The following contains spoilers for Episode 21 of Blue Lock, “I’m Not There,” now streaming onCrunchyrollandNetflix.
Blue Lockis the biggest sports anime airing right now, and one of the highest rated sports anime in a long time. Sports anime have become a really popular genre in the past ten years, more so than ever before, and like all genres of anime sports anime have elements that make them unique. Like most stories, though, sports anime usually havesome kind of antagonist or “villain”- at least a big opponent for the main character to have to face off with, who helps them develop their skills and pushes the story along.
Blue Lockhas been unique in that basically any character that is not Isagi can be considered a “villain” in comparison to him. After all, the end goal of the story is to produce ONE top striker to play for Japan, and all the other characters will have their international soccer careers ended there and then. That means, at some point, Isagi will have to leave even those he considers his friends and teammates behind if he wants to be the champion. They are all his opponents. But there are a few characters that have really stood out as the top contender for the title of “villain,” and they all made themselves known this week.
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The Teammate - Shouei Barou
The most obvious contender for the title of “villain” goes to Shouei Barou, who has been an opponent to Isagi the longest inBlue Lock. Even though the two have been playing on the same team for several episodes now, they don’t often see eye to eye and are competing constantly on the pitch against one another. Justa few episodes ago, Barou even declared himself to be a villain, which gave him the motivation to keep going when times got tough.
Barou and Isagi’s history goes back to the first season, and the two have never gotten along. They have always been trying to one-up each other, and for a long time, Barou did not even see Isagi as worth his time. Recently, he has acknowledged Isagi’s skills on the pitch, but that has only made him more competitive. In “I’m Not There,” Barou unleashed his inner lion - complete with growling and roaring - to steal the ball from Isagi, disrupt the other team, and score a killer goal. If Isagi’s team is not able to win this match, Barou is making himself stand out as the top choice for the Red Team to take with them to the next round as the most powerful player on the field, and thus Isagi’s biggest opponent despite being on the same team.
The Opponent - Rin Itoshi
The next obvious choice for a “villain” is Rin Itoshi, who has always been playing against Isagi. He only showed up in this latest season, but has been painted as anincredibly powerful playerright from the start. He does not have Barou’s loud voice and boisterous attitude, but is instead more the silent killer type. He originally left Isagi behind when he played against him at the start of the Second Selection, taking Isagi’s friend Bachira through to the next round. Since then, he has been Isagi’s main motivation to fight on and improve and overtake.
This episode, we saw that Rin is also Isagi’s match on the field for having a strategic mindset. Isagi’s skill has always been that he can analyze the pitch and predict other player’s moves, allowing him to both score and set others up for goals. Rin, though, can do the same - perhaps even better than Isagi can, as he proved by scoring twice in “I’m Not There.” He also referred to both Isagi and his own teammate, Bachira, as nothing more than NPCs to him. His cold attitude coupled with his intense skill set that rivals Isagi’s own makes him even more likely to be the “villain” than Barou.
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Friends to Enemies - Meguru Bachira
The final contender for “villain” is a bit more unexpected. Isagi’s old friend and teammate, Bachira, has had a lot of character development over the course ofBlue Lock. From thevery first episode, he has been shown to be a bit of an enigma. He is a great player, though a bit strange and hard for others to understand, and we know that both he and Isagi have what Bachira calls a “monster” aiding them on the pitch. While he has always cheered Isagi on and had fun playing with him, he has also had no problems leaving Isagi behind and using what he knows about him to defeat him.
The title of Episode 21, “I’m Not There,” was a reference to Bachira’s feelings throughout the episode. He has always been searching for incredible players powered by these “monsters” to play soccer with, but now that he has found them in Isagi and Rin… he feels left behind by them, and ignored. Suddenly, Bachira’s entire motivation for playing has been seemingly shattered at the end of the episode when he had been planning for a big monster party on the pitch.
We will not be surprised to see a new side of Bachira next week, one where the monster inside of him truly awakens and takes over on the pitch. He wants to be included with Rin and Isagi, and he wants to play the soccer he has always dreamed of - with other monsters. Because Bachira has been around since the start of the show, he also is the perfect candidate to become the real “villain” ofBlue Lock.
It would be the mostshocking twist, and the show already has plenty of those, and would be a great chapter in his character arc. Rin and Barou make the obvious choices - butBlue Lockavoids the obvious. Not the mention it would hurt Isagi the most, and help develop his character, which is what every great villain is meant to do. Keep your eyes on Bachira as we head into the end of the season!
