Myles

!!SLIGHT SPOILS!! Why I believe the key to Isagi reaching the spot of n1 striker bases itself on the balance between logical and creative thinking.

Sorry I’m not sure if anyone is interested in my yapping but I needed it written down somewhere. Some elements of it like the eye theory weren’t originally my idea but read off the internet :)

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Rather than a story about how hard work beats talent, I’ve always considered blue lock a tale of how self belief and mentality remains above all the most important piece of the puzzle to reach success. Because blue lock is no blue period, it’s no ao ashi, it’s not supposed to be such a classic moral. That feels off.

After all, prodigies and geniuses aren’t a hierarchical order. They simply refer to two distinct categories, two schools of thought that stand neither above or beneath one another, those being logical thinking in prodigies and creative thinking in geniuses.

I’m basing myself off quite a few things here but I think the most important element remains Isagi’s light novel, where it a was clearly stated he used to be a genius as a child. It’s stated his playstyle was more focused on dribbling and way more like what we see in bachira today. And honestly?

Yeah, that makes sense. He’s got an innate ability he was born with and most others lack ad geniuses usually do, (his superhuman senses) and being a fan of Noel Noa from a very young age he already knew what an egoist was and consciously or not was applying that mentality to his playing. Even without details or realising, he already had a head start in how to make use of Ego’s theories.

Then, just like aiku he got hit by the fuck you don’t be selfish football beam and forced to play japanese football. And he went from beating five opponents in a row to score a goal with his noa imitation focused training to barely ever passing. He knows japanese football is wrong, and he’s never liked it, literally moments after joining ichiban and hearing their motto, his first reaction is "something’s wrong, isn’t it?"

Then blue lock came in, the rest is history. After forcing to play with such a focus on assist on so long, Isagi’s other capabilities had deteriorated, having to rely on the sole weapon he could always count on, his senses. Leaving behind technique and fancy playstyles to this develop this cut throat, direct playing would later develop into metavision, a weapon that has only been seen in prodigies due to its inherently logical nature. His other weapon, his direct shot, well it was pretty much the only thing he was allowed to keep while playing japanese football.

But that just doesn’t sit right, does it?

The one they called the "unbeatable striker of Saitama", his hometown, just worsening to the point even his own teammates believed his goal in the U20 was just fully, plainly, a total fluke that could never be reproduced? Just, forget everything?

His mother also says in the novel that "this child can see things that can’t be seen" and we know that can’t be metavision as metavision is just taking in information and analysing it faster than others, nothing to do with senses. But that’s just… never utilised? It seems strange not because it’s impossible of course, but because it’s mentioned. Why would this all be told, why would this be his backstory only for the author to be oh well! ;P Doesn’t matter cause he reset!

Also just the sole fact that like, a genius can turn into a prodigy is huge, because it means that those are not two strict categories you’re either born in or out, you can go from one to another.

And it’s not like Isagi really changed THAT much as a person. He’s no Sae, and from the sole fact arts are still his favorite subject and science his most hated, it’s clear he still has this firstly creative way of thinking and overall nature that just, fizzles out when it comes to football. (I’m not saying soccer). It can’t be all there is to it.

Isagi was also a very emotional and shy kid, described as timid and sensitive, which could emphasise that he relies more on his right brain than left brain, by instinct.

Now on another note, right and left motifs are quite prominent in blue lock. Right brain left brain motifs, logical vs creative. It’s a pattern.

It can also be taken notice off in the eye theory that takes notice that During ego heavy moments, usually the composition puts more focus on the right or left eye depending on wether the character is genius or prodigy. Credits to Yeti on tiktok for that one

This mostly applies to Rin and Isagi, (also happened when Isagi got his first metavision) sometimes for bachira, as for some other characters it’s just. Straight up the wrong eye during important shots or just not taken in account (ie; Niko’s signature poose where he circles his eye with his fingers, it’s his right eye when he isn’t a genius.) But it’s the right/left motif that I mean to take notice of here. And consequently, that if Isagi did turn out to become some genius-prodigy hybrid, it would be first foreshadowed through the panelling and composition, his right eye emphasized further at times.

This illustration. Their positioning is based on the ego chart, that’s the first thing I’ve noticed.

Isagi being freedom is very interesting to me as it does add to the whole genius thing, even if all geniuses aren’t freedom axed (ie, Rin.) It’s safe to assume the fourth person that should have been here is Shidou. But that’s not what I want to focus on with this, I digress.

