BLUELOCK

Episode 7

I called it: You don't give a character as much foreshadowing as you gave Chigiri and not have him be the lynchpin for how Team Z gets out of the difficult situation that they are in. It also makes sense narratively, since the whole issue is that all of their plans have been leaked to the opposing team after one of Kuon betrayed them. Having a teammate in the form of Chigiri who didn't want to talk about his abilities because he was intentionally holding back ended up being exactly what was needed to break apart that strategy. It's a little simple and convenient if you really sit down and think about it, but I do think the execution makes up for it.

Through flashbacks, we see that Chigiri did injure himself after spending a good chunk of his childhood being praised as a soccer genius. He was forced to sit out and recover, but because he was very close to losing his entire soccer career due to that injury, he mentally put a block on himself so that way he wouldn't run the risk anymore. However, this ended up coming at a cost where Chigiri ended up losing his greatest weapon: his speed. You could ask yourself “well why is he even at Blue Lock risking his career if he's not gonna go all out?” The answer is pretty simple in that he wanted an excuse to not play soccer anymore. He wanted someone or something else to make that decision for him so that way, probably years from now when he's an old, bitter adult, he can just blame that instead of acknowledging the fact that he was afraid. I do like the fact that it was him seeing his teammates try so hard that made him break that block out of frustration. I wonder if this is what Ego was talking about with regards to how deep down, everyone has that selfish nature. Seeing that nature manifest itself in a way where it was actually helpful not just to the team but also to the individual is surprisingly uplifting. Maybe that's exactly what Team Z needs at this time in order to win what will definitely be their hardest match to date.

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BLUELOCK is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.