Blue Lock vs. U-20 Japan
Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Grace_Tatakae
Blue Lock: Pure Adrenaline and Raw Ego
The Ultimate Sports Thriller
I’ve watched plenty of action and thriller anime, but nothing has ever raised my heart rate or made me feel like my heart was literally about to explode the way Blue Lock does. It doesn't treat football like a wholesome team sport; it turns every match into a high-stakes, survival battle royale where one mistake ruins a career forever.
Why It Hits So Hard
The sheer psychological intensity of this show is insane. Instead of relying on the usual "power of friendship" tropes, Blue Lock flips everything on its head and celebrates raw ego, survival instincts, and absolute dominance on the pitch. Watching Isagi read the field, adapt under impossible pressure, and devour his opponents in real-time creates a non-stop adrenaline…
Read at the sourceJuulian0
Blue Lock is one of those animes that I went into expecting considerably worse than what I actually got. By the time I watched it, the original hate train surrounding its season 2 animation had long since passed, but its reputation certainly has a lot more to speak of. I had seen enough jokes and complaints to expect something borderline unwatchable. Instead what I found was a season with an interesting story, entertaining characters and yet an animation problem severe enough to drag the entire experience down. Now I understand where the criticism came from, and there are plenty of occasions where it is completely justified. However, I do not think those problems suddenly turn Blue Lock into an outright terrible anime. They take material that could have made for a good adaptation and pull…
Read at the sourceAan1m
Holy smokes one of the biggest fall offs and falls from grace - they took all the good stuff from season 1 and just reduced it to ashes - on top of that the animation was absolutely horrendous - literally zero free moving animation and it was literally a PowerPoint presentation - there was zero flow in any of the matches and it just felt like screenshots thrown together - out of the whole season there’s only one episode that stands out that was incredible and it was the final of the final match where the goat rin goes monster - that is really the only thing I enjoyed from this season - there was so much hype for this season and the final match after coming off of an insanely popular first season but they completely fell flat - at best I would give this a 7 out of 10
Read at the sourcelivelovelily
THIS SEASON WAS WOAH! To be honest, I had only really heard negative reviews about it, so I put off watching it for the longest time even though I really enjoyed season 1. THIS SEASON DID NOT DISSAPOINT! It did start off a little slow with the tryouts, and I felt like Isagi didn't shine as much during the first couple episodes. The rest of the show, however, completely makes up for this fact. The U20's match was just incredible. It constantly had me on my toes, I was so anxious that at times I felt like I was actually part of the match. You watch all the characters bounce off each other, getting stronger with each second. The match does a wonderful job at giving each characters their moment to shine, while not taking away from Isagi. THE ENDING JUST HAD ME IN AWE.
PLEASE just watch it and…
Read at the sourceNonF
Ngl the season was good, has a very good story and its amusing to watch. But i feel a little bit repetitive the fact that Isagi is always like out of the match thinking and not playing but i undestand is part of his character and the development of it. The only bad part of this season is the trash animation that is even in the match with the U-20, the only good part of it was the last 15 minutes of the last episode it seems that they hold a big part of the tiny budget they got for this part and they show that if they have a good budget Blue Lock can be the best animated football/sport anime.
Read at the sourceethermime
MY BOY!
How could they do our boys so dirty in Season 2? D':
so disappointing all because of "poor management". Bro
Despite the jump out of a plane with no parachute DIVE in animation quality, the character development hits the inner monologuing HARD. Our MC proves time and again that true sportsmanship is the only way through!
...kiddin
It’s been replaced by a MESSIAH COMPLEX!! We on that EGO grind now. Watch out everyone in the way of these magic foot puzzle miracle workers ': )
Locking in... yis. I think this is what hypomania looks like, right? I came for what was some fckin sick animation and I have stayed for the absolute unhinged sociopathy that happens on this soccer 'SPORTS ANIME' field
luv it
Yis, I recc it.
I just had to start blurring my eyes to ignore some backgrounds :') ps…
Read at the sourcesamninjago
A fumbled masterpiece
I'm a manga reader and i can already tell you that this is one of the best manga ever and my personal favourite manga with absolutely
stunning art fantastic characters and a very interesting premise but that aside this season was ROUGH and i mean specifically in the animation and production anime like Dr.stone or Sakamoto days have average or underwhelming animation
but i would say about 60% of this anime has no motion in scenes where they should be running or kicking
or anything that requires movement its just a PNG with speed lines.
