#blue lock chapter analysis

ok so i havent read the actual chapter or wtv, but i've read some leaks and basically ego is lecturing them abt what ego is, and how it's what dictates the goals u score and what types of goals u score and he says that there was one player on the team that didn't believe that they cld b the world's best striker, and that's y they lost. and like i can't believe isagi actually wanted to b benched, saying that he thinks it's him who thought he cldn't b the best but no ego says it's rin who's being benched and like, i fucking knew it

like rin's way of playing is not sustainable in the long run. he's got some issues linked to his inability to form healthy social bonds w others, and his fixation on isagi and sae is limiting him bc the way that rin forms emotional connections w ppl means that their connection becomes smthg that he ties himself to. when rin begins to form a genuine emotional connection to someone, it becomes smthg where he essentially doesn't want to let go of them, and all he wants to do on the pitch is play together w them, bc fundamentally, i think rin is a lonely child who misses the bond that he previously had w sae. being that his parents were pretty emotionally unavailable, rin's never learned how to process and identify his own emotions, and so i'm pretty sure that rin doesn't rlly know how to determine whether or not he actually wants to b someone's friend, or if he hates them or not; w sae, as much as rin wants to say that he hates sae and all that he's done to him, rin still loves him, and that yearning for what they were before intertwined w the mass of loathing that he's developed creates a rlly confusing sensation and i think that's prbly translated to all of the relationships that he's formed in blue lock. what rin views as hatred is prbly mixed w desire and attachment, and that makes it difficult to separate himself from the person that he forms the bond w. in terms of isagi, this means that as much as rin claims to hate isagi, and that he wants to kill him, he still has a desire to stick close and to make sure that isagi will never leave him. it clouds everything else in his path, bc this person that he's allowed into his world after so much time spent pushing everyone else away, this person needs to stay by his side to give rin the subconscious comfort that he is worthy of human connection and that he has someone to push him and act as an obstacle which he can fight and potentially die in a cool way (going back to his thing abt villainy and villains dying in a blaze of glory).

so in that moment, when isagi turned his eye away from rin, decided that he was going to abandon rin for karasu bc he wasn't offering enough openings for a goal, rin lost it and prbly began to feel that same sense of abandonment that he felt w sae on that snowy night. and maybe he emulated the same emotional state he was in that night on the pitch in that moment, feeling his world crashing down, except this time it's translating to anger and vitriol against isagi. but i think a small part of him also thought abt giving up and abt not being good enough as a striker if yet another person, another rival, is going to abandon him for someone else. and so rin lashes out, jst like how he lashed out and destroyed sae's trophies and their pictures that night, simultaneously turning his feelings of abandonment into resolve to beat isagi and doing smthg dramatic almost as if to say "look at me, i still need u, i still want u next to me."

i think rin being benched is prbly a good idea for now, i think he needs to sort out some of his thoughts, y he's playing, like actually thinking abt y he's playing soccer, if not jst for revenge and to maybe get his brother's and isagi's attention. like to me, it kind of seems like rin is playing soccer as if it's the only thing keeping him alive, which is a big part of y i like rin's character sm, it's so dramatic and relatable, but it's definitely problematic in the long term.

Hi, thank you for sending me an ask!!! I wrote this out, and I'm sorry this answer is so long. I also have many thoughts right now about chapter 266!

But first: ANON, MY DMS ARE OPEN??? THEYRE OPEN FOR TALKING ABOUT KAISER AND/OR KIIS/KAISAGI ANY TIME!!!

You mentioned a detail I missed, the whole panning to Isagi after he says he wants to be loved,

and, the following scenes do pan to the crowd before Isagi, so I like to think that we, and Kaiser, are recontextualizing how he used to see spectators and fans watching him. He used to see them in a more self-glorifying way, like the crowd's cheers for him were because he they saw his value and liked his skills. The crowd's applause and cheers for him fueled his selfish ego and he placed himself higher than everyone else to feel "human."

Now, we see that what Kaiser truly wanted, deep inside, was to feel that crowd loved him as the athlete he is. He wanted people to love him and to experience receiving that love! He wanted people, and perhaps God*, to love his proof of his "impossible" existence by playing "impossible" soccer. We are shown that Kaiser is given love and receives that love not only as a more raw and true version of himself, but specifically in cooperation with his team.

However,

I went to reread to chapter 266 now that the translations are out, and, another detail:

(An aside: I don't agree with the "damn you" translation from Isagi—I personally would've translated it similar to how Kaiser and Isagi have occasionally referred to each other, like when they call each other "fucking clowns." I can clarify further, if needed!)

Looking at this dual panel again, notice Kaiser's rose vines are shown rising and wrapping around Isagi.

So, the Kaisagi agenda...

...

