The BLUE LOCK series captured me almost immediately, with its Squid Game style applied in the soccer world (but no one is killed, just their soccer career dreams). To give context to the main series, it primarily follows Yoichi Isagi—a high school soccer striker. After failing to make it to nationals, he received an invitation from the Japan Football Union. Through an arbitrary and biased decision-making process, Isagi is one of 300 U-18 strikers selected for a controversial project named “Blue Lock.”
The project’s ultimate goal is to turn one of the 300 selected players into the star striker for the Japanese national soccer team. Each player must prove they have enough ego and grit to stand out as the cream of the crop through solo and team competitions. Essentially, for BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI-, the audience is given a treat to experience the first season of the show but from Nagi Seishiro’s (a character Isagi meets in the series as well) point of view.
At first glance of the narrative, it seems like it is so derivative of the series. However, BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI- began with a re-animated scene of Nagi first meeting his rich friend Reo Mikage (heir to the Mikage Corporation) in their high school stairwell. It was pleasing to see this scene with a bigger budget. The dust particles and the wonderfully drawn orange and purple sunsets were pure eye candy. Also, the lens flare and clarity amplified the emotional scenes for the better. This was contrasted with the heavy dark lines on the edges of characters’ body frames and aces throughout the BLUE LOCK anime series.
“The BLUE LOCK series captured me almost immediately, with its Squid Game style applied in the soccer world.”
The introspection of viewing Nagi’s past up to his present in the show presented a clear evolution of how a high schooler who just wanted to slack off grew to love soccer. This portrayal of his progression in this film was one similar to how Kenma grew up in Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle. Their similarities were also the fact that others viewed them as geniuses of their respective games, but they never actually put their 100% effort into it.
Both characters in each anime series mainly cared about playing video games above all else and trying to put in the least amount of effort—to a degree. I would say Kenma put in more effort in volleyball than Nagi in soccer, but it did take a few seasons to see Kenma’s growth. While I have seen less Nagi in comparison, I think this film showed how fast Nagi realized how much his passion for soccer grew—sparked by watching Isagi play throughout Blue Lock.
One of the coolest visualizations from Nagi’s perspective was how he viewed Isagi throughout the Blue Lock training camp. The series tended to always emphasize Isagi as building the puzzle pieces of what works and does not in his mind, while he was trying to adapt to each challenge.
When Nagi looked at Isagi in the 2nd Stage match, he saw Isagi’s eyes put the puzzle pieces together to beat his and Reo’s team. It was like he understood what Isagi’s power was (or as the head of Blue Lock called their powers, “awakenings”). If anything, Isagi’s final shot in that match looked so much cooler through Nagi’s eyes and mind than was depicted in the show. A kaleidoscope of colours surrounded the soccer ball and shot straight into the goal like it was a kamehameha attack from Dragon Ball Z!
“BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI- was a good mix of a quick recap and a sequel—all within a tight 1 hour and 31 minutes, close to a real-life soccer match time!”
The strongest point of BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI- was that it leaned heavily into the inner dialogue of Nagi. He pondered so many existential questions like, “What does soccer mean to these guys? What does soccer mean to me?” The show mostly displayed the inner dialogue of the series’ protagonist, Isagi. Hearing what Nagi was thinking during the matches he played against or with Isagi was great to understand how much of a genius Nagi really was. Everyone kept calling him that, especially Reo, but this movie showed it rather than telling it.
The credit song at the end was such a banger; the song was called “Stormy” by J-pop group members from AAA, the main vocalist Takahiro Nishijima, aka Nissy and the rapper/singer Mitsuhiro Hidaka, aka Sky-Hi. The upbeat and strong drums on the beat created a very uplifting and battle-driven song. After looking up some of the lyrics and English translations, the line that summed up BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI– and BLUE LOCK was this one: “Achieve the view from the top of the world. / What it takes, it’s my talent. I bet, You bet.”
BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI- was a good mix of a quick recap and a sequel—all within a tight 1 hour and 31 minutes, close to a real-life soccer match time! I appreciated that Nagi, Reo and Zantetsu got more screen time. More so for Nagi and Zantetsu, Reo seemed to be the focus of the trio in the show. The deep dive into their characters made me understand more why they are the way they are and why they are good strikers.
Audiences will be delighted to see some new footage at the beginning of the film and at the end. Make sure to stay until the very end for some interesting footage; it was already teased at the end of the main series that they would be up against Japan’s U-20 team. So, we can look forward to season 2 covering that. While the next FIFA World Cup is not for another two years, this movie and anime series will keep soccer fans hyped!
