Lia reviewed Blue Lock, Vol. 1 by Muneyuki Kaneshiro (ブルーロック [Blue Lock], #1)
None
3 stars
In the aftermath of a devastating World Cup defeat, Japan's team struggles to regroup. The question is, what's missing? A proper ace striker. To develop a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, the Football Union creates Blue Lock, a rigorous training ground for 300 of Japan's best and brightest youth players. He must outmuscle and out-ego every opponent to survive this battle royale!
It's soccer but to the death! Probably not, but reading it makes me feel that way. The story goes that Japan lost the World Cup again. There seems to be only one path to the World Cup: traumatizing 300 high school students in an elaborate death game designed to produce the world's best sociopath.
The book begins with our hero, Isagi, discovering that there should probably be an "i" in the team and continues to his grim realizations about himself. The death game is …
In the aftermath of a devastating World Cup defeat, Japan's team struggles to regroup. The question is, what's missing? A proper ace striker. To develop a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, the Football Union creates Blue Lock, a rigorous training ground for 300 of Japan's best and brightest youth players. He must outmuscle and out-ego every opponent to survive this battle royale!
It's soccer but to the death! Probably not, but reading it makes me feel that way. The story goes that Japan lost the World Cup again. There seems to be only one path to the World Cup: traumatizing 300 high school students in an elaborate death game designed to produce the world's best sociopath.
The book begins with our hero, Isagi, discovering that there should probably be an "i" in the team and continues to his grim realizations about himself. The death game is a game in which students lose their careers if they lose it. The students are crammed into a ridiculously convoluted facility, the Blue Lock (they could have purchased a soccer team for how much this thing must have cost), and forced to fight to be the best striker out of 300 applicants.
The story is outrageous, from the disturbingly long-necked bowl cut coach Ego to the high-tech facility and the fact that the press barely pushes back against these lunatics destroying 299 lives to get ONE good player (the press taking the lazy way out of the situation is probably the most depressingly accurate part of the story).
Art is okay - action is easy to follow. Characters are interesting - I suppose we should root for Isagi, although it's hard to imagine that turning a teenager into an egomaniacal little turd won't take much.
If you enjoy sports stories with ridiculous trials to overcome, you might find something here. There is no doubt in my mind that I did. Despite the poor overall message of the story, it's hard not to get caught up in all the competition.
The trials and tribulations faced by the characters are intense, but they also highlight the determination and skill required to succeed in such a high-stakes environment. While the premise might seem absurd, it effectively captures the competitive nature of sports and the sacrifices made to achieve greatness.
In conclusion, Blue Lock is a thrilling sports story with an outrageous premise and engaging characters, making it worth a read despite its problematic themes.
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