The first episode was just an explanation and only had like 3 mins of action and it was done
decently I will say through out the entire season the Art quality and detail is amazing
but it doesn't move other than this first section in…
Read at the sourceemberreviews
Blue Lock season 2 was universally derided as a colossal downgrade and visual disappointment, but, in the grand scheme of things, I feel as though it has been judged far too harshly. Yes, it has major compositing problems and “not so great CG assets” problems, but overall it still manages to make up for those issues in the way Blue Lock normally does: hyper impacting shots and an incredibly compelling narrative. I also didn’t think season 1 was especially incredible in terms of how things actually moved so I guess that lowered my overall expectations for season 2. In any case, having a whole season under its belt allowed for the story to delve deeper into more interesting character combinations, both in terms of play styles and personality clashes, with the addition of Shidou’s mad dog ins…
Read at the sourceRagetheMudkip
You just have to get to the end. The season does feel a bit lackluster in terms of the animation, but that's due to the animation team putting in all the effort and time into the last few episodes. The last two episodes especially, really save the season with the animation and the story that they weave into the rivalry between the teams. Regardless, it's still a fútbol anime, and the hype moments still are exhilarating and fun, despite the lack of high quality animation in the first couple of episodes.
Would still recommend but just have to be ready to watch some stop motion.
Read at the sourceOtaku-karlsefni
From the comments I wrote, you can see how much I hated this anime's season 1—it was really bad and completely not my style, but here I am anyway.
Story:
Again the same thing but this time even worse. The first season at least felt a bit like the start of a new series, but this is a disaster. Why do they drag the same match out for so long? I'm asking the fans one question: Is ego really that great? How great is ego exactly? Ego is disgusting and it will stay that way.
A lot of people overhype this anime. This is not an anime that can enter the top 10 or be called the best sports anime.
Ratings:
Story: 2/10
Animation: 3/10 (how much more do you plan to ruin it?)
Art/Character design: 7/10 not terrible
Sound: 5/10
Enjoyment: 3.5/10
Still, I'll give this anime 4/10 overall.
Conclusion:
If yo…
Read at the sourcetchkrvlist
Here's something that you probably heard a million times before but allow me to say it again: Episodes 1-8 of Season 2 is terrible. Most of the scenes were just static shots and the pacing was bland, since it’s just a slide show with occasional 3d model of characters doing movements for pretty much all of the First half of this season, it was below average at best. Bandai namco gives poor treatment to adaptations for a while now (their recent atrocity is one punch man S3) but, after episode 9, the animation quality of Blue Lock Season 2 improves drastically.
The core strengths of this season: As you're aware, Blue Lock is strong when it comes to the variety of characters, with each having their own moment to shine. Isagi might be the protagonist but, every other character has an equal foo…
Read at the sourceSam-Hel
Blue Lock Season 2 only covers one thing i.e the match with Japan’s Under-20 team. I already knew the plot would be minimal, so I expected this season to rely heavily on the characters and big moments. Unfortunately, it falls short on both fronts.
For the characters, I’m starting to get really annoyed with how the author uses Isagi for exposition, constantly explaining things like "this is X's playing style." It makes the main character feel like a nobody & instead of getting his own character development, it’s like he’s just watching the show along with us. Other characters didn’t really shine this season either, and I don't know why the author or show chose this path. Bachira was so underutilized, and I wish there had been more interaction between him and Isagi. Nagi and Reo’s story didn…
Read at the sourceBatmankoji
Oh boy. What a mixture of emotions. Season started off lackluster, with the animation being so bad I dropped the show once put of disappointment. I picked it back up and it was all worth it for that banger of a last episode. I love Kagenashi style of animation and the final episode delivered. From my review on S1, you all know I love this show and even after the strange experience I had with S2, it still remains my favourite anime series.
The characters got more depth. Their lives also spiralled out of Blue Lock and onto the footballing world.
As to the question of others would like this show, I really cannot say. You may, you may not. But no one can not like the last episode.
Read at the sourcemiuomi
i actually really enjoyed this! reading some of these reviews made me realize i may just be oohing and ahhing at the flashy aura moments and not paying attention to the cgi or pacing.. but idc i had a fun time watching and was gagged at all the plot twists and interesting character dynamics. yes the animation fell off a bit compared to s1 but its still watchable AND enjoyable. the last episode really goes all out and leaves you with an overall positive impression. rarely watch sports anime so idk if its just a lack of knowing the genre but this was peak to me.
also everyone's face card never declines like omg even if the animation is mid at least rin (ignore last ep💔) and chigiri are still gorgeous. + bachira is the cutest ever.
