Blue Lock Editor Shares Where Story's Inspiration Came From

At the 2024 Anime Expo, Blue Lock Editor Revealed the Inspiration behind the origins of the popular soccer series.

By Levin Plassery

Published on Aug 02, 2024 | 09:12 AM IST | 80.5K

Blue Lock Season 2 [PC - YouTube /Emotion Label Channel]

Blue Lock skyrocketed in popularity, following the aftermath of the Japanese National Football Team’s performances at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. With over 30 million copies in circulation, Myueyuki Kaneshiro’s manga is one of the best-selling of all time. In an interview with ComicBook, Blue Lock Editor Megumu Tsuchiya revealed details about the origins of the series.

"I get energy from all you fans. I feel like the speed that Blue Lock's artists are creating has become faster than ever recently, so thank you so much. I'm really happy.” said Tsuchiya. The series also premiered an anime film this year, titled Blue Lock: Episode Nagi. Talking about inspiration, Tsuchiya mentions that his fellow countrymen were the biggest source.

“The first idea behind Blue Lock was about how Japanese people are bad at asserting themselves and struggle to put their own ego forward, so I was really curious to see how people overseas would respond. I was curious, but as I was overseeing the anime, I wanted to make it possible that even if you don't understand soccer or sports culture, Blue Lock was cool and interesting.”

Blue Lock Season 2 [PC - YouTube - Emotion Label Channel]

The Editor also feels that fans have accepted the series for how cool it is. Considering Soccer/Football is the most popular sport in the world, the series contended with other soccer anime like Aoashi, Captain Tsubasa, and Days. One can argue that Blue Lock has entered the hall of fame of sports animes which includes the likes of Hajime no Ippo and Haikyu.

In the series, the Japan Football Union hires Jinpachi Ego to create the world’s greatest striker. Having finished 16th in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Ego is under significant pressure to succeed. He creates Blue Lock, a training regimen designed to create the world’s greatest egoist striker. Yoichi Isagi decides to join the program where he competes with 300 others.

Season 2 of Blue Lock is all set to premiere in October 2024. Shinataro Inokawa is directing the series, with Yuji Haibara as the Chief Director. With only a select few left, it will be interesting to see if Isagi manages to become the best. Stay tuned for updates on Blue Lock Season 2.

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