Look at the material🤷‍♂️

But, anyways, Kaneshiro-sensei gave us knowledge he's aware of Kaisagi (with Hiori teasing Isagi over it because he's a sadist, but Hiori could genuinely find some enjoyment in the kaisagi dynamic and fan hype, too) and foreshadowed them working together, finally, all the way back post the Ubers match. So, Kaneshiro-sensei and Nomura-sensei collaborated on this and sent this panel in as the final look.

How else are we supposed to interpret Kaiser's rose vines wrapping around Isagi that seem like they're about to ensnare him after revealing that Kaiser wants to be loved and experience being loved?

(Below is heavily Kaisagi biased**)

Is this implying that Kaiser was obsessed with Isagi because he wanted Isagi to...like (love👀) him?

Looking at Isagi, he looks legitimately impressed and seems to look at Kaiser in awe (good meaning). The relaxed eyebrow and focused look in his eyes are very telling what Isagi could be feeling towards Kaiser after he watched Kaiser perfectly execute that goal.

From this, I can infer that Isagi likes his men abnormal (affectionately said), flashy (soccer playstyle), feral, who match his freak, and have good smiles. Yes, I'm referencing Bachira and Kaiser.

bllktwt opinions can't hurt me if they're

1) not real

2) I don't see them therefore they're not real (object permanence 😎)

3) they can hate how ever hard they want—I will love Kaiser even harder. If Kaiser has no fans, then I am 👻

If I can be honest with him and Ness, either Kaiser will apologize to Ness (an unlikely outcome, but I'm keeping my options open. It would be for not passing to him, or something related to the PXG match bc I highly doubt he'd apologize for how he has seen or treated Ness), or Kaiser and Ness's relationship will continue as we've seen it presented so far.

Regardless of that outcome, I predict that Kaiser may take Real Madrid's offer and leave Ness behind in Bastard München, anyways. Kaiser is only moving up and forward from here on, clearly. I think Isagi sees this too. Maybe because Kaiser is still growing, evolving, and matching Isagi's freak, Isagi looks impressed (falling in love) with Kaiser.

*Kaiser does not have a confirmed religion, however, religious themes to his design and poses are quite present.

wait ok tiny detail i thought was cool

look at isagi's hair, it's a cute little swirl! idk if that's intentional or jst a result of isagi spinning around rlly fast but it feels vaguely symbolic of the two positions that isagi and hugo find themselves in rn. hugo is stuck in place being challenged where isagi is in motion acting as the challenger; it's a reverse of their previous roles earlier in the game. nah i think i'm jst trying to find symbolism in shit that doesn't need a meaning lol

smthg i noticed was that the first few pages are jst straight action shots, there's no dialogue and yeah that makes sense. no one's rlly thinking in these panels, it's straight instinct and absolutely nothing is in their minds. but i also think it's interesting that it's like the world is silent, there's no destiny, no fate, no luck, everything in this moment seems to be silent in the face of rin itoshi's obsession and ego, as tho it's smthg that dominates everything in entirety.

and yeah that is true, rin's ego does take precedent over everything in his life, once he sets his sights on smthg and allows his ego to devour him and that fixation, it all goes to his instincts and he allows his natural genius to come out to play rather than thinking and acting as a puppeteer. that's literally what his destroyer flow is, it's him getting entirely overwhelmed and shutting everything out so that his instincts can take over. but unlike the other teams that he's previously played against, where his natural genius instincts were enough to let the team win, it's not enough against pxg this time, they're way stronger and he needs to actually think and play instead of jst playing.

rin is following the egoist philosophy, and i think that this chapter and moment is a representation of an evolution of that philosophy -> it's not enough anymore for the blue lock team to be egoists, now they have to push beyond that and think further, think while they play, use their senses and their brains to visualize the perfect plays for them. even for those whose playstyle is more instinctual and based on physical ability, now they need to evolve further; it's kind of a nagi situation where their current stage of egoism is not enough anymore, and in order to not be locked off, they need to be better.

rin's ego needs to change, i think from this incident, he needs to realize that he can't jst keep playing to his emotions and natural instincts. that's not going to b enough to let him play professionally and beat other countries. rin's always had a problem w obsessing over smthg or someone. first it was sae and then soccer and then a combination of those two, and his soccer obsession is like fine, sure it's now a career path, but combining that w an obsession w a player is clearly only holding him back. in his obsession w sae, he was still preventing himself from truly reaching his full potential; it blinded him so that it was basically only him against the world (read: sae). it is good to have smthg that he can work towards, but it has to b smthg that's not going to limit himself and give him more of an internal drive. i don't necessarily think that using other players as his motivation, as markers of success, is a bad thing, i jst think that that involves emotions far too much, and getting attached in the way that he does will only limit how much he lets himself achieve. rin is someone w intense abandonment and attachment issues like he's got both to an intense degree, and those r things that he needs to work on before i think he'll truly b able to reach his peak bc i rlly do think that there needs to b a balance of working w ur team mates and having enough individuality to take ur own shots. rin refusing to form bonds w his teammates is going to b detrimental to his playing in professional leagues, he's not going to b playing against jst anyone and so he's going to need support from his team mates. it's not smthg that he can jst brute force his way thru, but he also can't tether himself down to one person and prevent himself from growing past them. it's kind of like ness, where ness cld do sm much more if he passed to other ppl besides kaiser, like he genuinely cld b jst as good, if not a better, midfielder than sae if he didn't limit himself to jst kaiser; if rin stopped obsessing over one person and tying his playstyle to them, making his playing far more emotion-driven than it shld b, i think he cld go sm further.

