#kaisagi analysis

[moonlit-nightsx]

kiis relationship analysis

disclaimer: this isn't analysis of them in canon, just some thoughts on my own fic Truth or Drink: Exes edition, ft. Isagi Yoichi & Michael Kaiser that got too long to put in the notes lol

The break up scene brings up three issues to light.

For one, Isagi ties his self worth to what the media thinks of him as a player. Nearly all the Blue Lock players like him, so it makes sense for Isagi as a character to essentially be used to being liked. Yet Post-Blue Lock, realistically, Isagi as a player would receive a lot of shit for essentially being born out of a reality show, and it would make sense that he’d be held to a higher standard than other players. And with that, it nearly results in something adjacent to internalized homophobia, thinking that anything and everything would be a threat to his career, including his relationship. Back in the first chapter, during the Truth or Drink segment, he expresses apathy about keeping track of his socials, not even having Twitter. After the four years, it’s clear he no longer ties his self worth to how good of a player the media thinks he is, leaving him more energy to focus on more important things, such as his, cough cough, relationships.

Kaiser’s apathy is another issue. Since he was introduced, he’s always been a cocky character, always needing to seem cool and collected and never “real”. From Isagi’s point of view, seeing Kaiser still be apathetic and uncaring about everything a year into their relationship would wear on him. The issue of Isagi and the article is something important to him, and Kaiser still doesn’t care. After the four years, however, he’s more okay about being vulnerable in front of Isagi, and he’s empathetic enough to worry about whether people were watching, not for his own image, but for Isagi’s.

And finally, Kaiser’s need to be loved. Tying in with the last point, Kaiser tries hard not to care that not many people, including teammates and the media, actually like him, but I really feel like there's no way that wouldn’t grate on someone. And seeing (from Kaiser’s POV) Isagi so blatantly worry about “a few” people critiquing him while nearly everyone else loves him would make him bitter, and honestly a little jealous. During the Truth or Drink Segment, where Kaiser and Isagi have been toeing the line of “what’s okay” for the entire segment, hearing the answer to whether Isagi still loves him would have sent Kaiser over the edge. Which is why, during the reconciliation scene, Isagi stresses how much he does love him.

and thats all folks hope you enjoyed

[mvrdermeharder]

Kaiser-goal analysis part 1:

Okay this has been on my mind for a while and I want to get it out real quick

it wasn’t quick, i’m still editing this TWO DAYS LATER

[This is not the analysis I’ve said I wanted to write about Kaiser’s fucked up relationships, I still didn’t get started on that… But I’ll tag you @fyeahkainess since this “little” summary of Kaiser’s goals has a lot to do w kainess, so I thought it might interest you anyways…]

So, most of the goal celebrations in bllk include players giving each other physical affection, or getting close to one another.

And I guess there’s Rin’s latest goal, which is a kinda-nuts-but-still-strangely-endearing moment where he unintentionally bonds with the other crazies of pxg.

But we also have some strikers who did not get a so called “cute celebratory moment” after their goal: Noa against Barcha, Kunigami against Barcha and Manshine, Chigiri against BM

HOWEVER

These players have only scored once or twice

(Ik chigiri scored against manshine and ubers too, but we did not see the what kind of celebration happened after it)

So then we have Kaiser, who scored one goal in every game, each getting more and more impressive from a technical and difficulty standpoint, and yet… there’s less and less directly affirmative celebration going on after each one

So I’ll try to make sense of that if I can…

First goal:

Everything goes according to Kaiser’s plan,

Ness is the one who assists,

Kaiser is very satisfied with the goal,

The pose oozes confidence, there is an ominous, untouchable quality about it (the strong shading and artistic composition of the panel also helps), it’s hard to imagine anyone trying to approach him for a hug or something

Others admire/acknowledge his talent from afar (Isagi’s and Noa’s comments have the most weight, but other players are in awe as well)

And what we see afterwards is Kaiser getting a high five from Ness -> quick and brief physical contact, which based on Kaiser’s facial expression, only seems like an indulgence to let Ness have something.

