A bunch of high schoolers living inside a megabuilding to cultivate a world-class striker. They are told multiple times to only have their own interests in mind and to stop at nothing to become the best. If it helps their growth, they should sell their own grandma.
No buddy-buddy with your teammates, goody-two-shoes get left behind, and betrayal is part of the game.
The whole facility is designed to provide the best training technology can offer, only to produce one singular world-class striker. I have no idea who funds the project, but it seems a bit wasteful. That is pretty much the plot of Blue Lock.
Now, if you get past that first glance and watch a few more episodes, you can see the established sports anime formula crawling back in and making itself at home.
Soon you find yourself surrounded by characters that have the same personality traits as many others from this genre.
The main guy, Isagi Yoichi, doesn't alleviate that problem either.
First, he always seems shaken to the core when someone else has only their own interests in mind and pursues those ambitions ruthlessly.
Second, the studio decided it would be a good idea to make him sound desperate and on the verge of tears whenever he is in a tough spot. It is exhausting.
Third, Yoichi never looks bad in the eyes of the viewer. Whenever he is faced with a hard choice that might smear his good boy persona, he receives a helping hand from the author to avoid unpleasant situations.
It is always others who make decisions for him, Yoichi never steps on any toes. Even if someone's dream of becoming the best striker is crushed, it is perfectly set up in a way that you can hardly blame our protagonist for it because the other guy knew the risks and took the initiative.
My main gripe with Blue Lock was the pacing. Or rather, the lack of it. Especially the later episodes, but it is also apparent in the earlier ones, are filled with nonstop unneeded talking.
It wouldn't be half bad if the writers actually sat down and put some effort into writing compelling dialogue, but they decided to just ignore that important step.
Matches are filled with constant over-explanations of players' thought processes. Every single move and tactic is laid out, examined and explained until all the momentum of the action on-screen is lost and dead. Also, it is beyond tiresome if all of the characters have to go through an existential crisis, or multiple ones, in every single episode.
Even if they are in the middle of the game, with only one minute left on the clock, they find some time to have a monologue or a little chitchat with the other guys on the field. Thankfully, most of the players abide by battle shounen rules and don't interrupt our main guy while he is lost in thought. They let him hold the ball until he is finished thinking.
I think it wouldn't be too far-fetched if I said that more than half of an episode's runtime is spent repeating the same dialogue and thoughts Yoichi and his friends have. It is an inescapable loop.
It seems like the studio doesn't have a high opinion of its viewers and thinks they need this nonstop word vomit because football/soccer is an alien sport.
Besides giving everyone that weird, exaggerated grin and spirally eyes, the anime looks solid. Art and animation are definitely the strong points of this show, with some good colors and flashy effects.
Even though they sprinkle in some CGI and as you get closer to the final few episodes, you can tell the budget got tighter. Close-ups, less fluidity in the animation, static shots with minimal character movement and other ways to save some money.
To wrap it all up, the story of the first few episodes seemed promising compared to other sports anime. Sadly, the anime loses its steam rather quickly story-wise and blunders the narrative. Art and animation hold their own and make Blue Lock entertaining for a bit, but are unable to fill the holes that the lacking parts left.