he's known for his puppeteer playstyle, not jst his destroyer flow after all. i think if he were able to control his emotions to a point where he has the same intensity and drive during his destroyer flow, but not the overwhelming sense of pain, and managed to maintain the mental sharpness that allows him to manipulate the players on the field, then he'd b so goated. i do think that he might have to do some personal work on his puppeteer style, jst bc it was smthg that he created out of a sense of desperation for sae to come back from spain; it was meant to fill in the gap that he felt existed on the field when sae left him to play alone.

abt his destroyer flow, im like so in love w the thought process behind it, like i think it is so interesting from a psychological perspective that it's smthg that comes out when he's emotionally overwhelmed and when he feels a lack of control over the field it's smthg that allows him to play despite that; it's so incredibly self-destructive, forcing him to play rather than collapse on the spot, but that it's also his natural state of genius is also so fucking cool. also im totally prbly overthinking it, but it does feel very similar to isagi weaponizing his hypersensitivity -> rather than allowing themselves to b overwhelmed and unable to play, they both use it to fuel their playstyles and increase their capabilities. anyway, it's rin's natural state of play and i find it so nice jst to see rin being free from the expectations that he's set for himself. i think it only goes to establish further that by trying to play similarly to sae, thinking methodically and planning everything out meticulously, he's only holding himself back. as much as rin wld like to say that he's not trying to follow in sae's footsteps and that he doesn't worship sae anymore, he still is centering his entire play and his life around sae. sae haunts rin everywhere and when he finally can't take that burden of trying to b someone he's not, his destroyer flow comes out to release him and his inner demons (lol inner demons is such a funny thing but i think it fits the image of his destroyer flow, and also im still totally projecting but it kind of feels like a metaphor for masking and unmasking).

that's y i think that if rin were able to get over his fixation on sae and isagi, and actually like go thru therapy for emotional management and stuff, not jst anger management, he'd b a significantly stronger player. while he was doing his training before the world cup, rin was still thinking abt sae and isagi within what was supposed to b the empty void of his mind, driving the point that even in solitude, they dictate a lot of what goes on in his mind and what he thinks abt. it's genuinely concerning how dependent he is on them, so i think if he had more time than jst that short period before the world cup, he'd b able to get through a lot more of his mental blocks and reconcile w his unresolved abandonment/attachment issues.

speaking of which, i think the combination of these two complexes is very interesting. rin is afraid that if he gets attached to ppl they'll leave him once he gets comfortable like sae did. it doesn't matter how close they actually r, or how comfortable they r together, i feel like rin wld think that once they see who he actually is underneath his rough exterior, they'll leave him bc they feel uneasy abt it. but companionship is smthg natural to ppl, once u start spending time w ppl who give a shit abt u, u want to keep being w them, u want to experience that sense of friendship and platonic intimacy. for someone like rin, it goes deeper than that, where his connection to then will become an obsession. i'm not rlly into psych, but i get the feeling that it might b bc he grew up w pretty much only sae by his side, and all he had was his attachment to sae; it's not explicitly in canon that the itoshi parents weren't rlly around for their childhood, and it cld totally b me extrapolating what i want to see out of their childhood for my own theories so take this w a grain of salt, but generally i think if children lack a proper guardian figure, they learn that the few ppl that do help them then r the only ppl that can help, and mistrust everybody else. that becomes a habit, but it's also scary, knowing that u can care so deeply abt ppl who may not extend that same care to u, and r able to leave u at a moment's notice. it's a strange push and pull that i think is rlly confusing and causes a lot of internal conflict w urself. someone like rin, who i think of as someone rlly disciplined and rigid, prbly wldn't take to jst letting go of this mindset, and it wld prbly take a lot of time and therapy to come to terms w how destructive it is to keep thinking like this. and, as someone who does think that rin is on the spectrum, i do think there is a connection w how neurodivergence tends to make it difficult to see more than one way of thinking. and ppl tend to fixate on one solution and one way of doing things bc it's a known outcome, but even once that strategy starts to produce different results, in rin's case, very self-destructive results, then they still keep going w it at the cost of their own health. for ppl who experience suicidal ideation, then it might lead to a fixation on ending it all, believing that that's the only way out of the shittiness and that it's the only way to stop suffering. rn i think all that's keeping rin going is his obsession w soccer and beating sae (and also isagi), but once he actually gets there, will it b enough to prevent him from breaking down and continue living? and along the way, who's to say that the pressure of it all won't jst make him breakdown preemptively and actually jst give up. i've previously talked abt how like i genuinely prbly wld have kms if i were rin after hearing sae talk abt abandoning their dream and calling him unnecessary, and like honestly, that's smthg that does scare me abt rin. he feels like a character constantly abt to break, and without attempting to resolve his issues, i think there's a high probability of rin doing permanent dmg to himself, whether intentionally or not.

