‘Blue Lock’ Episode 2 Review

It’s only episode two of anime series ‘Blue Lock’ and 25 kids find themselves eliminated from the crazy soccer training program designed to create Japan’s greatest player. Protagonist Isagi Yoichi is still in race, however, he is at the bottom of the ranking pool. Yoichi is in team Z with other lower ranking players and they all will have to go up against other teams soon. So while fans don’t get much soccer play in the episode, we finally get to know who is funding the program and what their motivations are.

Read: ‘Blue Lock’ Episode 1 Review

Titled ‘Monster’, two parallel plots run through this episode, one where Yoichi trains hard with the impish Bachira, while the other sub-story focuses on the people running ‘Blue Lock’. A few new characters are introduced, but Itoshi Sae is the most intriguing of them all, an international soccer player of repute, who looks down upon Japan over the state of sports in the country. However, a press conference about the ‘Blue Lock’ program piques his interest and it’s implied that we might get to see more of the arrogant new character.

The animation by Eight Bit Studio could’ve been a little more polished, but it doesn’t diminish the entertainment value of the series in any way. Unlike a lot of anime series that exaggerate protagonists into cute chibi like characters during emotional scenes, the animators of ‘Blue Lock’ switch the art style into horror like sketches with shadows, which are hilariously dark and almost grotesque. So the animation is far from cute and instead matches the dystopian mood of the show.

Episode two ends on the promise of an exciting soccer match that will decide the fates of Team Z and Isagi. So things are pretty interesting and fun so far! You can stream ‘Blue Lock’ on Netflix. New episodes drop Sunday.