The following contains spoilers for Episode 24 of Blue Lock, "The Time has Come," now streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
This week was the 24th and final episode of Blue Lock Season One, "The Time has Come." One of the best things about Blue Lock all season has been its never-ending twists, turns, and surprises, keeping the anime from becoming too predictable and always keeping us on our toes. This final episode was no different, with several revelations that really surprised us. None of them were things that we predicted would happen at the end of the season.
Also, surprisingly, "The Time has Come" had very little actual soccer in it. Mostly, it was setting up the next season of the anime, and properly concluding this part of season one. With how well Blue Lock did both in the fall and winter anime seasons, it is very likely to be continued in the future. All the same, it did wrap up the Second Selection arc nicely with Episode 24, while still setting up anticipation for what will be coming next.
The World 5 Match was Short.
Last week, "Luck" really built up the match with Isagi's team against the World 5 team, which consisted of five professional players from around the world. It seemed like that match would be the focus of the final episode of the season, especially when Rin managed to score so quickly. Isagi even ended the episode with determination to be the next one to score. We went into the final episode ready for a tough match between Isagi's team and the World 5 - and that is absolutely not what we got.
Really, though, what happened is a lot more realistic. The World 5 are all professional players, some of whom even play for their countries already. That is the end goal of the Blue Lock program, but these players already have achieved it. Within five minutes of Episode 24, the match was already over. The World 5 team conquered the Blue Lock team, with a final score of 5-1. Only Rin's first goal got through. Every secret weapon the Blue Lock team tried to use was countered by the international players.
It showed how far the Blue Lock boys still have to go if they really want to play for Japan, and that's good. Otherwise, if they were already better than actual professionals, there would be nowhere else for the story to go. We always see Isagi, Rin, and the others as incredible players, but seeing them against professional players showed that there is still room for growth and improvement - and that is what keeps Blue Lock interesting.
Blue Lock Will be Canceled?
"The Time has Come" also had the return of the Japanese Soccer Association, who are footing the bill for Ego's intense training program. They have not been totally onboard even at the start, which we saw before, and now they were even less willing to keep the program going. Ego had been spending an incredible amount of money, especially on the World 5, because such things have no meaning to him. But for the businessmen, soccer is exactly that; a business. Without tangible results to go with the cost, they are finished.
When threatened with an immediate end to the entire program, Ego had to think quickly. His original plan for how Blue Lock would go, and how we as viewers expected it to go, had to change. Instead of continuing through as an elimination training program, now the players will be pitted against Japan's current under-20s team in a match. And if they win, they will become the new under-20s national team. But everyone in Blue Lock is a striker, and again, not a professional yet. It's risky, but risk is the only thing that pays off in Blue Lock.
Kunigami Didn't Make It
The conclusion of episode 24 introduced all the players that will continue to be in Blue Lock next season for passing the Second Selection. Besides Isagi's team, many other players from season one appeared, including the predictable ones like Nagi, Chigiri, Barou, and Reo, and also some players we have not seen in a while, like Niko, Raichi, and Gagamaru. All of Isagi's old friends and main teammates appeared, and their characters and stories will continue to be built upon in the upcoming seasons.
However, one of Isagi's closest teammates did not make it - Kunigami. Throughout the first arc, Isagi and Kunigami became close friends, and Kunigami was written as a secondary main character. Though we had not seen him in several episodes, he still seemed more important to the story than characters like Gagamaru and Raichi. And yet, it seems this is the end of his story in Blue Lock. He won't be going through to the next round.
With the shock of Kunigami being eliminated, we get to experience how Isagi feels to know his friend's soccer career is over. We are just as surprised as he is, giving the final episode emotion and depth one last time. It also keeps things unpredictable yet again - it would be all too easy for all of Isagi's friends to pass while players from the other teams didn't. But that isn't Blue Lock's style. Its shock value is something that sets it apart from other sports anime, and it gave us some of those shocks right up to the last minutes of the season.