#i don't think this will be kaiser's arc yet. i think his arc will coincide with the match against rin's team

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OHHHH so that's why reo and nagi had to reunite in this arc. it's because isagi's new lesson to learn is "understand how everyone's egocentrism intersect" and like, yeah, what better example can you give other than reo and nagi.

isagi likes to talk about protagonists and egocentrism etc. when really at the core of it all, he's just getting into their psyche and playing off of everyone else's psychological playstyles. which?? okay my dude, that's next level soccer manipulation. I'm proud of you. now go trick yukimiya into teaming up with you please

[protect-namine]

Opinion on ness? _aesterblaster

omg I don't talk about him much but I actually really love satellite characters and ness is totally kaiser's satellite

since I don't talk about ness that much I'm pouring everything into this one post lol, so brushing everything under the cut to spare everyone the long essay. also, obligatory disclaimer that my thoughts on him will probably change once we get his backstory.

I think ness is an interesting character to have in the germany team because BM is all about rationality and the rational part here is to rely on and support kaiser to score. if blue lock shakes up that system, is ness "rational" enough to support other players if it's the logical thing to do, even if (especially if) it's against kaiser, or will he stick by kaiser anyway? tbh I don't know enough about him to say, but I'm willing to bet he's actually more loyal than logical, but that loyalty didn't come from nothing! maybe he truly believes kaiser is better than everyone and he is the best strategy, or maybe his loyalty just happens to coincide with what is the best strategy right now. but I'm really betting his loyalty trumps "rationality" because just look at his eyes here after isagi steals the ball and assist kunigami

he's such a smiley, cheery person usually. I wonder what his backstory is...

we already know that the chain designs are deliberately drawn in ways that say something about the character (like sae's broken and golden chains, kaiser's clear chain, etc). ness's chain having blue roses is kinda a given since he makes it his goal to direct the plays around kaiser and it's probably also holding him back since he doesn't cultivate his own "ego" outside of it. what is ness outside of kaiser? how do we define him without kaiser in the picture?

I would love to get a ness arc to explore the implications of this picture!!

we already know plenty of characters like him with similar roles/skills but they can stand on their own (tabito, hiori, heck even isagi himself) and/or are growing past their need to be defined as a shadow of someone else's talents (reo). he's a nice contrast to all of that. I don't necessarily think he needs to get rid of or surpass kaiser for growth (like how nagi and reo broke up), but maybe their relationship dynamics can change. like how bachira didn't necessarily move on from isagi to surpass him, but their relationship changed to one where they constantly challenge each other to be better. as much as ness is defined around kaiser, kaiser is also only able to prop himself up because of ness and that doesn't have to change. I mean, rose thorn imagery aside, their relationship seems (for now) waaay healthier than reonagi and even rin and sae back when rin was just as obsessed with being sae's right hand man (see the post's tags for more on this topic).

(tangent: tbh I think the reason why isagi can't beat kaiser yet despite learning to do meta vision at will is because he forgets that kaiser is relying on two sets of eyes... ness is right there with probably the same vision skills so together they consume less energy to control the field unlike isagi who just solos it)

idk if we'll ever see it but I would love to see some story moments that contrasts him with kurona (who, in order to stay in the team, chose to be isagi's satellite), hiori (the OG isagi satellite and cheerleader!! but currently benched...), and reo (who is trying to move on from being nagi's satellite but damn the reonagisagi thing just keeps getting messier and messier. I really feel bad for the guy). I think there's potential in exploring ness's character with these other three as foils.

(another tangent: I've been wondering why his chain becomes transparent at the back but I saw someone point out that it could be because it connects to kaiser's. super neat detail!!)

I think ness has more control over the team than is apparent, he's just not loud about it like kaiser is. it's like... if kaiser is the director of a play, ness is the stage manager that makes it all happen, y'know? kaiser might be the star but I think they both know and understand that ness holds just as much power here. but he's a super chill guy who's got a handle on things so I'd love to see what makes him mad. this is blue lock! we deserve to see a truly pissed off ness!!

outside of plot, and more into fanon territory: I think he holds 90% of kaiser's impulse control; he would make a great mom friend (how come no one thought of giving the blue lock kids the magical mikage translation earbuds until he arrived?? also he probably knows how to calm down a Kasier Tantrum if it happens); he would probably be down for a karaoke/hangout chapter with the blue lock kids; he either has anger management issues deep inside OR he already took care of that in therapy and is now just living his mostly-chill but pretty-obsessed happy life being the stage magician for kaiser

further fanon delusions: I hope they turn out to be childhood friends. omg wait, even better: I hope the twist is that kaiser actually got a blue rose tattoo because of ness............. because ness genuinely thinks he can "attain the impossible" (one of the things a blue rose symbolizes) and kaiser got that tattoo'd as a reminder to himself. oh man, that would be nice I think. I think it would be fun to flip the script and make ness the hidden reason for kaiser's existence even though on the outside it seems like the other way around.

but lol maybe kaiser really is just a dramatic person that likes blue roses and maybe ness really is just a super big kaiser fan. I have no problem with that too!! these two are just theater kids playing football tbh!!