w rin getting so focused on isagi and actually being overwhelmed w emotion at the idea of isagi focusing on other players besides him, interpreting it as tho isagi thinks he is inadequate as a striker, it's both doing wonders for my little rinsagi heart, and also breaking my heart that glazes rin alone bc ik my guy can do better if he were to learn to push past his need for validation from who he considers rivals. ik it's difficult, esp since that's been his basis for his playing for his entire life basically, but like i need rin to learn that there has to b a balance between obsessing an relying entirely on one or two players and writing off everyone else on the team.

like it's so bad and it's so incredibly toxic for a. rin to always b chasing sae and for sae to b verbally beating down rin unaware of how much of a bully he's being but like i can't, i genuinely find it so fun to pick at their relationship as brothers. and b. ness chasing kaiser in a similar way regardless of how badly kaiser treats him, and kaiser treating ihim n that way to justify his belief in his inability to b loved.

like im rereading ch. 124 and it's jst so tragic the way rin and sae's relationship falls apart. in the beginning rin's all like soft and shit, jst listening to what sae has to say abt his playing (sae calls his shot shoddy, he says he'll work on it, sae asks him to b speedier, he agrees to try), and in some ways, it reminds me of ness' perspective of playing w kaiser. ness plays w kaiser bc it feels like magic to him, it feels as tho kaiser embodies a miracle and bring out the beauty of a game like soccer; he's no longer alone in a bleak world, but instead there's someone to give him light. for rin, it's much the same where sae is someone that is always there for rin, and consistently cares for him, bringing kindness and companionship to an otherwise lonely world that considers him weird.

and yet sae's words make him reconsider their relationship. bc sae tells rin that he's unnecessary in his life, aka on the field as his striker, bc he's so dogwater, rin thinks back to their moments playing together, looking at it thru the lens of him jst being a stepping stone for sae, someone that he jst uses to reach the world stage. even tho rin was having fun and he genuinely wanted to play w sae to fulfill their dream, now bc sae has told rin that he's an eyesore, directly targeting their relationship as brothers and as family, it places doubt on their closeness. regardless of how close players need to b to play as partners on the field, siblinghood shld trump that, and in calling rin unnecessary in his life, implying that rin was only good for supporting sae's dreams, that shatters all ideas of sae actually loving rin for playing w him. it reduces rin to someone who's worth is entirely based on how well he can play, when i rlly don't think rin wld have been so motivated to play without sae by his side. their shared dream to b the best strikers in the world was smthg that i feel like sae was mostly into, and rin jst got dragged along for the ride; rin quite literally says he jst wanted to b by sae's side as his brother and like, given that sae's been his main pillar of support his entire life, this upheaval of rin's beliefs abt their relationship, wrongly interpreted or not bc i don't think we're meant to believe that sae actually didn't see rin as his precious little brother, it jst feels so wrong for sae to crush his dreams like that. i actually feel like crying this is so sad

and like i keep thinking back to the moment that rin and sae first see each other after sae comes back from spain and how rin immediately notices how bad sae looks. he looks worn out, he's lost weight, and rin clocks that as soon as he sees sae. it must b kind of dark out and yet rin still notices.

and then when sae challenges rin, saying that if rin loses their dream is over, rin says that sae can't jst make that decision that on his own. it jst makes me think abt how sae has never rlly pushed rin in this way. sure he's bossy on the field and as more of a midfielder for rin he sets up the pass for rin to shoot, but sae's never been so forceful or directly hostile towards rin. he's never pushed rin to do smthg that he doesn't want to do, esp not a match that he doesn't want to play, and yet the moment that sae and rin meet, after several years of little to no contact, sae harshly pushes rin to face his own ineptitude. i agree that it was a wakeup call that rin needed, but genuinely it cld have been said in a nicer way right, w less miscommunication??

small note, i don't have any complete thoughts abt this yet, but i also like the luck aspect of their brotherhood, where rin is generally the one w all the luck, the primary notes being his consistent winning of the popsicle stick draws and being a natural talented genius, compared to sae who always gets the losing stick and is someone who needs to think and learn to play as well as he does. and yet for all his luck, sae acknowledges isagi rather than rin bc of his lucky winning shot during the u-20 match; like sae said, rin wastes all his luck on insignificant moments like the ice cream stick, rather that it being useful in their goal to b the world's best. jst a little thing that i think abt a lot

anyway then i started thinking abt ness and kaiser and how their relationship diverges from sae and rin's. yeah kaiser has continuously treated ness poorly, taking advantage of ness' desire for companionship and willingness to b manipulated, but in their final scene together, ness is the one to get thru to kaiser. kaiser's fucking blowing up at ness, revealing his true thoughts abt himself and his humanity, abt how he is an inherently unlovable person and how his only worth is found in his ability to score goals.

