BLUELOCK Is The Death Game Sports Anime For People Who Don't Like Sports Anime
(Welcome to Ani-time Ani-where, a regular column dedicated to helping the uninitiated understand and appreciate the world of anime.)
Sports is one of the coolest genres you can explore in anime. The medium is uniquely suited to take even the most painfully boring of sports and turn it into the greatest game ever played, making every moment a nailbiter, every decision one of life and death, every inner thought a thrilling monologue, and every rivalry an epic and engaging relationship.
While a sports anime tends to be better than the real thing (don't @ me), some can start to feel a bit same-y. More often than not, they focus heavily on the power of teamwork and friendship, about going to regionals and then nationals, about the tragedy of the senpais graduating and leaving the team, the horror of having a big game right before exams. Sure, there are some that change the formula, anime that focus on individuals like "Hajime no Ippo" and its underdog story, or "Aoashi" and the individual trying to make it as a professional. But if those are not different enough for you, or if the World Cup having several football games a day isn't enough to fill your needs, then boy, do I have the right sports anime for you — "BLUELOCK."
In "BLUELOCK," Japan gets so tired of not winning the FIFA World Cup that they decide to hire a James Bond villain to create a sadistic "Squid Game" inspired death game to find the next big striker that will take the country to the very top. Get ready for a thrilling sports anime that is the antithesis to what the genre is usually known for. This is no "Aoashi," no "Captain Tsubasa," but instead a show about becoming the most egoist player, and the greatest striker.
What makes it great
"BLUELOCK" works great as a football anime. The animation for the games is energetic (even if the CG portions can be wonky), and the use of freeze frame and close-ups for the facial expressions of certain characters is incredibly, well, creepy.
Indeed, a surprising thing about "BLUELOCK" is that it is quite effective as a horror anime. It uses the tropes of death game anime to create a thrilling, unsettling show where anything can happen and anyone can be eliminated. We follow 300 strikers from all over Japan who are locked up inside a reclusive facility, forced to eat bland crap, and given sadistic rewards if they score goals — one goal and you get meat, 10 and you actually get a day pass to go outside. Once you lose, you're out of the program, and you can never play for the national team.
In the first episode, the recruits play a tag game where everyone competes to eliminate one player from the team, with the goal being to bring out the selfishness lurking behind the strikers, who should aim to eliminate the better players. This being a death game, expect plenty of temporal alliances, and horrible backstabbing. "BLUELOCK" works as a football anime, but it is the juxtaposition of sports and horror competition that the story shines because there is absolute zero sense of real teamwork. Players are forced to work together to a point, sure, but their friendship feels about as strong as the alliances you make in games like "Risk." Which is to say, paper-thin.
What it adds to the conversation
The death game format isn't just there to make "BLUELOCK" thrilling and tense — it serves to showcase a side of sports we don't see that much in anime: the competition in getting a job and the feeling of robbing someone else of their opportunity. Sure, shows like "Haikyu" make you feel all the feels whenever a match ends, not only because you're happy the main team won, but because the opponents lost despite giving it their all. That show does a great job of making you feel for every team, of knowing how hard they worked to get to this point, and what is at stake if they lose.
But "BLUELOCK" is different. It is similar to "Hajime no Ippo" in how it makes it clear that an athlete's profession is always at the brink of ending, but rather than boxers from all over competing for the belt, then continuing to make a career separately in their homes, "BLUELOCK" shows the heartbreak of competing for a single job position against others, especially against people you like.
The next big egoist
With every new challenge, there is the knowledge that if a character advances, it means another one loses and will never, ever get to fulfill their dream of playing on the world stage with the national team. The series, then, becomes all about the killer instinct, the egoism, the selfishness needed to put others down before you rise, and how awful that feeling is. This is a story about the ultimate athlete, the monster necessary to rally their whole team behind them, scare opponents, and get the job done even if everyone hates them.
It makes sense, then, that "BLUELOCK" constantly namedrops real players like Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as a goal for the characters to reach, because this is no fairy tale like "Captain Tsubasa" where an entire middle school team makes it to the national team (and each of them play in the best European clubs). This is a power fantasy of what Japan could actually (and sadistically) do to win the World Cup. That the anime started airing right before Japan defeated Germany in a huge upseat only serves to prove the point.
Why non-anime fans should check it out
Are you tired of friendship being the ultimate power in anime? Of goody two-shoes protagonists whose morals and ethics bring them to victory? Do you want a cutthroat show where being selfish is the only way to succeed, a "Squid Game" or "Survivor" like show, but about association football with thrilling twists, dynamic animation, and one of the best anime villains in a while? Well, "BLUELOCK" may just be the show for you.
Watch This If You Like: "Aoashi," "Squid Game," "Danganronpa."
"BLUELOCK" is streaming on Crunchyroll.