Rather, Again, if we zoom into Isagi, we can see his right gun is gold and his left silver. While I first thought the silver was maybe for ego and the gold one for luck, due to it the puzzle piece’s colour, I think it makes a lot more sense for it to be representative of Isagi’s proficiency with each of his legs. His right foot being his dominant foot.

And now this might be the biggest reach yet and probably stupid but I do like to take notice of it.

Isagi’s dominant foot is his right. It’s the one he’s mot proficient with; and his left doesn’t even compare for most of the manga. The right side of the brain as prior stated is the creative one.

We also notice that over the duration of it, rather than better his shot and his proficiency with that leg, it’s rarely shown to be trained, and isagi doesn’t make a NOTABLE, conscious effort to, instead focusing on bettering his left leg with which he is a complete beginner, an attempt at making up for his flaws. That left leg could represent his logical playing whilst his right could represent the creative part of it all. He sets aside his originally stronger playstyle to focus on building up from zero the other, then reaching a state where both, at the same time and more specifically together qualify as a weapon, his two gun volley.

This could just show his playstyle evolution as a whole from now on, and how despite having been a genius all these years, he left it behind to instead focus on getting his logical mind up to the task, despite starting back to square 1, wether it be conscious or not.

Let’s not forget that Isagi’s weapon is most of all, not his metavision, not his senses, not his direct shot- but his adaptability. And when he reached the big league where practically everyone has metavision (that’s already happening. Reo, karasu, aiku, niko. It’s a damn lot already), crazy physics, and more than a few other weapons?

Yeah, the occasional omnivision trigger isn’t going to be nearly enough at pro levels.

He wants to take the world cup from Noa. And that seems to be the expected climax of the manga. Noa doesn’t play U20, so we have at least 3 arcs or so before reaching that. This isn’t dragon ball, the same weapons can’t keep evolving all in the same direction forever and in so, and even then I struggle to see how much further metavision could expand. So in what other way could his adaptibility develop than in learning the trade of the opposition? Hold your friends close and your enemies closer seems like a very blue lock-esque philosophy. I believe his freedom and his world style ego will permit him to go beyond the label of either genius past or prodigy present, and help him rise above Noa as n1 striker.

Which brings us to my next point:

Geniuses on one side, prodigies on the other, and between that Noa and Ego.

I don’t think Ego’s playstyle is in between prodigy and geniuses, he does seem more prodigy than anything even if he didn’t manage to stay in the field long enough to fully flesh out his playing style as he retired way early, but his placement is obviously to mirror Noa’s own. A pesky shadow of the past he can never quite get out of his head (average situationship) as demonstrated by the fact he still remembers word by word Ego’s theories a decade later when asking Isagi to explain how he views football. But that’s just Ego’s case. What about Noel Noa?

Well, Noa is a logic axed genius.

In playstyle alone he is by all means a prodigy, prioritising logic, efficiency and winning over theatrics. That’s quite literally Bastard München’s whole philosophy. He is a rational man in nature. And that very much shows in his plays. His trainees are also prodigies.

And yet he’s categorised as a genius. And that is thanks to his physicality. His talent is that he’s ambidextrous, it’s something he’s born with that others lack. His dribbling also seems very dangerous, something that is mostly seen in geniuses like Bachira and Laviño, even if Noa seems to believe the latter is better at it than he is.

In a way, the reason that seems to indicate Noa is the best striker, is his ability to balance genius and prodigious mentalities and ideologies and to utilise it to score. He is what we’ve seen closest to what a genius prodigy might be, and in result is the best striker in the verse.

And how do we relate that to Isagi?

Well he’s pretty much in the same boat. Born with capabilities that other lacks, he still is undoubtedly a prodigy by his plays and the fact he doesn’t utilise his senses as other geniuses utilise their talents. And that’s his fundamental flaw as well as the last puzzle piece to reach world level.

But despite that, there is one glaring thing with this illustration, Noa’s throne is made of glass, it’s fragile- and being logical with an extra weapon is not enough for him to let down his guard. Isagi would need to go above and beyond, and that’s why I think instead of just being a genius that plays logically, Isagi needs to be both in balance; stability being the key to turn the glass throne into one of it’s own right. Why mindsets are in the end the most dangerous weapons in blue lock, and what Isagi will need to figure out through the world cup to finally dethrone the man that does not even view him as rightful rival.