Still, Kaiser lets him close, and keeps his body turned towards him in an open, relaxed position. And I would really like to highlight it: Ness is the only one he lets close, even if the other BM players actually contributed to the goal as well (I’ll elaborate on this later)

Second goal:

Everything goes according to Kaiser’s plan,

Ness assists,

Kaiser is satisfied with the goal,

The pose - while still full of confidence and satisfaction - is much less intimidating. I could actually imagine other players getting close to celebrate, he seems far less unapproachable here. It’s the goal itself that gives him that untouchable vibe instead of the pose.

Which is why still, other players acknowledge his skills only from a distance.

Although a high five or other physical contact is absent this time, Kaiser keeps facing Ness and even approaches him. This greatly contrasts with how he keeps his back to Isagi, only turning to him in a cocky manner to tease and belittle.

And it all makes sense: in ch 243 Kaiser says how his goal is “to send all the worlds soccer players to the depths of despair” in ch 261 he expresses that he doesn’t know how to receive kindness, it’s easier to be a target of malice, and that he enjoys being an untouchable impossibility that brings despair.

So of course he doesn’t celebrate his goals with other players. Instead, seeing their shocked face and broken spirit is the celebration itself. That is the reason why he’s so weirded out by Isagi being all fired up instead of hopeless. It’s uncomfortable for Kaiser, who is still on his high from the goal and the reaction it evokes. It’s like a slap in the face that drops him from his happiest state.

He later expresses how Isagi’s behavior when faced with the impossible is not normal in ch 207. We see how it bothers him greatly as it goes against everything that he exists for. So he starts fixating on Isagi even more in the next match, to crush him as to finally feel satisfied and get affirmation for himself. Because seeing others broken after his victory is the only thing making him feel human, it’s the only thing that makes him feel good for once, so obviously, he needs to see Isagi fall in line. In the next game however…

Third goal:

Isagi is the one who starts the play, Kaiser simply steals the ball -> he doesn’t have control over the plans and playmaking,

Ness does not contribute,

Kaiser hates that the only possibility for his goal had to start with Isagi’s plans, it goes against his own esteemed self worth, thus he’s not proud of it at all.

After his goal, we see him obviously pissed off but still holding it together if only barely: his expressions and eyes are mostly covered by his hair, but when we see them they are nothing but furious and frustrated.

While other players are shocked by the impossible goal and acknowledge it - again, from a distance - Kaiser does not take satisfaction from it.

So what we see afterwards is a Kaiser who is doing his best to mask his frustration, with the only one daring to approach being an overjoyed Ness. And well, from Ness’ viewpoint, so far he has has received “affection” when Kaiser is on a high from an incredible goal, and this one was the most impressive and difficult one yet, so obviously they could celebrate this together right? Maybe in a way that lets him even closer to Kaiser?

In ch 243 he says “at some point his dream became mine”, but I think there is much more to this… In my opinion he’s just as exited about seeing Kaiser happier than ever and possibly being allowed to be close to him, as he’s exited about the goal itself. Because remember, we have NEVER seen Ness initiate physical contact. Kaiser is the one does, but only rarely: when he’s feeling the most assured in his existence = after scoring a mind-blowing goal that Ness’ pass sets him up to. (More on all of this later in the post…)

But unlike before, Kaiser does not face him after the goal, he keeps his back to him, and then viciously snaps as he can’t bear Ness voicing out (what he himself considers) as failure.

There is a sharp 180 in Kaiser’s behavior that’s obvious: he does not want to face Ness, only does so to reprimand him, and when he’s done with that (the circled panel above) he immediately turns away from him to face Isagi instead

After he declared how much he needs to see Isagi lose to him, this newest goal only contributed to the opposite of that. So now he feels even worse, needs to bury Isagi and the threat he poses to his existence even more urgently. This takes up all of his attention and focus.

And imo he does not bother to reward Ness with attention for another additional reason: Ness did not assist or contribute to the play. Kaiser only keeps him close so that he could have someone to pass to him and create a path to score. It’s very likely he’s INTENTIONALLY giving the most affection to Ness only after scoring with his help. Essentially love bombing him to encourage Ness’ cravings for making a goal possible, so that he could get to see Kaiser at his happiest, at his most open-to-affection-state. Which all benefits Kaiser.

