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Blue Lockis a soccer anime that returned mainstream popularity to the sports anime genre through its unique twist and action-packed matches during its first season. The anime was praised for its stunning visuals and how the anime raised the stakes further than most anime of recent and seemed to trump most sports anime from recent years (save forHaikyuu!!!, which remains the most popular and critically acclaimed modern sports anime since its launch).
Some of the anime’s most dedicated fans, however, are disappointed with thecurrently airing second season. Poor animation and production issues are only the beginning of the perceived end of theBlue Lockanime, unless a miracle happens during the last few episodes slated to air this season. This article will explore the rise and current fall of the Blue Lock anime, and what it can do to redeem itself going forward… if it can.
The High Standards of Season One
Less Tropes, Beautiful Animation, And Plenty of Action
Blue Locklaunched an incredibly impactful first season. When it jumped onto the anime scene in the Fall of 2022 alongsideChainsaw Man,Spy x Family, andMob Psycho III, fans were obsessed with thecolorful and detailed visuals; at the time, it was praised as the best animation in that season. While a good deal of seasonal anime follows the generic anime style with minimal movement to save an animation budget, that was not a restriction held onBlue Lock’s first season.
Another important aspect ofBlue Lock’s success is its diversion from common tropes that plague the genre. Rather than having matches one “by the power of friendship” like a lot of sports anime, characters win or lose based on their genuine skill or unique abilities. The anime also avoids the typical perfect protagonist prodigies and instead features an experimental yet still talented soccer player who is unsure of their playing style to become a striker on the anime’s team.
Finally, the action-like sequences of soccer matches in the anime are incredibly fast-paced and full of twists and turns. Close-ups and unique camera angles only emphasize this further and create match scenes that are impossible to look away from. On top of this,characters have special abilitiescalled “weapons” that are unique powers, allowing them to complete superhuman feats during these matches, making the show feel more like an action-filled shōnen than a typical sports anime.
What Went Wrong In Season 2?
The Anime’s Greatest Strengths, Cast Aside
One of the biggest praises of the first season, the animation quality, took a drastic drop in the second season. What was once fluid and colorful animation has become stiffer in movement and otherwise repetitive from the first season. This ends up serving the audience with a lackluster visual affair and less interesting matches overall, which are the main draws of a sports anime in the first place. This is likely due to thereported production issues.
“Blue Lock’s on track to defeat the U-20 National Team and establish themselves as the best strikers in Japan, but the likelihood they will defeat the competition with the same breathtaking visuals as the season prior is highly debatable, if not outright impossible, given the current season’s trajectory. Unless the entire animation budget was saved for a few episodes, the future isn’t looking bright for Blue Lock”
The studio in charge of animatingBlue Lock’s adaptation is Eight Bit, who is also known forThat Time I Got Reincarnated as a SlimeandYuru Camp, and, as a studio, has been historically understaffed and overworked. While this is unfortunately fairly common in the anime industry, the studio was allegedly givensignificantly more time to create the first seasonthan the current one, leading to more rushing and less quality control. Eight Bit has not commented on these allegations at this time. There are no unions or protection in place for animators in Japan at this time, and they are typically freelancers, leading to even less respect within Japan’s strict work culture overall.
The poor animation is likely not due to laziness, but poor working conditions leading to tired employees and rushed work. Sadly, this still affects the viewing experience of shows that are animated, as unfortunate as the current animation industry is in Japan.
How Can Blue Lock Recover?
There Is Little Hope For Blue Lock’s Future
The first order ofBlue Lock’s potential recovery would be to return to the previous animation and the general quality the audience got used to in the first season of the anime. Unfortunately, this is not likely.Japan’s work culturetends to praise environments like the one allegedly at Eight Bit, so the probability of the animators getting the proper time to animate at that quality consistently before the current season ends isn’t a realistic ask.
Truthfully, the plot of season two is still as exciting and plot-twist-filled as the first season was.The characters are just as loveableand full of personality. The writing has maintained quality through this season, despite the animation woes. And while the drop in animation is jarring and unappealing in an aesthetic sense and does affect the enjoyment of an animated show, the plot still seems exciting enough to carry on to the next season.
The best thing that can be done right now is to finish the current season ofBlue Lock, and either hire more animators or give more time to the current ones to improve such an integral part of the show. There are no unions for animators in the anime industry in Japan at the current moment, but there are foundations like Nippon Anime & Film Culture Association (NAFCA) and Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) who are attempting toimprove the working conditionof the anime industry across Japan. Rather than attacking an anime or manga for a drop in quality, fans' energy is better spent finding ways to boost the word and hype around the people trying to fix Japan’s overworking issue in the animation industry to end this problem for good.
