series. This brings me to my main point of how the anime capitalizes on what that same viewer wants to see, which is what I believe makes BLUE LOCK Season 2 good to them.

What BLUE LOCK Season 2 Does Well

If we agree to take the above data as accurate, we can also agree that there are many people who enjoy BLUE LOCK Season 2 as it is. Many viewers might not even notice the still frames, and for many others—myself included—they don’t detract too much from the overall experience. I haven’t been a fan of the clunky CGI since the first season, and it did get noticeably worse in Season 2. Still, BLUE LOCK Season 2 is one of the anime I enjoy most every week. Here’s why I believe it to be good:

Capitalize on the hype moments

In an interview with the anime producer Ryoya Arisawa, he told us about the tight schedule and how difficult it was to turn episodes in on time for the first season. While he also said that they’d figured it out after the season + movie and that they have “created a more refined and cooler visual presentation,” it’s evident that BLUE LOCK Season 2 isn’t much better off. Given these constraints, it’s understandable that they prioritized making the key moments visually impactful—and in many cases, they’ve succeeded.

There is a reason why Episode 7 has the 2nd highest amount of likes on Crunchyroll, the highest rating on imdb, and a jump to 3rd in our weekly ranking. It shows best what I am talking about. Looking at the manga, there are many panels that look better, but the anime manages to make the most important ones look good enough to be exciting. The contrast with the rest of the episode makes them stand out even more.

Good-looking frames mean fans have moments they find worth sharing online, creating viral posts and spreading their excitement on social media. At the end of an episode, most people will remember how it made them feel, and having a few hype moments will leave a feeling of wanting to see more.

blue lock season 2 good nagi seishiro shot

When answering fan questions, Arisawa also stated that he is far from satisfied with the adaptation. He compared everyone working on the anime to the characters, who “relentlessly seek greater strength with insatiable determination.”

The sound and voice acting make up for it

Just having a few pretty images would not make for a good memory on their own. What adds to the immersion and allows the fans to fill in the missing pieces when looking at the frames are the sound and voice acting. The dramatic changes in decibels help make the big moments stand out, while the voice actors are definitely bringing their best.

In the same interview I linked above, Isagi’s voice actor, Kazuki Ura, mentioned that the creators had put everything into the Under-20 match and encouraged the voice actors to approach it with the same passion. That made him feel like they must respond to their wish and give it everything.

From Ura’s Yoichi himself through the rest of the amazing cast that includes Koki Uchiyama as Rin Itoshi, Nobunaga Shimazaki as Nagi Seishiro, Takahiro Sakurai as Sae Itoshi, Yuichi Nakamura as Ryusei Shido, it’s evident that they really took it to heart. Even manga is a lot more exciting when voiced-over by good voice actors, so it makes sense that the good looking moments of BLUE LOCK Season 2 can be severely enhanced.

Almost every character gets a piece of spotlight

Ryoya Arisawa also told us the following: “With the characters we already love and many more new interesting characters about to appear, I think everyone will find new favorite characters.” Fans often form strong connections with their favorite characters, sometimes even more than the series itself. BLUE LOCK is a shonen that doesn’t rely on waifus (well Anri and Chigiri’s sister are there but…).

Instead, it relies on a diverse cast of cool-looking, skilled soccer players, and Season 2 introduced a bunch of new ones. Besides the obvious additions Ryusei and Sae, we also had some big moments for Oliver Aiku, Yo Hiori, Kenyu Yukimiya, Tabito Karasu, and Eita Otoya. They each got at least some moments of glory, which allows fans to appreciate their skills and root for them (or pick up the manga to see what they do next).

With more left of the season, that’s not all we’ve seen. Besides the central duo – Isagi’s puzzles/recreating himself and Rin’s genius at play, other characters we already know got their own moments. Some of them included Jube Aryu, Meguru Bachira, Hyoma Chigiri, Gin Gagamaru, Reo Mikage and Ikki Niko.

Conclusion

I think the combination of focusing on key moments, having a diverse cast of cool characters, and delivering strong voice acting and sound design makes BLUE LOCK Season 2 enjoyable, even with its animation shortcomings. It also has the source material to thank.

The manga by Muneyuki Kaneshiro features incredible artwork and over-the-top soccer action that translates beautifully into a shonen battle-manga style, which I think gives the anime a clear direction to follow and what to focus on.

While I hope they get more time and resources for potential future projects, the engagement numbers I mentioned above suggest that this level of production might be sufficient for the production committee to consider it a success.

This is just an opinion piece on why I find BLUE LOCK Season 2 enjoyable. If you want to read a more fact-based article about why the 8bit animators are not to blame for the state of the quality and why it’s a lot bigger than that, check out In “Defense” of the Blue Lock Anime.

As for the anime itself, it is 2 episodes away from the double-episode finale on December 28, and we can expect the true culmination of the anime in the final moments of the game between BLUE LOCK and U-20 Japan.

Blue Lock