(Alright I’m sorry, I swear I will post the continuation tomorrow, but this is already so long, and i’m still not finished w putting my thoughts together regarding the fourth goal… Because boy oh boy there are even more stuff to analyze with the Magnus goal…

So rn I’m posting this as a part 1, as I just can’t bear to have it in my drafts any longer)

Edit! Read part 2 here, and part 3 here.

[brainjvice]

I would love to write something (more like i would love to write a fanfic) about Kaiser's issues with physical contact and how it would translate during sex... how sex is considered the socially acceptable norm in a relationship and how Kaiser strives to appear more human, so he may force himself to fit into that box.

More analysis under cut, cw for childhood trauma. Its not too graphic but yk.

...The way I feel like he would dissociate halfway through it, the second it feels too much. He goes on autopilot, his brain working its ass off into still mantaining his suave, flirty mask on while he is probably giving his partner the 300 yards stare.

Kaiser would prefer touching than being touched, but I wonder if he would still experience that as a "duty", as something he must experience as a human.

He may fixate on his partner's breathing pattern, on their heartbeat.

On how turned on and eager they are. And on how much Kaiser wants to hurt them.

Is this how his father felt like? Towering onto a worthless creature. Powerful. Miserable.

No matter what, Kaiser's brain would inevitably go there. His trauma is so familiar to him and its something he cannot escape for now, not when he is having sex.

Not when a caring hand on his skin feels like iron burning his flesh.

Not when his own fingers secretly seek the thrill of clawing at someone's throat till it snaps.

He attempt at sex once. Maybe twice. There's a part of him who craves that closeness, but for now it feels like bathing in boiling water. To be honest, Kaiser may hate himself enough to find comfort in that type of self torture, but at the same time this would mean to get perceived and seen by someone else.

For someone like him, who has spent years carefully crafting his public persona, being seen equals death. It means no more control on how he is being perceived. It means they will know.

...So yeah. Kaiser would be miserable while having sex and methinks it would be cool to see it in fanfic.

[corioheinous]

Currently writing a post-Blue Lock aged-up kaisagi fic on ao3 and have been struggling so hard with creating a solid foundation for both characters’ Characterizations. but man did it become easier when I realized how many possibilities there are to explore when making Isagi juuust a little bit obsessed with Kaiser. Like we all know Kaiser is a lot a bit obsessed with Isagi (read: tearing his hair out and choking himself over it every other week) but I think it’s fun to explore Isagi’s quieter, most likely unwelcome obsession with Kaiser. Because at the end of the day, all toxic yaoi situationships are at least somewhat of a two-way street.

There’s a great paradox in which Kaiser embodies everything about a professional football player that Isagi wants to become (and look I know Noa exists but they’re not. they’re not foils in the same way okay that guy is pushing 40) while simultaneously being the most infuriating and annoying bastard in the world to him. Isagi recognizes Kaiser’s raw talent and the years of practice he’s put into developing his techniques as both very intimidating qualities to have in a rival and inspirational ones. Because they’re not impossibly far out of reach; these techniques (particularly metavision) are ones Isagi already employs on the field everyday, just has yet to master them at the extraordinary level Kaiser has. Isagi wants to beat Kaiser at his own game, using his own moves, and has unconsciously allowed Kaiser to become a sort of model for him in the process. Despite the fact that he hates the guy’s guts, he’s mirroring his best qualities to the point where even fans can see that they would synchronize well together if they just let themselves.

But Isagi would never let himself. He’s stubborn. He despises Kaiser. He probably sees a rosebush growing on the side of the road and lets it ruin his day. He’ll probably bear ill will toward anyone with blue hair and pronouns for years down the line. Which is why it’s so fun to be writing a more mature version of Isagi, one who has probably put a lot of that childish resentment behind him. Because when you remove his resentment toward Kaiser, you’re still left with some irritation, yes, but the bulk of it is admiration. It’s Isagi letting Kaiser rile him up more than he pisses him off. It’s Isagi wanting to butt heads with Kaiser both on and off the field. It’s Isagi buying a shirt/hoodie/pair of boxers with a rose pattern on it for no reason he could possibly fathom on his own. It’s a quiet, repressed brand of obsession that might take them both off guard when it comes to light, but it’d be a beyond brilliant moment when it does.

