The following contains spoilers for Episode 5 of Blue Lock, "The One to Be Born," now streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
This week, Blue Lock is back with fast-paced action right out of the gate, and keeps the pacing up for the majority of the episode. With an unbelievable goal, character development for main character Isagi, and plot progress "The One to Be Born" was definitely better than last week's disappointing episode.
Blue Lock is holding its position on the Fall Anime Charts according to MyAnimeList at number 9, having already dropped three places the previous week. This comes at little surprise, considering last week's episode did not push the plot or characters that much compared to previous ones. Now, though, it seems that Episode 4 was likely a bridge between episodes more than anything else, and set up everything that happened in Episode 5.
Main Character Energy
Being honest, lead character Isagi has not been that interesting compared to all the side characters up to this point in Blue Lock. He has been an average soccer player at best, and did not even have an interesting "secret weapon" like his teammates. Mostly, he spent his time moping and not thinking he was good enough, which made his scenes a slog compared to other characters.
Finally, though, we are seeing a more interesting side of Isagi, and he is giving off some main character energy. Firstly, he scores an incredible goal in this episode, revealing that his power (boringly, though, its spatial awareness) is actually quite useful. He also jumps to the top ranking on Team Z thanks to his performance in the match, which throws him into the center of upcoming internal rivalries between the players. That sets up future interactions that should be more interesting.
Gray Morals
The best moment of Episode 5 of Blue Lock for us was the immediate aftermath of Isagi's game-winning goal. He turns to face Team Y, who have now been eliminated from the Blue Lock program, ending their dreams of ever playing soccer for Japan. And instead of feeling bad about ending their careers, as it seems predictably setting up, Isagi feels good about it. He feels happy that he was able to move on, and that they were not.
That is definitely more interesting than him just feeling bad for them! Later, he does question if it makes him a jerk, but he does not dwell on the feeling for very long. The monster inside him did not make an appearance in this episode either, but we all know it is there, lurking inside of him. When will it rear its ugly head again - and how is that going to look?
When Selfishness Works
Typically, sports anime focus on teamwork and relationships between teammates, and Blue Lock has been challenging that trope the entire season. This week was no different, and actually got even more into this question. Thus far, Isagi's playing style had been established as a support role. He always passed the ball to others, letting them score instead of himself, or even leading to losing the game as we saw in Episode 1.
This week, though, Isagi's strategy changes. He uses his secret weapon of spatial awareness (we still do not love this...) to be in the right place at the right time. And rather than passing the ball as he has always done, Isagi takes the risk and makes the winning goal. He realizes in that moment that up until that point, he had always been focusing on his teammates more than himself. And now that he seized the glory and made the goal, that is what it takes to be a striker.
Before this moment, Isagi says that he was not cut out to be a striker, because a striker needs to do everything to score the goal. This kind of mindset is exactly what the Blue Lock program is trying to teach - at whatever the cost. It is also what is breeding so much rivalry and dissent between all the players, and what will continue to keep Blue Lock more interesting than your average sports anime for viewers looking for something fresh in the genre.
Overall, Episode 5 "The One to Be Born" was the best episode so far since Episode 1. It showcased what makes Blue Lock special, and had some great soccer moves as well. It also brought back Lionel Messi for any real soccer fans that may be watching, again tying this otherwise very unrealistic anime to the real world a little, too. We will be curious to see if Blue Lock's ranking changes going into next week, and if it is able to climb back up the charts again even just a little!