i actually have a lot of thoughts abt that, bc i find it interesting to think abt kaiser, someone who prbly has both an inferiority and a superiority complex. he has a lot of talent in soccer and he genuinely is one of the best players of his generation, but that's all he is. maybe it's an exaggeration, but it's giving geto's msg to gojo: r u strong bc ur gojo satoru or r u gojo satoru bc ur strong? is kaiser "michael kaiser the human" bc he's good at soccer, or is he good at soccer bc he's "michael kaiser the human"?; can kaiser's soccer ability b separated from his humanity and consequently is his ability to b loved by others? kaiser doesn't believe that he can b loved, his mother left him w his abusive father, he grew up destitute, and ray dark only saved him bc of his soccer talent. so it makes sense that kaiser's "humanity" or rather what little that is left of it, is tied entirely to his ability to b a superior striker. and so bc he's internalizing sm self-hate, reducing himself to subhumanity, he takes that out on others to hide it. yeah he's good at soccer, and he knows that, is confident abt that, but that's it, that's the only thing that makes him redeemable. kaiser's superiority regarding his soccer skills is justifiable if not insufferable, but the thought process behind what it means abt himself if he loses is actually jst self-destructive.

going back to ness and kaiser, so yeah kaiser's fucking abusive asl to ness bc he's also got abandonment issues. if kaiser's mean, then it's kind of justifying it in advance if ness ever leaves him, like ness was weak for not being able to withstand kaiser. it's also meant to prove his inhumanity, how inherently unlovable he is without his soccer ability. if ness were to leave him like a normal person wld, it wld prbly b bc he cldn't take kaiser's abuse, proving that kaiser's a pos who's only good for playing soccer. and it's also a form of companionship that kaiser can allow himself. he's got a superiority complex formed on the basis of his soccer talent; if ness follows after him like a dog bc of the magic that he finds in kaiser's soccer, then it only makes sense that kaiser wld manipulate ness w that, taking advantage of ness' willingness to do anything for kaiser to further prove that he can only b loved for his soccer. kaiser manipulates ness into depending on him bc it emphasizes his own inadequacy as a human.

but ness knows he's being manipulated, he's letting kaiser think he's dependent, when rlly ness is staying bc he actually does love kaiser. ness might have first found interest in kaiser bc of his talent but somewhere along the line, he started to view kaiser as someone he can b close to. for all that kaiser verbally, physically, and mentally abuses ness, i'm not totally sure that he ever rlly lays into ness abt his love for magic. ness grew up w everyone in his family ignoring and ridiculing him for his belief that magic exists in the world, claiming that science and objective truth is the most important thing in life. it's emotionally isolating and so when kaiser comes into his life, letting ness project his ideas of magic onto him without explicitly fucking w him for it, it creates that bond between them. they both have someone in each other that won't abandon them as others have in the past. ness truly sees kaiser as human, as flesh and blood and sin, all wrapped up in a miracle that brought them together, as though fate decided that someone like ness, kind and giving and wholly self-sacrificing despite his natural genius, is perfect for kaiser, selfish and abrasive and talented. kaiser needs ness and ness needs kaiser, and in this moment when kaiser is screaming at ness to leave him alone, deeming himself an unnecessary part of the field, ness clings onto him and hopes to save him, hope to cast a spell on kaiser's broken self to help him.

and this is the difference between kainess and the itoshi brothers. kaiser and sae r similar ppl, broken down to believe that all they have is their ability to play soccer and believing that the only way to prove their worth is thru winning matches; we still don't know what happened to sae in spain, but it's clear that he's got trauma that prevents him from returning to his "naive" outlook of soccer from before. now, he is the world's best midfielder bc of his perspective from the international leagues, and he's jaded bc of it. kaiser has been jaded since he was young, he's grown up traumatized. kaiser and sae, both talented learners rather than the genius' that rin and ness r, both refuse to accept failure bc it's a signal of their weakness, of their inherent lack of worth. and when they do fail, they try to get the ppl closest to them to leave them, to abandon them, for kind of similar reasons; both of them want ness and rin to leave and find someone else to play w, to create a chemical rxn w, to not jst rely on worthless players like them.

but the way they project this onto the ppl closest to them is so different. kaiser completely drops the facade, he loses it at ness, screaming that he's humiliated himself, that his existence is a humiliation bc of his failure after he was arrogant enough to drop ness on the field. and ness responds encouragingly bc this is the kaiser that he recognized all along. ness has stuck w kaiser thru the shift from genuine friendship in the beginning to codependency later on, and this prolonged contact w someone so complex makes it easy for ness to discern what kaiser is truly afraid of and not directly saying. ness will not leave, kaiser, someone who has seen and cared for ness in his own way.