[boinin]

Blue Lock: AO3 statistics and fanfiction meta

Blue Lock (Manga) has more than 13,000 works on AO3! 🎉 The corresponding figure for Blue Lock (Anime) is about 7,900 or so.

Just under 230 works are tagged exclusively as Blue Lock (Anime), while there are just under 5,500 works tagged exclusively as Blue Lock (Manga). As expected, around 7,700 works are tagged under both fandoms.

I'm procrastinating today, so here's a high level analysis of the Blue Lock works on the platform. Given the low number of Blue Lock (Anime) exclusive works, I excluded these and reviewed only works that included the Blue Lock (Manga) tag. I didn't exclude crossovers, due to the aforementioned dual-tagging.

Firstly, here's the lowdown on pairings:

On the left: Works tagged under Blue Lock (Manga), without any additional filtering. NagiReo, KaiSagi and RinSagi nab the top three pairing placements, with NagiReo comfortably leading.

On the right: Same fandom tag, but inputting the search term "otp: true" into the "Search within results" field. This returns works with no more than one pairings tagged (i.e. excluding any works that have two or more pairings tagged). This includes any fics with no pairings tagged, platonic (&) or romantic/sexual (/). This filter yields approx. 8,600 works.

This doesn't affect the top three most-tagged pairings, but it reshuffles the other parings more significantly. For example: we can see that 55% of BachIsagi-tagged works feature other pairings, and it drops a ranking. KuniGiri-tagged works fare similarly, and the split is even more pronounced for RyuSae and NagiSagi.

KaiNess jump from 9th most tagged pairing overall to 5th most tagged amongst fics that only tag one pairing—lapping Kunigiri, and potentially an indicator of a recent boom in works for this pairing. The controversial RinSae goes up one place in the rankings under this filter.

The two searches show that nine pairings remain on top, regardless of whether works tag them in tandem with other pairings or tag them as solo. However, Isagi Yoichi/Everyone falls out of the rankings when the otp: true is applied. This is logical, given this pairing is frequently tagged alongside other Isagi slash tags. Filtering this way reveals that RyuRin is the tenth most tagged pairing in single-pairing works.

More discussion on pairings, ratings and tags, plus a comparison to others sports animanga under the cut!

It's also possible to use "otp: false" to show only fics with multiple (2+) relationship tags, which yields about 4,500 works. The results of this search are below:

Here, BachiSagi just about pips KaiSagi to round out the top three—but if trends persist, the number of KaiSagi works will soon grow at a higher rate, leaving the top three ships in the manga fandom undisputed.

Meanwhile, KaiNess and RinSae drop from the top ten, displaced by Nagi&Reo and Rin&Sae (platonic pairing tags). Not too surprising for the latter—due to taboo, works featuring RinSae tend to be standalone.

With KaiNess, it's simply that the two platonic tags are used more often in multi-pairing works, which makes sense given the relative recency of Kaiser and Ness's introduction, and the fact that they're still manga-only characters. A related search revealed KaiNess would most likely be the eleventh most-tagged pairing in multi-pairing works (296), followed by Bachira&Isagi (platonic pairing).

What about ratings, and the most popular non-pairing tags?

On the left: results for all Blue Lock (Manga) fandom works.

In the middle: results for Blue Lock (Manga) fandom works filtered by "otp: true".

On the right: results for Blue Lock (Manga) fandom works filtered by"otp: false".

To reiterate, the search feature just reports the most frequently occurring tags. Even the most common tag, Fluff, features on only around 15% of works.

There's not too much divergence caused by filtering. One observation is that filtering by "otp: true" returns a higher ratio of explicit works—this is supported by the tags that appear in that respective top ten.

Overall, the most popular tags in Blue Lock works are Fluff, Angst, "No Blue Lock" and "Canon Divergent" AUs, and Established Relationship... not to mention, good ol' reliable buttsecs.

