08 - Blue Lock

What is the Blue lock Manga?

Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably know that FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is well underway. With football fever in the air, I decided to try the Blue Lock manga and it was awesome. Blue Lock is a sports manga written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by Yusuke Nomura.

In 2018 after failing to win the FIFA World Cup yet again, the Japanese Football Union sought the aid of eccentric coach and enigma, Ego Jinpachi to ensure their success. He is charged with scouting high school players that will ensure Japan wins the next world cup.

This is where things get battle Royale survival crazy as his plan is to lock hundreds of Japan's finest players up in a prison-like institution called Blue Lock with intense training aimed at creating the world's most fantastic striker. Unlike any ordinary programme, Blue Lock sees Jinpachi introducing a radical new training regimen to produce one super forward. Of the 300 young players, only one of them will succeed, while the losers will have their football careers terminated.

Enter our protagonist, Yoichi Isagi, a young high schooler who recently failed to make it into the Nationals and is now determined to work his way through Blue Lock to the top of Japanese football and a World Cup victory. Like many shonen manga, Isagi is joined by numerous other characters, players like him, with their own reasons for participating in the radical new programme.

Reading List

• Ao Aashi by Yūgo Kobayashi
• Blue Lock 1 - https://amzn.to/3Y0FPEu
• Kuroko's Basketball - https://amzn.to/3XNMu4H
• Slam Dunk No 1 - https://amzn.to/3UqqFFw

Conclusion

So Blue Lock is like a death game story filled with bizarre challenges, putting football careers at risk instead of lives. It's a World Cup manga that takes us on a wild adventure filled with adversity, betrayal, friendship and striving to be the best. What's not to love? It's also great how it ties into real world football.

I love how team Japan's performance during FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has been compared to Team Z by football fans around the world. Using the power of anime and mangaka fanart, the national team has a boosted morale that has allowed them top Group E for now. Talk about a successful promotional campaign.

The 2022 Cup will run until December 18, so there's still some time to see if team Japan can make it to the top.

Thanks for joining me on another episode of Lyfeblerd. I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to the next episode. Don't forget to rate and review on iTunes, Podchaser and anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Music provided by Argofox:

Rewayde - Dreams

youtu.be/0JtZOZroRCw

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