Blue Lock is the hot new series for shonen sports anime. Like many other sports anime, it follows a teenager (Yoichi Isagi), and his quest to rise to the top of their respective sport (in this case, soccer). However, what sets it apart from its contemporaries is the nature of the Blue Lock competition itself.
Blue Lock is a tournament focused on individual athletes. It’s comparable to battle royales like Squid Game and Fortnite, as it seeks to whittle hundreds of players down to one ultimate winner. In this case, the winner is supposed to be an egotistical, world-class striker capable of winning Japan the world cup. So far, the anime has focused on Team Z, Isagi’s partners for the start of the competition. However, inevitably, most of the team will be eliminated from the tournament. Who has the best odds of making it to the end?
11 Gurimu Igarashi
It’s fitting to find Gurimu this low. At the start of the competition, he was ranked dead last among the 300 competitors. All of team Z were low ranked, but even among them, he was judged as the worst.
Even past that, Gurimu doesn’t show much promise. His self-described “secret weapon” is a “never-give-up-attitude,” which hardly stands up to the dribbling, shooting, and coordination skills of even his low-ranked teammates. In fact, if it wasn’t for Isagi’s last minute decision in Episode 1, Gurimu would already be out.
10 Okuhito Lemon
Lemon is quite an unfortunate character, as he has been wholly unable to show off his striker skills yet. Even though the Blue Lock teams are made up entirely of strikers, a goalie is such a vital role that someone had to do it, and Lemon was that unlucky person.
As Team Z’s goalie, he’s been performing poorly as well, only being able to stop a couple of goals. Even if Team Z survives all their games, eventually he’ll have to play on his own merits. He’ll likely be too out of practice at that point to stand a chance.
9 Yudai Imamura
Imamura is definitely the most forgettable member of team Z. He lacks any real connections or interesting dynamics with the rest of his team so far, and isn’t much to speak of on the pitch either.
The one chance at glory he got was shut down entirely by Team Y, and he’s mostly been relegated to general defense. His stated specialty is his “speed and technique,” but even these fall far below what his teammates are capable of. It’s likely that Imamura won’t last long when Team Z eventually dissolves.
8 Asahi Naruhaya
Naruhaya is only slightly more memorable than Imamura, mostly since he has some fun moments with Gagamaru off the pitch. On the pitch, he’s just as forgettable. His stated specialty is being able to “get in behind” the enemy team, but his speed is never shown to be anything special.
Chigiri is easily faster than him, and Isagi is better at positioning, meaning that Naruhaya can’t even dominate his preferred niche. Just like Imamura, it’s hard to see any way that Naruhaya could get very far once he no longer has a team to count on.
7 Wataru Kuon
Kuon is easily the most detestable member of team Z. Whereas he used to be the team’s unofficial captain, after betraying the team, he’s been basically voided as a player. However, this doesn’t really affect his odds of winning Blue Lock.
The competition will eventually have to focus more on individual skill over team play. Once released from a team setting, Kuon’s mistakes won’t have as much of an effect. And by himself, he was already one of the better players on the team.
6 Jingo Raichi
Raichi is the typical aggressive, confrontational team member, making him theoretically a good fit for Blue Lock’s focus on individualism. However, despite his talk, Raichi is yet to truly make himself known.
He has scored no goals at this point in the competition, and ironically has had his best performance in a defensive role, stopping specific players from getting free rein with the ball. However, he does seem to have a lot of potential to perform if the opportunity presents itself.
5 Gin Gagamaru
As Blue Lock's organizer Jinpachi Ego says, every striker has a specific weapon that makes them stand out. For Gagamaru, this is his physicality and reckless abandon.
Gagamaru’s first goal was only achieved by throwing himself into a perfect position to tap it into the goal, despite his momentum sending him crashing into the goalpost. He has a lack of self-preservation that lets him make clutch plays like this, and that makes him willing to go further for a goal than most people.
4 Rensuke Kunigami
As Team Z’s first scorer, Kunigami is easily one of the best players on the team. He specializes in mid-range shots with impressive power, making him a threat even outside the penalty box. Another player with this skill, Barou, has been shown to be an extremely dangerous opponent.
Kunigami is further helped by his large frame, making him hard to stop when he’s got the ball. Even better, he’s actually quite a good team player, and openly appreciates others assisting in his goals, meaning he’s fit for both solo and team play.
3 Hyoma Chigiri
At the start of Blue Lock, Chigiri seemed to be one of the worst strikers on Team Z, as he had no desire to score at all. As it turns out, he was being held back by an injury to his right leg that he was afraid of repeating.
Once he got over this fear though, Chigiri became a threat. His speed is the highest in the anime so far, and he’s managed to bag two goals in two games. Since he’s playing on razor’s edge with his leg injury, he’s got nothing to lose, making him play even harder than usual.
2 Meguru Bachira
In Team Z’s matches so far, Bachira hasn’t been able to fully show his potential. He’s only scored one goal and assisted some others, as he’s often being blocked off by the opposing defense. But that’s just a sign of how dangerous he can be.
His best showing has been against Team V, where his wild, creative dribbling got his team the first goal in the game, making it 3-1 and pushing them towards equalizing. Having the much prized skill of dribbling, and the killer instinct to make use of it, Bachira might just be what Ego is looking for.
1 Yoichi Isagi
It’s easy to say that Isagi is most likely to win simply because he is the protagonist. However, he does have a lot going for him that his teammates don’t. For one, he has an untapped killer instinct, being the first person to join Blue Lock after Ego's speech.
Since then, he’s also improved at a ridiculous pace, slowly developing his ability to read the movements around the pitch. His solo efforts have saved Team Z time and time again, and when he eventually unlocks his potential for scoring, he’ll be a real problem for his fellow competitors.