The following contains spoilers for Episode 15 of Blue Lock, "Devour," now streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
Blue Lock brought us a great two-on-two match this week with high stakes for all of the characters involved, and forced Isagi to develop his character a lot before the end of the episode. It also managed to tug on our heartstrings in a very unexpected way, and has set up some things to be looking forward to in the next couple of weeks. After last week's slower episode, this one got right back into business with great soccer moves and a faster pace.
Blue Lock is still in spot number 6 on MyAnimeList's rankings for Winter 2023, maintaining its score of 8.27. It seems that fans understood that last week was still an important episode, even if it was not as nail-biting as some other ones have been. This week definitely rewarded fans' loyalty though with a more interesting story and really important character development.
Naruhaya's Backstory
Last week, we saw Isagi's old teammate Naruhaya come into the spotlight as Isagi and Nagi had to face off against him again. Naruhaya had been very much a background character in the First Selection arc, so we did not know much about him. We learned just how ruthless his way of thinking was, though, and that continued this week into Episode 15. Naruhaya knew that he could not compete with Nagi and Barou as he was, and he told Isagi he was the same.
This week, we got another piece of the story. There was a short side story showing Naruhaya's backstory, which was quite sad. His parents had both been killed, and his sister was supporting himself and their three younger siblings. Naruhaya dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player so that he could take care of his family, and finally save them from poverty. It definitely made an otherwise unremarkable character a lot more sympathetic.
That made it all the harder when Naruhaya could not make the cut. He may have been merciless to Isagi, but his sad story had us rooting for him all the same. Of course, though, Naruhaya and Barou had to lose against the protagonist, and we had a moment wondering if Isagi would choose Naruhaya to move onto the next round. They were old teammates, after all, and Barou has such a bad attitude...
Welcome, Barou
...but that is not what happened. Again, Blue Lock surprised us! Most stories would have let Naruhaya move on, showing mercy or friendliness in Isagi's character. But Isagi is focused on winning, and he knew that Barou was a stronger teammate. So now, going into next week cold-hearted, selfish King Barou is adding his eccentric-ness to Isagi's trio.
Already, though, we can see that Barou is not a team player. He and Nagi are even willing to fight over who will get the single bed at the end of the episode! How they are all going to be on the pitch next week will be interesting to say the least. Plus, the episode ended by showing Nagi's friend Reo teaming up with Chigiri and Kunigami - and all three of them are out for vengeance after being left behind. The inevitable match between those teams is going to be great!
A Genius of Adaptability
Episode 15 of Blue Lockdid a lot for Isagi's character. Last week, we saw him struggling again, and he was being very overshadowed by Nagi and Barou on the pitch. It seemed like he was not cut out to keep being the main character, with no exceptional skill or special quirk to keep him alive on the field.
This week, though, Isagi was cool again. He was able to combine his new special weapon of direct shooting with Naruhaya's of taking advantage of the blind spot, and make himself a better player. The whole point of the Blue Lock program is to force strikers to remake themselves over and over again on the road to being a better player, and Isagi did just that. He undid everything he thought he knew about soccer and remade himself according to what he was learning.
And because of that, he was able to score the winning goal in the match and secure his position as the protagonist for at least another week. We really have our fingers crossed for a match in Blue Lock between Barou, Nagi, and Isagi against Chigiri, Kunigami, and Reo as soon as possible. Plus we will be waiting to see how Barou fits into the team with Isagi and Nagi (our prediction is... not well at all!).