BLUELOCK

Episode 19

I have to admit, I didn't think we would get to this point so soon. Even though it makes sense that Isagi would be at the same level of where Rin and Bachira are now in order to challenge them again, for some reason I thought that would be more of a final encounter for the season. That's far from a bad thing, it just really makes me curious as to what the next episode is going to bring, especially since the match also seems to be used as some kind of framing device for Bachira's worldview based on what we've seen here. Granted I feel like the episode's pacing could be better, since the transition between Isagi learning to deal with his new teammates and Bachira's flashbacks of crippling loneliness wasn't the cleanest. However, given what is probably going to happen next, we probably had to get that in somewhere before the next match actually starts.

I am actually very happy that Chigiri was selected, as it does make sense given what we saw last week, but I felt super bad for Kunigami and Reo; the looks of defeat and worthlessness on their faces really sell how cruel Blue Lock can be. Also, it felt like Reo got told off the most even though I could sort of see where everybody else is coming from. Reo felt very entitled to Nagi and everything else. Granted, I think everyone here is at least a little bit entitled and that's sort of the point, but his relationship with Nagi is kind of like a twisted version of the “best friends accomplishing the same goal” trope. I'm not really sure what Nagi was trying to communicate to Reo because if he really did feel that way when he said that he was done with this, I'm not sure why he approached Reo in the first place. However, I really do like Isagi's line about how in order to be the best, it's better to look at it from the perspective of getting good enough to be the one that does the selecting rather than hoping you'll be the one who gets selected. The fact that Kunigami told Reo not to look away and to really accept this defeat makes me think that we're probably going to see them again, because otherwise this would feel a bit like an anti-climactic end to their story.

If what Isagi said was true though, then even if he wins the next match against the top players, will he take Bachira on his team like he promised or will he go with Rin who is clearly the better player? Can Isagi even win the next match? I feel like it'll be a closer match than the last one but who's to say? I really like how unpredictable the matches in BLUELOCK can get, especially since there seems to be just enough leeway that some characters could potentially come back after losing once or twice. I'm almost more curious to see how each character will evolve from every situation rather than just seeing who's going to win and who's going to lose.

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BLUELOCK is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.