++the aura moments go hard but i cant get over isagi's gr…
Read at the sourcedreamnetic
this season of blue lock raised so many questions in my head. why is there so much cgi? what happened to the tight pacing? why are we getting so much flashbacks and internal monologues in the middle of intense scenes? when will isagi do his thing? why is rin's tongue hanging out? why are they using a naked photo of itoshi sae?
despite all these flaws, we do get a good football anime and a good enough season 2 to the insanity that was season 1. the pacing decelerates at key moments, characters move in and out of frames like cardboard cutouts, the writing looks... all over the place and kinda lacklustre. i suppose it's because we're not in isagi's head all the time, but also seeing other characters evolve in real time. but for a 14 episode run, the sheer amount of flashbacks and internal m…
Read at the sourceMob_Psykos
MYYYYYYY EEEYYYYYYEEEESSSSSSS
Story: 8/10 B+
Animation/Art: 1/10 F
Music: 5/10 C-
Acting (Subbed): 8/10 B+
Enjoyment: -17/10 F—
Overall: 2/10 F
TLDR:
FUCK!!! FUCKING FUCK FUCK FUCK!!! GOD FUCKING DAMNIT MY EYES AW FUCK! AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!! Why? Why god? Why do you allow such beautiful works of art to be decimated? Why do you allow those of greed to place their hands on a masterpiece and turn it to shit? (curls up in a ball). It hurts. It hurts so much. My soul is in pain. Ow. Story:
The Blue Lock U-20 Arc in the manga is widely regarded as the best arc in the entire manga as of writing. It’s one of the most hype, intense, and rewarding arcs in not just sports animanga history, but of the entire industry as a whole. A beautiful battle of soccer, each team attacking, d…
Read at the source4nikki21
The animation is... not great. Which is disappointing, as the little bit of good animation at the end showed us what we could've had if this show had proper production. I don't know what happened. And compared to the manga, some of the character designs translated strangely (like Hiori). Besides that, it's pretty good. This arc is hype, and there's a lot of interesting dynamics at play. But the only real benefit watching the anime gives you over just reading the manga is the voice acting, which is fun as always.
Overall, it's easier to just read the manga. It's not unwatchable, but it's just... meh. And that's entirely due to the (lack of) animation.
Read at the sourceNUUUPARU
Disappointment with euphemisms
The second season was absolutely disappointing in terms of animation. Replacing animation with 3d is not always something dramatically negative, if you know how to use it, but when a title that took drawing and animation, despite the fact that you do not understand how the authors were able to create such a masterpiece animation, abruptly changes the quality vector into dialogues with static frames, without lint, and the dynamics turn into cheap motion dolls in 3d, then you start to think about the time spent.
Despite the bold disadvantages of animation, the second season was very pleased with the dynamics of relationships and personal problems of some characters, for example Rina. Although it doesn't cause empathy, by the end of the season you start to thi…
Read at the sourcekirbiiiii
I am, quite frankly, SO disappointed that the animation studio dropped the ball (no pun intended) so hard with this series. I adore season 1. I've read the manga. In my opinion, this show is up there with the greats of sports anime in terms of the character development, cool character designs, and general hype that it brings. But the drop in quality from season 1 to season 2 cannot be understated. With the exception of a scene right at the end of the season, this quality starts mediocre and flip flops between terrible and mediocre for the rest of this season.
This arc is great. Absolutely no complaints about it. It's got some great characters in the U20s that (while a bit ridiculous at times) manage to add some variety into the matches and provide some good opponents for the protagonist a…
Read at the sourceLegoC97
60-SECOND REVIEWS
More like Blue Locked-in-Place, amiright? Because of the lack of animation, eh eh?
In reality, it’s not too hard to get past that when the OST goes so hard, the energy is kinetic, and the match itself is pretty hype. It's a step down from season one (and a step up from the disappointing movie), but--as someone who has not read the manga--it is obvious the story, character, and moments are hype enough on their own.
So while it could have been an explosive bombshell of hype with better animation, it still comes through fine enough, as long as you're not appalled at the idea of a motion comic, aka a collection of manga panels colored in with voice acting and music. Maybe not preferable leaving the manga to do practically ALL of the heavy lifting, but, hey, it's still a…
Read at the source
