Look, I keep hearing about how Blue Lock isn't supposed to be inspirational, realistic, or like football at all.
Fine. But what is it supposed to be? If you want to drop the tried-and-true formula of friendship, teamwork and positivity for something new, I'm all for it. But what IS that something new? Teenagers being jerks to each other and staking their careers on a maniacal guy's training program? Point is: I'm not really sure how this thing's supposed to bring me enjoyment.
Let's get into some specifics: The characters. Despite how the show seem to pride itself on subverting sport anime tropes, its protagonist is your typical loud, brash idiot who starts off with very mediocre physique and technique but a very useful ability. In this case, it's his ability to visualise the field and foresee moves. This is all fine and all, but because the setting of the story has all but destroyed football as a concept for 'subversion', the protagonists can't use actual theory and gameplan to overcome opponents the way people in Ao Ashi, or Haikyuu, or Ace of Diamond does it. Instead, Isagi simply 'smells' out goals, while his talented friend Bachira listens to 'the monster in his head'. Fantastic.
The execution of the story also got on my nerves. This is a very subjective thing so I'll just list out my issues here: Overuse of metaphors. These guys cannot stop talking about weapons and formulas and chemical reactions and it's starting to annoy me, especially with the lack of concrete details. I'm not looking at sports anime to because a master strategist at football, but if they're going to ramble, I'd appreciate it if they make it actually informative instead of useless vague monologues. This hyperfixation on 'my weapon' is annoying as hell, because it leads to some truly dumb moments such as how Isagi, despite apparently being able to learn the footwork to get behind an opponent in seconds, didn't bother to try learning it because he was so fixated on doing stuff to 'his weapon'.
Speaking of metaphors, I'm not a fan of how the things in their mind are literally drawn out: I don't need to see literal chains to understand Chigiri's struggle, nor do I need to see a broken and battered court reminiscent of a battlefield just because some character treats this like combat.
Some of the characters are truly insufferable. Isagi perpetually sounds like he's on the verge of crying when he's trying hard. Most of the most talented guys are needlessly rude and intent on shoving the MC's uselessness in his face. And people like Kuon act like realising 'being selfish is the key to survive in blue lock' means they've discovered the secrets to the universe. Then there's the two Wanimas...I mean, these annoyances (Isagi excluded) are few and far between, but when they do show up, they make sure they take up a large portion of the screentime. Not a single event can happen in-game without the Wanimas cackling in the most obnoxious way possible.
Good things: some of the characters are pretty fun. The animation is solid, especially when it showcases some of the more talented player's technique. I love the animation of Bachira's footwork and Nagi's control.