Gathering their bearings after adevastating World Cuploss in the past, the Japanese decided to build a system that will allow them to build the most powerful star player possible in true anime fashion. That is the gist of Blue Lock, a football/soccer-based anime series where some of Japan’s best young players compete within an initiative that’s only meant to breed the best.
It asks each player if they have the ability and more importantly, the ego, to make it out on top. A lot of talented players are shown in the series with skill sets similar to some of the best players we’ve seen in real life. Here are 5 Blue Lock players with similarities to real footballers.
5Meguru Bachira - Neymar Jr.
Skills To Pay The Bills
Blue Lock might be a Japanese series about young athletes looking to become part of their country’s national efforts to win the World Cup in the future, but one of themost interesting playershas Brazilian flair if any player ever has.
A player who loves the thrill of the game more than anyone ever does, Bachira dazzles audiences with his dancing feet that will remind anyone of the many skillful Brazilians that have made major impressions on the world stage. The most recent of which being Neymar Jr. Just like Neymar, Bachira’s on the average side when it comes to height, standing at 5’9”. More so like Neymar, Bachira is prone to showboating his excellent dribbling skills and flair on the pitch and isn’t afraid to throw in a rainbow flick here and there.
His roulette’s and flicks and dyed
yellow hair certainly give off the image of a young Brazilian hotshot. His player archetype is known as the dribbler, as that is what he is best at, just like Neymar, with his runs on the ball being the most interesting part of his game.
4Rin Itoshi - Robert Lewandowski
Efficient Strikers
From the first introduction of Rin Itoshi, both the audience and the other characters around him knew they were dealing with quitean intense player and rival for our protagonists. A cold, stern, and above all, serious player who only cares about his efficiency as a striker. From the way in which he plays, similarities to one of the most brutally efficient players around in Robert Lewandowski.
Like Lewandowski, Rin stands at 6’1”, a good height for a striker, especially when taking into account hold-up play and potential aerial duels. Rin also finds himself to be as ridiculously prolific as Lewandowski is, scoring over two goals per game on average during the Third Selection.
Rin’s player archetype is described as the playmaker striker, which draws even more niche parallels between the two. Rin has the vision and ball control that allow him to develop quality goal-scoring opportunities. And whilst Lewandowski isn’t defined by his ball control, it is an underrated part of his game. He might not have been on the level of Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar in terms of dribbling skill in his prime, but he knew how to hold and control the ball in search of scoring opportunities to capitalize on, just like Rin Itoshi didthroughout the series.
3Shoei Baro - Zlatan Ibrahimović
Big Player Big Ego
If there ever was a player with a larger than life personality and even larger ego in world football, it was the agile Swedish giant Zlatan Ibrahimović. The same could be said about Shoei Baro, anendearingly arrogant and domineering playerwho catches the attention of all those at Blue Lock from early on in the series.
Zlatan was quite a bombastic player, believing wholeheartedly in his greatness (and having the skills to back it up) and often referring to himself as a Ferrari or a Lion. Baro is very similar in this regard, referring to himself as “The King” and treating the pitch as if it’s his glorious stage. Both men are strikers who stand at imposing heights, Zlatan being 6’5” and Baro being 6’2”, much taller than the vast majority of his fellow players.
Baro is a complete forward, just like Zlatan was. He has an incredibly powerful shot, able to strike the ball like a rocket and send it flying like a bullet. He has great technical ability for someone of his size, a trait Zlatan was often complimented on. And, of course, as a product of his size, he is capable of bullying other players off of the ball using his superior physicality.
2Hyoma Chigiri - Gareth Bale
Fast As Lightning
With blistering pace and past issues with injuries, there are quite a few players one could compare Chigiri to of football’s past and present. For this article, the most famous of these potential players has been chosen, one who, despite injuries plaguing him, was able to have a fantastic career as one of the world’s fastest and greatest players - Gareth Bale.
The most obvious similarity between the two of them is their speed. Fans of Blue Lock will rememberChigiri’s iconic scenein Season 1 where he broke past the metaphorical chains with his injuries tied around his legs and sprinted past an entire team of players with unstoppable momentum. That type of run was Gareth Bale’s bread and butter, with there being many clips on the internet of him doing that, such as his iconic goal against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final.
The satisfying feeling of watching a pacey player glide past multiple defenders with just a heavy touch forwards and bounding steps onward like an engine on the pitch is one that audiences can get from watching Chigiri the way fans did from years of watching Bale.
1Yoichi Isagi - Filippo Inzaghi
Finding Space
This one is more of a niche comparison than any of the others on this list, the real player in question being one who hasn’t played a match in over a decade, retiring in 2012. But as many fans on social media have pointed out, Filippo Inzaghi is the player thatthe main protagonist of Blue Lock, Yoichi Isagi, was based upon.
Both players are not necessarily the most entertaining strikers to watch, but they’re strikers nonetheless, both doing their job to the best of their ability, creating chances, scoring goals, and thrusting their teams towards victory. Isagi’s main skill, as identified in Blue Lock,is his ability to find space on the pitch and exploit itby either occupying it himself or picking the right time for a fellow teammate to do the same. Similarly, Inzaghi’s playing style was defined by opportunism, his goals often coming from taking advantage of opponent mistakes and finding himself in a world of space to act on.
Isagi’s skill of finding pockets and Inzaghi’s skill of immediately capitalizing on giving up space is what makes them both such interesting players. It’s no coincidence that even their names sound quite similar.
Blue Lock
Cast
Based on Muneyuki Kaneshiro’s soccer manga, Blue Lock revolves around a program to develop a world-class Japanese striker. Just about qualifying, Isagi has to face off against the nation’s best young talents and survive selections, while constantly growing as a player.