but in true sae fashion, rather than doing what kaiser does, he hides it behind a veil of coldness. instead of offering more than jst a cursory criticism of rin's play, sae jst claims rin is useless, projecting his own insecurities and feelings of inadequacy onto rin. yes, it's prbly in hopes of encouraging rin to find his own play, to not become dependent on sae so that he can stop limiting himself, but i think what he says to rin is what he thinks of himself as a striker. unsuited to being a striker, forced to embody stereotypical japanese play as a midfielder, sae tries to push rin to b a good striker and not rely on sae as his only reason to play. and rin, young and understandably quite confused by the change in demeanor from the sae that he remembers from before spain, takes it as u wld expect someone to. rin gets mad, feels abandoned, and goes chasing after sae w the sole intent of surpassing him regardless of what he does to himself. rin doesn't try to think abt sae's perspective or y he's changed sm, not that i rlly expect him to as a moody teen, and sae doesn't try to change that view that rin has of him; sae doesn't even think rin's going thru smthg so devastatingly toxic, he jst thinks it's a literal phase and rin's jst grumpy like what?

also i want to point out that rin doesn't jst give up on soccer even tho sae calls him useless on the field and abandons him, he jst pivots and plays for revenge; sae also doesn't give up on soccer when he's told he's useless as a striker, he jst becomes the best midfielder, maybe for revenge? their equal but separate desires for revenge push them away from each other bc there's a fundamental lack of understanding in what they r trying to communicate to each other. but kaiser, when he realizes his fallibility, tries to throw it all away and quit. ness is the one who keeps their bond together, tossing their old dynamic out and molding it into one where ness is the one guiding kaiser. they actually communicate what they mean to each other, and this is y i think kainess will survive and come back stronger than before :D

someone pointed out that it's very much like kaiser's expression after isagi steals his goal and calls him his clown and i also can't stop thinking abt that and what it might mean for the shape of isagi's future but like man is going through it rn

he's being questioned abt his ego, his ideals, his position, and like bro is jst a high schooler who prior to blue lock seemed rlly passive and not particularly outgoing, accepting and conforming to ensure that he fit in. he's clearly never rlly had to contend w other players like the french, and even if u consider his time during the nel, playing against other international players, these r ppl who didn't necessarily challenge him psychologically/mentally, jst as a striker. bllk, for all that it contains players and rivals for isagi all striving to b the best striker, also don't rlly challenge him in the same way hugo has; they've all accepted isagi's goal to become a striker unlike how hugo is determined to make isagi see that he's not designed to b the best striker.

first off, insignificant but i didn't realize that hugo's color palette had been confirmed yet, i thought the red was jst speculation, and tbh i'm not totally in love w it. maybe i need to see more fully colored panels and his face like head on full frontal instead of from a side angle, but it looks a bit odd? idk he'll prbly look better once i see him in a different angle

also abt hugo, i think he's being a little creepy rn ngl. his philosophy is pretty interesting, it sounds a bit like smthg that i personally wld b happy living w bc i'm a fairly lazy person but there's also smthg a bit strange abt it. so essentially, hugo believes in destiny and fate, he believes in predestiny and that everyone has a predetermined life and role to play in life that they shldn't try to live against. ur born w a set of skills and capabilities that will guide u to the correct role, and u shldn't try to fight against it or else you'll end up miserable and unhappy bc ur going against the natural abilities that ur capable of and you'll always jst experience failure trying to rise up against it. that's basically what hugo is trying to convey to isagi, saying that isagi's natural role wld b as no. 2 instead of no. 1. loki is an example of someone who's meant to b a no. 1 player, being born w the physical abilities to b the best player, and bc he has these skills, he's also developed an unshakeable confidence in his ability to b no. 1, further emphasizing his natural role as the best. but someone like isagi, who is a talented learner, and has to rlly push himself to b the striker that he is, isn't likely to b no. 1 bc of that, bc of his unnatural growth that he has forced himself to develop and learn, even if he seems like a rival to some pro player, he'll never actually b as great as he wants bc it's not in his skillset. all he's got is the mindset, and even then, hugo points out that if he rlly were capable of being no. 1, he wldn't b feeling sm pressure, again going back to loki as an example since he's no. 1 and he doesn't seem to b feeling anxious or overthinking his position, he's jst confident that he can and will b no. 1.