Although not a rigorous (read: percentage tested) exercise, I compared these results to the most frequently occurring tags in other sports animanga fandoms in AO3 with the following observations:

Free! works have higher incidences of Romance, Smut, PWP and Friendship tags than Blue Lock does 🏊‍♂️

Haikyuu!! didn't have any sex-adjacent tags in its top 10, but otherwise reported similar trends to Blue Lock. One exception is a notably high incidence of the "Friends to Lovers" tag 🏐

Yuri!!! on Ice has a frequently occurring fandom specific tag ("Character's Name Spelled as Viktor"), and in additions featured "A/B/O dynamics" among its top 10 most common tags. Otherwise, it most resembles Free! in tagging trends ⛸️

SK8 the Infinity meanwhile mirrors Haikyuu!! in terms of frequently occurring tags, although with more common incidences of "Anal Sex" and "Post Canon" 🛹

In short, nearly all sports animanga including Blue Lock report high incidences of the following tags:

Fluff (and/or) Angst

Established Relationship

Alternative Universe (various)

Hurt/Comfort.

This doesn't tell us a whole lot, given these are popular tags for nearly every fandom. However, they are trailed in popularity by the tags Getting Together, Romance, Smut, PWP, and Friends to Lovers. These are more indicative of the shipping culture in sports animanga, including the fact that character relationships in these fandoms are generally pre-established.

As for ratings, It's hard to make a judgement on whether Blue Lock (Manga) works lean more towards a universal or teen readership, or towards being more mature/explicit in nature. This is due to a high incidence of "Not rated" works. Works may be categorised as "Not rated" for any number of reasons: authors avoiding spoilers, authors relying on tags for identification, or authors not knowing how to categorise their own work, or even opting not to categorise an ongoing fic because they are yet to decide the direction of the work.

That said, filtering by "Not rated" alone didn't yield a higher incidence of explicit tags, like filtering by "otp: true" did. So there's limited evidence that "Not rated" fics trend towards mature or explicit content in excess of general trends. All the same, where in doubt, it's best to refer to a work's additional tags to assess its content, as the rating may not always make this clear.

A long read, catering to a niche audience (read: my nerdy ass) but if you've made it this far, I hope you found it of interest!

[brainjvice]

About me

Professional clown with a major in Yap-ology. I will psychoanalyse your favourite blorbo. Blue lock centric.

Main ships

I firmly believe in multi-shipping and I love poly relationships, so here's what you may find on here:

• Ryusae • Kaisae • RyuSaeKai • Kaisagi • Rinsagi • Bachisagi • BachiRinSagi • NoaEgo • HioNess • Kainess •

Some of these coexist at the same time in my mind, and thats when you have the ✨️polygon✨️ [see header for details]

Tags

#miche draws -> art tag

#miche headcanons -> self explanatory

#miche memes -> for when I chose to post my ugly picsart edits

#miche yaps -> miscellanous, often paired with #character analysis, which is the tag I use whenever my yapping sessions turn out longer than expected

Trigger warnings

I like to explore darker themes sometimes, with a touch of Dead Dove: Do Not Eat.

Main trigger warnings may be for non-con and grooming, which are included in my headcanons for Shidou's (and Sae's) backstory. I will try to tag everything accordingly.

Please mind that I do NOT condone any of this in real life nor is my intent to ever romanticise or fetishise it.

DNF

Due to the content that I may post, which often includes NSFW, I am very uncomfortable with minors following me. I understand its hard to not interact with each other, expecially since the bllk tumblr fandom is rather small, but please refrain from following me.

I will soft-block any minor who has followed me. If you found yourself removed from here, now you know why.

I also dislike drama and ship discourse, so stay away from me if you rant about that a Lot.

[mvrdermeharder]

I just read your Kaiser goals analysis and I really like them! I wanted to pick your brain and ask what you didn't like about how the pxg vs bm match ended, and what implications it had?

Oh when I tell you I gasped at this ask! Thank you so much Anon, i’m very very glad u enjoyed my analysis!! (Lowkey already made my day w this, what a way to wake up lol)

About the pxg v bm conclusions, i honestly could’ve worded it a bit better: it would be more accurate to say that instead of “disliking” the conclusions and its implications, i’m more so just conflicted about it. I say this because the storytelling still makes sense, and objectively, it’s good writing, so i can’t really find myself to straight up dislike it (now that i’ve slept on it and the shock/emotions have passed lol).

