Amidst the criticism over its recent trailer, Blue Lock Season 2 episode 1 was a premiere that fulfilled its role as a good setup for what’s to come story-wise. Outside of that, and a surprisingly great use of the soundtrack, the season premiere was simply that—a season premiere. Nothing more, nothing less.
Expectations
I would be lying if I didn’t go into watching this premiere thinking it would be the second coming of Record of Ragnarok with the way people were talking about the production going to be one giant slideshow. Calm down, Blue Lock fans, the production was just fine.
Episode 1 of Blue Lock Season 2 didn’t present much of an opportunity to flex any animation muscles. Of course, that might be seen in the coming weeks for better or worse, but for now, the start was just okay. The episode ended, I shrugged my shoulders and, “Alright. Not bad.” The same goes for the opening.
The premiere created an external conflict with those outside of Blue Lock wanting to crush the program and all the guys participating in it along with others, including Rin’s problematic relationship with his brother Sae. But we already knew what external conflicts Ego was facing beforehand, so someone new showing up to try and crush the Blue Lock candidates wasn’t much of a surprise and neither was a new character in Aiku.
Aikui is another another egoist player who’s going to look to crush the guys at Blue Lock—shocker. Perhaps manga fans have something to be excited about when it comes to him, or the opposite. Either way, as an anime-only fan, I saw this character introduction as nothing of a surprise. We’re going to meet the U-20 team regardless.
Hoping for a Standout
This is why I enjoyed Kunigami as a character. He stood out to me amongst a sea of piranhas. Granted, he got eaten alive and it ended up becoming a reason for his downfall, but it gave the anime something… different. When there’s a series with characters that all feel similar in one way or another it grows stale.
Of course, Nagi doesn’t have the surface persona of, say, Raichi. But in terms of goals and how they plan to obtain it, they’re the same. It also goes for Isagi, Rin, Shidou, Bachira, Chigiri, etc. Of course, they’re all egoist. Hell, Bachira even admitted it with a smile. That’s also what Ego is trying to drill into their heads too. They have to be that way or else they’ll never make it. I get it.
That still doesn’t take away from the fact the series might become a rinse-and-repeat cycle of a bunch of “give me the ball” or “I’m going to crush you” drama queens. As Isagi said, he needs to stand out while also filling the perfect space on Rin and Shidou’s team. Even as someone who criticized Isagi throughout the first season, I actually agreed with him here.
For the coming season, I want to see a standout character strictly for their demeanor. I couldn’t care less about what skills they have at this point. Show me something from a character’s writing dynamic that keeps the series fresh.
Blue Lock Season 2 Episode 1 Wrap-Up
There’s not much to talk about with this series premiere as compared to others. Jun Murayama composed some really unique music for this series that I surprisingly enjoyed this time around but outside of that, nothing else grabbed my attention. But if the series can look as good as the opening scene from this episode, then I feel like it’d be a lot more to be hyped about.
Episode 1 rating: 6.5/10
Screenshots via Crunchyroll
©Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Yusuke Nomura, Kodansha/”Blue Lock” Production Committee