but i have some problems w this philosophy bc i think it can b problematic. first of ll, the way hugo is preaching this is kinda cult-like ngl, it feels like he's trying to convert isagi to the cult of complacency or smthg. lowkey it reminds me of the church, i'm not sure if it's christianity or catholicism, but ik in some religions they preach abt accepting and enduring the hardships and suffering that u go thru in life bc god always has a plan for, he always has smgth prepared for u, all u have to do is endure and u will receive what god has planned for u. i attended and catholic christian middle school and a lot of the ppl that i attended middle school w did believe in the who predestiny thing and that god has a plan for u, u jst have to accept and let jesus have the wheel, and you'll get ur prize that way. but ik there r some who do have a problem w that bc some ppl r truly going thru it, like they experience tragedy after tragedy and it rlly doesn't seem like things r getting better. even if they were to try to believe that god has a plan for them and jst accept their position in life, it sometimes gets to b too much and they end up jst committing suicide. that's partially what i find wrong w hugo's philosophy, bc although ik he's only rlly applying to soccer in this scenario, if u were to apply his philosophy of accepting a predetermined fate and not trying to aim for better things to other situations, then wld it not lead to many feeling dissatisfied and depressed?

and even then, what wld hugo say in response to someone who was born w the physical skills to b no. 1, but squandered them in the face of a lack of motivation to do anything (cough nagi cough)? how does he reconcile having the skill set but not the mindset; wld he jst say that that person was not destined to b no. 1 simply bc they lacked the proper mindset and that there is smthg else that will allow them to live satisfyingly? in the case of nagi, he truly does not have much motivation to play soccer on its own, he plays primarily bc of the ppl he meets thru soccer: he meets reo who is his first friend and someone he becomes closest to, and then he meets isagi who truly makes him want to try playing soccer bc he ignites a passion in him to keep winning. but once that gets to b not enough, he's eventually locked off. is nagi's fate then to b an average nobody? bc following hugo's philosophy, that wld mean that nagi had a fate that was interrupted by reo who makes him try to b a soccer player, and once he stops trying, once he stops putting in effort, he falls back into his fate. despite him trying to b a striker, he was unable to. but nagi comes back, not to blue lock, but he keeps playing soccer, hoping to reunite w and play against reo/everyone else. in that way, nagi, the other protag of the story, kind of goes against hugo's philosophy, at least a little i think?

anyways, i think hugo's philosophy also can lead to a life of complacency bc ppl might hear it and think, oh well then ig i don't have to try to do anything, i've got smthg that i'll naturally find that i'm good at, and that'll b what i do for the rest of my life. but like, there's no excitement to that. i prbly don't understand hugo's ideals completely and i'm taking too many liberties w it and applying it to situations where it's irrelevent, but i think his perspective of accepting a predetermined fate comes from a life of privilege bc there r ppl who do not have "special" abilities or skills who r born into a life maybe of poverty, of abuse, who absolutely do need to try to raise themselves up. and maybe everything does end up working for them and they r able to raise themselves to a better position in life, but for those who r unable to do anything, r they meant to jst stop trying and to jst accept that they'll die living miserably? were they deserving of the abuse, the unhealthy living conditions, the hardships that they were born into? i don't think so, and going back to religion, a lot of ppl endure the suffering they experience bc they want to believe in god's plan for them, but when questioned abt y suffering exists in the first place if god is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, they reply that suffering itself is caused by free will, it's a direct response to someone trying to act in a way that goes against their predestined fate. basically, god is omni-whatever, and bc of this he has ur path all set out for u bc he knows what's best for u, and u can choose to follow it, or u can choose to try to go against, but in doing so, you'll invite ur own suffering bc it's not what god intended for u. ik this is not what everyone believes in, but it's what i heard a lot of during religion class, and hugo is jst bringing up many memories of that.

either way, i'm not against hugo's philosophy, but i think it has to b applied w context and sensitivity esp in other situations, but i also understand his perspective, though i think i'll understand it a bit more if his backstory is explained. i jst feel like hugo is being a little creepy in how he's trying to convey it to isagi, like he's up close and personal w him and it feels a little off, he feels like he's haunting the narrative a lot, but that might jst b my bias towards isagi speaking given that soccer is a very tactile sport and heavens knows isagi gets physical w a bunch of other players as well, tho not one's that he doesn't know well. i do feel as though hugo's meant to b a foil to isagi and bllk's philosophy abt egoism in general, and he's meant to b smthg that isagi will have to overcome to b the best, like a device to develop isagi's character more since isagi and the bllk team have been pretty high on their horses recently, but who knows?

