Blue Lock shamelessly crosses the content or feeling of darker mangas (such as Deathnote or Kaiji) in this weird idea that "survival of the fittest" is the best method to grow players, but instead, it creates false tension that makes it impossible to root for any character since competition is always placed as the most important thing. Its story often feels ridiculous, over-the-top, and nonsensical.
The sports tropes it does take are the worst ones: like characters feeling more like super heroes than people. It's filled to the brim with characters such as "The Angry One" "The One" " and everyone's favourite "The Average MC." Blue Lock's premise also reduces the ability to have side characters in different roles related to the main character, forcing everyone to want to be "The One." This setup makes it so everyone's goal is the same, makes it so all the characters must be men, and misses what makes shounen good when it comes to competition and the drive to want the same thing.
It's a tension that can't be maintained in an interesting manner.
The art is wonderful though. Crisp, clean, and beautiful.
I read up to chapter 44, and I feel like you'll know if you like this premise by chapter 38 for sure, if not earlier.
People are going to love this as an anime, even though there's better stories out there.