And tbh one visual detail just personally bothers me (it makes for nice visual storytelling, but i’m not a fan of it, as this REALLY isn’t the way i wanted the story to go)

So what i’m conflicted about is the state of the Isagi v Kaiser rivalry and Isagi’s development in general. For one, i always preferred the theory that it’d be best to leave them off at the end of the pxg game as equals (=with an equal amount of goals). This would have indicated how far Isagi was able to come during the nel, being on equal ground with a new gen XI player, while at the same setting up the kaisagi rivalry as something that’s still left unfinished, so that during the World Cup arc they’ll still have each other to defeat, making for a nice and constant underlying tension during the arc and for a good challenge for Isagi to focus on.

Here are some instances of visual representations for equality that i really enjoyed seeing: literally heads and brains aligned (their vast height difference is distinctly absent!)

So. Isagi being the absolute winner bothers me because now he has left his biggest rival (the one who’s so alike himself) in the dust and it’s hard to see what’s left for him now. It’s hard to see how much further he can develop, as Kaiser literally embodied his ideal/max development.

It’s hard to see him getting another rival who can be what Kaiser was to him during the nel.

Shounen manga protagonists rarely become “the best/the top” in their respective storylines before the very end of the manga series, but the conclusion to the nel obviously establishes Isagi as the best player. And I’m conflicted, bc as much as i personally dislike this development, i’m very curious about how the mangaka will write for this VERY VERY rare trope, bc if handled carefully, bllk has the potential to become even more interesting. But it can also fall apart very easily now, in the case of poor and hasty character writing.

Anyway, i’m assuming Isagi’s not considering himself “as the best” just yet, after all his goal is to become the best in the world by winning the world cup… HOWEVER the players around him all consider him as the epitome of the bllk project, which is the interesting part… if written well, that is.

And about the visual detail that bothers me: in ch 293, we see the visual representation of how Isagi had became his ideal (=Kaiser), and what’s more, he even suppressed the ideal: this is what the Isagi-breaking-out-of-Kaiser’s-skin-scene is supposed to symbolize.

(At first Kaiser is the one who’s surpassing Isagi’s “fake body”, now it’s the opposite)

This is the visual storytelling element that i hated to see (as cool as it is), because it makes it crystal clear that Isagi is just straight up superior to Kaiser. Which, for the aforementioned reasons I’m personally bothered by. (And what can i say, i’m also a huge kaiser fan, so i’m definitely a bit biased towards him haha)

I’m also just sad to see the Kaisagi rivalry/duo being ended this way, as i was naively hoping for a storyline in which their team-up would’ve been the first step for Kaiser to heal from his self-destructive mentality (as i’ve theorized it in my ch 284 rant). Tbh it’s sad to see him take a step forwards (=him admitting to having fun bc of playing with Yoichi) only to then take two steps backwards. But as i’ve said in my post abt ch 293, his relapse is very realistic, as it often happens a lot when it comes to healing from trauma… healing isn’t linear, there are constant relapses and doubling-downs on harmful coping mechanisms. So, this too, is incredible writing, but so fucking hard to read bc it’s so sad and tragic.

And i’m conflicted about this character writing as well, because as happy as i am to see psychological realism, i also can’t see the mangaka giving more chances for kaiser to heal which I’m devastated about… as we more forwards, it’s most likely that Kaiser would only appear for one single game (japan v germany) so there isn’t really space for his growth, since he’ll become an “absent” character (like Sae is rn). It seems like Kaiser’s story will have a tragic end, and he might never get to walk down the rocky road of healing from his past. Which fucking sucks, and i’m gonna be so utterly crushed if that’s the case.

Make no mistake, if written well and with a lot of care it’s going to be heartbreaking no doubt, but still cathartic, so i won’t complain if that’s the case. If his story is rushed however, i’m going to be very mad. That is my worst fear when it comes to bllk tbh. Complex characters being done dirty at the end due to careless writing.

…

Oh omg i yapped too hard again, hope you don’t mind it! I really appreciate your ask so i wanted to get deep into it haha

Thank you sm for your ask again Anon, you wanting to pick my brain to know more abt my thoughts is such a high compliment!!💗