anyways, i wanna talk abt karasu and isagi bc i do have some thoughts abt that as well. i like that we got to see another character other than isagi making a goal and i do like that we're seeing someone challenge isagi and like, make him question himself since it feels like we've been riding his dick a little recently. like yeah you've been doing great in the nel and u beat nigeria 4-0 but cmon nigeria was playing in such a way that reminded me of bllk's lesson of turning zero to one, like an entire team revolving around a single striker who is able to break through, and that was the beginning of blue lock, like before anyone rlly unlocked their ego. considering that, idk, i like that isagi in particular is struggling. we already saw isagi questioning himself before the france game, feeling the pressure of everyone looking towards him as no. 1 and wavering slightly, and so seeing hugo touch on that shakiness rlly makes things tense and brings into play some doubt abt isagi's future, but not rlly? idk, i get the feeling that bllk losing this match will serve to reignite smthg in isagi but eh

abt karasu tho, i found it interesting that he was the one to act as the support that eventually ends in blue lock finally making a goal. his playstyle is very unlike players like isagi or rin, who make the game a life or death gamble and playing without caring if the win is guaranteed or not. instead, karasu likes to play if he knows that there is a guaranteed victory, essentially picking on the weak, like rin calls him out for. here's a character analysis on reddit that talks more abt his character and ego if you'd like to read more, but bc isagi and karasu have such differing pov, i think it was expected that they wld clash. if karasu is someone with a world-style ego, who wins primarily bc he chooses winnable matches, and doesn't rlly like taking risks, prioritizing the goal over the means, then this contrasts someone like isagi, who although is confirmed to also have a world-style ego, seems to be willing to make more risky plays if it means that he'll b the one to score the goal. isagi plays a bit more like a genius rather than a talented learner and i think that's where he might b failing a little in this game. i don't disagree that isagi shldn't accept that he was born to b no. 2, and if he rlly wants to, i think he shld still strive to b no. 1 and devour others, but i also think he does not currently have the skills to do that yet. like sure, world class players like kaiser and sae maybe acknowledge him, but realistically, i think his physique still needs work, he needs more experience, and i personally don't think he's quite on the level of the other new gens which i think is fair given that his ego has been repressed for a couple years in ichinan. hugo is kind of right in saying that once u take away isagi's two gun volley, he's pretty average, esp against teams w players who can also use metavision, but i do think isagi can b better and develop new techniques to play at the same level as other players eventually. i jst don't think he can rn, which is y i think karasu taking the reins and helping hiori score a goal was a good thing.

i do think there r some issues w karasu stating very deliberately that he'll b the support bllk needs to win the game, since it can b very easy to say that you'll b a support once and then have that turn into smthg that you'll take on for more matches until u eventually jst start playing to support the team. it does match w his world-style ego, not taking risks and doing what he can to ensure that the team wins, even if that means sacrificing his striker position to make someone else a better striker, and i do think it was necessary in the moment and potentially for the rest of the game, but it also feels kind of wrong in the face of blue lock's egoist philosophy. i get what isagi is saying abt it being against egoism and i do feel like it's reminiscent of ichinan's one for all, all for one motto, which is understandably smthg isagi's very against, but i also get karasu's point abt it being smthg that worked against the french team. they were able to score a point against france bc they went against their expectations and allowed someone other than isagi to score, smthg that france doesn't rlly seem to expect, esp from someone like hiori who has primarily been known for his passes. in this game specifically, i think that unless isagi evolves beyond what the french team expects, team bllk isn't rlly going to win if they keep centering their plays around isagi. i don't believe that isagi is capable enough of getting past the french team, and allowing others to score goals, allowing players like BAROU AND SHIDOU to get off the bench wld prbly b beneficial to bllk's victory. i don't rlly agree w karasu calling himself a self-sacrifice and abandoning his striker position, and i think it was a little convoluted to pass to hiori and then pass back to him again after hiori passes to him, like that was kinda funny ngl, but hiori did score in the end, and it was a cute look into how much karasu believes in hiori's striker ability.

idrk what to make of ego saying that the tabiori goal wasn't smthg he wanted, like maybe bc it lacks reproducibility and doesn't produce a suitable enough chemical rxn that will draw out the soccer god since it requires a striker to sacrifice themselves, but i do think that ego's philosophy is getting a little too out of touch maybe. rn bllk needs to keep winning in order to progress, and even if noa's philosophy is to shoot even if it makes the team lose, that's acceptable for him to say and actually play out given that he's proven his ability to shoot and score. he's a world class player, no. 1, but blue lock is jst a bunch of u-20 players who have yet to seriously play internationally. the strikers in blue lock can't rlly afford to shoot and not score, that wld make them look like losers, talking big abt winning the world cup for japan when they can't even win the u20 world cup, but winning bc some players decided to become supports for the sake of the team also sounds kinda lame and cements japan's reputation as a country who only produces good midfielders and defenders.

wtv i think bllk won't win against france if they keep trying to center their plays around isagi since france is marking him so heavily, but holy fuck let barou and shidou off the bench plssss i beg of u kaneshiro. let rin make a goal pls, i need more of his destructive ego, even if that's maybe smthg that he worked on in his priv training. pls jst stop focusing on isagi sm, he needs to b humbled or develop some self-awareness, like pls ur not super great yet :D

i'm prbly misunderstanding a lot in these recent chapters though, and i might b taking some ideologies and philosophies too far, extrapolating too much out of them to prove my own point, but these r my thoughts so far haha