The following contains spoilers for Episode 4 of Blue Lock, "Premonition & Intuition," now streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
Blue Lock has slowed down a lot since it's shocking premier one month ago, but has still been trying to set itself apart from other sports anime. The setting remains unique, considering no other show literally locks up its characters and makes their entire lives about playing their sport and cutting them off from the rest of the world. And the stakes, as always, remain high - considering losing in the program ends your international soccer career, forever.
Over the past week, Blue Lock has slipped down a few spots in the Fall Anime Rankings according to MyAnimeList, from the number 6 position it has held since the premier to number 9. Its overall rating is now at 8.28, and while the drop was small, it was enough to let big-name anime like Golden Kamuy pass it up. With 20 more episodes still to go, though, a lot could continue to change in the coming months!
Bait and Switch
In Episode 4, Team Z in Blue Lock are facing off against Team Y in another game where the strikers have to play as all the possible soccer positions on the pitch to win matches and stay in the program. Last week, Team Z lost their match, and only one player even scored a goal. This week, they go into the new match with a better plan - to let every member shine for ten minutes and unleash their "secret weapon."
Team Y, though, also lost their first match, and with the possibility of the entire team being eliminated from the program tensions are high. Last week, Shouei Barou was introduced as the most competent player on the other team, and he scored goal after goal. In "Premonition & Intuition," though, Blue Lock changes the story. First, it sets everything up that the new rival to watch is Hibiki Ookawa.
Thankfully, the show remains more unpredictable than that. Even though Ookawa does indeed score the first goal in the match, Isagi figures out that he is not the real problem - it is an unassuming boy named Ikki Niko, who has distinctive bangs covering most of his face. The end of the episode sets up Niko as the main antagonist for next week, and makes things more interesting than just following the same formula again.
Too Much Underdog?
As with many sports anime, Blue Lock's main character, Isagi, takes the underdog role. He begins the story as the second-to-last ranked player in the Blue Lock program, and learns quickly that many players are more skilled than him. Four episodes in, his rank has not climbed at all, and he remains an underdog.
However, his total lack of skill and lack of development is growing old. What makes Isagi even less interesting as a lead is that many of the other characters are really intriguing. Each episode since the first one, we have been slowly learning about the other members of Team Z and their quirks and skills. They are really outshining Isagi more and more every episode.
Blue Lock is trying to subvert sports anime tropes, and we hope that it continues to do so. What it intends to do with Isagi remains to be seen, but for now, we are a lot more interested in the other characters and their stories than with him. Though his monster did show up again for a moment this episode, and we have our fingers crossed it is going to show up more prominently soon...
Where Did the Thrills Go?
Blue Lock's first episode really stood out this season, full of thrills, psychological tactics, and blood. It drew in a lot of viewers, and made people interested in what was going to come next. Even non-sports anime fans were watching because it was so unusual and thrilling, and you didn't have to like soccer to enjoy Blue Lock.
The anime has slowed down a lot since then, and has become more focused on tactics and teamwork. For soccer fans, this is great; it is likely exactly what they are looking for in a soccer anime, after all. But for those who signed up for a thrilling, psychological anime, Blue Lock is not fitting the bill right now. That might be why it has slipped down the rankings a little over the past week.
Next week will likely be the conclusion of Team Z's match against Team Y, and we will see what the new antagonist Niko is really capable of. We are hoping for some more interesting development for Isagi - and hopefully a few more shocks and twists along the way, too, especially with several other great anime out there to compete against.