BLUELOCK

Episode 21

I really hope the voice actors of this show are getting paid well considering the sheer amount of monologues they need to read every episode. I guess this kind of comes with the territory when you start pitting key members of the cast against each other with bigger teams because it genuinely feels like everybody has something to say in this episode. Don't get me wrong, I love the strategic back-and-forth going on here, especially now that Rin is starting to show his full hand. Not only is he incredibly physically skilled, but he's also able to predict outcomes after assessing everybody's abilities. It's definitely an extension of Isagi's abilities and I'm glad he's aware that unless he can elevate himself past Rin's level, then he'll never be the best striker in the world. So far, the team is just barely able to get by thanks to combining the full range of their abilities together, but that certainly has its limits.

It makes sense for Baro to be the wildcard in this situation because his overwhelming selfishness on the field is absurd to the point that it ceases to become a viable form of play that Rin would be able to predict. It's funny considering that these guys are at a facility that is basically constructed with the intention of creating the ultimate egoist player, but seeing Rin getting caught off guard is also satisfying; I look forward to more moments like that. I also wouldn't be surprised if this match ends up taking the rest of the remaining episodes considering how many levels it feels everybody needs to jump in order to squeeze out a victory.

That being said, I am genuinely surprised at the direction the show is taking Bachira. It almost feels like a bait and switch to have him be sort of an excited onlooker to everything going on like he's an audience surrogate. He's also arguably the prize and main goal for this half of the season but BLUELOCK pulls another bait and switch by kind of making him irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Rin never gave a shit about Bachira, but even Isagi has become so involved in bettering himself during this game that he's kind of forgotten what initially drove him to get here. Honestly, I kind of like that. Rin set up Bachira's moral dilemma a few episodes ago by claiming that Bachira is always playing soccer as if he's looking for somebody, which makes sense since Bachira is lonely. I don't think Bachira ever considered what would happen if he found other monstrous players like him only for them to want nothing to do with him. It's almost like a kick to the teeth considering that Bachira grew up feeling abnormal because he was so skilled but now he's surrounded by people that are even more abnormal than he is. I think this is set up for Bachira's eventual evolution as an egoist. I wonder how that'll manifest during this game since he is technically on the enemy's team. Will he be the thing that makes Isagi lose or is he another obstacle that Isagi will need to overcome in order to win?

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BLUELOCK is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.