#bllk chp 218

[eurydicees]

im kind of obsessed with the ubers team. theyre so insane. every time isagi cracks the code they go oh what code and isagi looks like hes gonna have a break down

[boinin]

Blue Lock Manga

We've been blessed by Chp 218 🙌 It's had a mixed response but I enjoyed it a lot.

Thoughts under the cut.

Previous chapter analyses

The art continues to blow me away. I didn't appreciate it as much when I was bingeing through the chapters, or when I watched the anime 🙃 but gosh it's so pretty. These are my personal favourite panels this week. The one with Barou and Isagi is so evocative. A clear visual explanation of the difference between Metavision and Predator Eye.

Isagi is data scientist AU anybody?

He's SUCH a dork, and I mean that in the kindest sense. Bro's reeling off completely fabricated terms to Niko like he's teaching a class 🥹 I love that he's so keen to pass on what he's learned. He's shown himself to be a voracious learner, going to everyone from Barou to Rin to Kunigami for tips. I want to see someone ask him for instruction!

Also - how cute are Aiku and Niko in this chp?! They're like brothers. I have a draft outline in my writing vault for an Ubers found family fluff fic featuring these two, and this isn't helping me ignore it.

Not everyone has metavision, what a shocking reveal /s It felt heavy handed in delivery, but it shows who Isagi's rivals are in terms of playmaking and predictions. No, Raichi isn't coming for Himsagi's bag yet.

Another amazing set of panels, love it any time they go nuts with the puzzle pieces. Isagi lists only four... but I think Kaneshiro's setting up Aiku to be the surprise fifth MV user. He might not consciously activate the ability as Isagi does, but he's definitely capable.

I had sight of these panels from the leaks when I was writing up the chp 217 post, so I won't rehash the BM v Ubers point. But I like how this visualises their differences. The art is grotesque but really beautiful at the same time. Look at Isagi naming himself at the top alongside Kaiser! That's ego growth for you.

On that note: who's the Game Changer this chapter's talking about? Isagi seems to think it's going to be one of him or Kaiser, or out of Ubers, Lorenzo, Barou, Aiku or Niko. Naturally, it's not likely to be any of these, cos ✨suspense✨

The chapter itself ends with a suggestion that it'll be BM that supplies it...

EMOGAMI PLEASE, DO SOMETHING WITH THAT EDGE OF YOURS, WHAT'S THE POINT OTHERWISE 😭

I'm biased towards my boy Rensuke, but I'll try to be objective here. On the subreddit, people are split 50:50 between being excited that he's getting a moment, or rolling their eyes at that edgy ball steal. I couldn't care less about whether this is an accurate depiction of soccer playing or not (it's a shounen battle manga as far as I'm concerned). But I do think Kunigami's solo run will get shut down next chapter. He hasn't had a lot to do in this match, but I think Kaneshiro will hold back on Kunigami's development for the PXG showdown.

In the last panel, you can see Kunigami's barrelling towards the goal. There's two defenders up ahead. One is Niko, who's apparently well-suited to reacting to sudden threats (i.e. him tackling Isagi). The other is not so obvious... but odds are, it's Aiku. Who's also not done a lot so far and who doesn't have a grudge against Shidou Ryuusei to milk later

My prediction? Kunigami will outmuscle Niko, but get walled by a levelled-up Aiku, leaving a free ball for Kaiser or Isagi to claim.

As for who'll be the true game changer? Said it already, but if Hiori's not getting subbed on for our newly christened royal trash!Ness in the next five chapters, I'll eat my hat. 🐑

No more commentary from me. Just signing off with a glorious narcissistic bastard entering flow 💅

[eurydicees]

love love love when blue lock characters on the same fucking team steal the ball from each other for no other reason than getting impatient like guys you are literally missing a crucial element of the game here but by god is it working for me anyways. go team(?)

[boinin]

Blue Lock Manga

Scanlation for chp 219 (Dynamism) is out!

A rare meh chapter for me, for a couple of reasons. But hey, least it's pretty to look at! ✨ As usual spoilers under the cut.

Previous chapter analyses

Humour me: how masochistic is it to be a Kunigami fan these days?

I took the liberty of screenshotting every appearance BM's resident ball poacher/butt monkey made this chapter. Turned out to be sixteen times, or fourteen if you don't count the bllk avatar.

See anything of real notice in this collage? Yeah, me neither. My point is to illustrate how redundant his ball stealing stunt at the end of chp 218 proved to be, despite being hyped. Cos, uh.... Isagi went off and did the exact same thing to him like seven pages into chp 219. 🙃

We'll get some sort of character development or payoff for emo!Gami eventually. For now, those of us still defending him better remember our uniforms 🤡

So what was remarkable this chapter?

🦈📣 DEBUT OF SEXY FOOTBALL IN THE NEO-EGOIST LEAGUE 📣🦈

.....aaaaaaand that's it.

Don't mind, Raichi, you'll be back as-- idk comic relief or something later (shade aside, giggled at him reading poor Niko like that)

Isagi continues to be a profound menace, although he kept the slurs to his inner monologue this week. I appreciate his ploy of stealing the ball from Kunigami, to stop the call getting stolen off Kunigami by Ubers, but like... got to admit, at this point Ubers are just sitting back with popcorn watching BM play hot potato among themselves 💀

The main development this chapter (and its saving grace) was Aiku. I enjoyed his humbling of Himsagi. It was whiplash, seeing him read Niko to filth for getting cocky about his MV, then... not anticipating that the centre back captain of the U20 national team would 1) have MV, which Isagi's already realised many good players have, and 2) be good at defending. On a defence-centric team. Oh Isagi.

Eh. I laughed when reading the leaks, but overall this chapter didn't flow that well for me. We did get some insanely cool Aiku panels, including a close up of his MV eyes. Artwise, the second and third panels shared above are the highlights for me.

Anyway, I'm rambling so I'll wrap up. The goofy stuff I liked this chapter was, in order:

Whatever the fuck this Niko/Raichi interaction was, lol

LET'S GO, MY RELIABLE PLANET 🌌🪐

Kunigami's murder face when Isagi stole his stolen possession But I think the prize has to go to...

4. Ness, for HIS murder face when Kunigami stole his legit possession!

Prediction tracker

(alternatively: how wrong can one nerd be week to week?)

Last week, I predicted for chp 219: Kunigami will outmuscle Niko, but get walled by a levelled-up Aiku, leaving a free ball for Kaiser or Isagi to claim.

Actuality: Kunigami's solo run is halted by Isagi, who out-eyesights Niko, taunts him for it, then gets out-eyesight'd AND likely outmuscled by Aiku... leaving him in a pickle.

I'd say that was a swing and a miss.

I also predicted Hiori would get subbed in five or less chapters, so... four more to go! 🐑

Ahead of chp 220 (titled "See-saw"), I predict Isagi will try to beat Aiku one-on-one, or maybe use Yukimiya as a decoy to do so. This is based on the recurring references to winning one-on-one duels being the key to beating Ubers. Also, Isagi's got a hang up about passing near the goal, which he's got to overcome at some point.

What I'm (and mostly everyone else) certain of is, Isagi's not scoring the next goal. There wasn't a peep out of Kaiser this chapter... maybe he'll spring a surprise Kaiser Impact on Ubers while they're busy fending off Isagi?