#rinsagi meta part 4

[bluelockednyx]

Isagirin meta part 4

Part 1, talking about Isagi's first meeting and match with Rin here.

Part 2, covering the rest of the Second Selection Arc, up until the formation of the Rin-Isagi-Bachira-Aryu-Tokimitsu 5-man team here.

Part 3, covering the 5v5 match against the World 5 team, as well as the Blue Lock Eleven tryout matches, up until Rin's kickoff in the Blue Lock vs U20 match here.

This is part 4 of my Rinsagi meta series, and will cover the first half of the Blue Lock vs U20 match, up till Isagi and Rin begin heading back to the field for the second half.

First Half (C113 - C126)

The game starts with Rin’s kickoff, and Blue Lock crowds the midfield as per their strategy. Bachira’s pass to Isagi gets blocked off by Aiku, whom Isagi now targets as his new challenge in the game proper. In the midst of breaking through the midfield towards the penalty area, Isagi’s attention is caught by Otoya, who can’t get past Darai.

Rin's clearly been paying attention, and likely having the same thoughts as Isagi (or mindreading Isagi, because let's face it, they've already done that plenty of times before now), because he tells Isagi to change up his train of thought.

Blue Lock gets stalled, and the ball stolen from possession. The U20 defense shows off their stuff, and when Sendou, U20's ace, fails to score, Sae makes a line drive shot and makes the first goal of the match.

While Isagi’s getting carried away by the crowd’s expectations, Rin maintains his cool, and once again calls out to Isagi, telling Isagi to focus on him.

“You just have to look at me.”

This was a nice little callback to Rin telling Isagi to watch his ascension to become the world's number one, by the way, but I digress.

C116

The game restarts with Rin's pass to Isagi again. While mired in doubt, Isagi hangs on to Rin's earlier words.

"I don't even know what I'm lacking right now. That's how strong they are. But I'm already past that. It's clear what I need to do... discard all unnecessary thoughts! Concentrate on what I can do right now! I'm going to use everything I've got and focus on building my plays with Rin!"

Rin ups the tempo of the passes, and Isagi matches up with him well enough that they jam the U20's defense temporarily. When Bachira gets a pass from Rin, he even remarks that he's jealous of their coordination.

Rin attempts to copy Sae's own shot, and narrowly misses out on scoring a goal. Yukimiya, then Otoya attempt to score as well, but it's ultimately Nagi who gets the first goal for Blue Lock.

In the dugout, Ego narrates that Rin's decision, his attack, was the underlying reason behind Blue Lock scoring, and that Isagi is key to Rin awakening. Isagi, likewise, understands that Rin’s actions were what led to the goal. He tries to comfort Rin, who doesn’t take too kindly to it (lol), because he wasn’t the one who scored the goal, pointing out that Isagi too, had split up from him the moment he found a chance to score. Rin even goes so far as to say that this distorted relationship of theirs is how they should be. Isagi accepts that as well; he doesn’t need to focus on teamwork with Rin. What he should do is focus on his own goals as well.

We'll see if that's where the narrative is going for, Rin

Rin faces off against Sae, and immediately rags on him for being a shitty sibling. Younger siblings unite against shitty older siblings!!

Isagi shouts to Rin that he'll back him up. Rin yells back at Isagi to back off.

As Niou says, this is a sibling fight at a national match, indeed. Rin keeps up with Sae, until Sae coolly informs Rin that so long as Rin is hung up on being Sae's brother, Rin won't beat hi, then gets past him. 

Karasu, the third person (I think) to nickname Rin.

Niko steals the ball from Sendou, and Karasu breaks through together with Otoya, then passes to Chigiri. Chigiri cuts through to the right and passes back to Karasu, who's open. Sae comes in to block him, and the stray ball goes to Rin. Aiku defends, and while Isagi comes up behind Aiku, distracting him, Rin scores Blue Lock's second goal.

Isagi’s full of admiration over Rin’s goal, and goes in for a hug. He’s also the only one leaping in for a hug, which is an interesting parallel to Nagi earlier, who had so many others lunging at him. Rin dodges (too bad, Isagi, you haven’t unlocked friendship levels requirement for that yet). Rin tells Blue Lock that they’re finishing off the first half with plan B. The U20 move in, and all the Blue Lock members, besides Nagi who remains at midfield, move in to defend. Rin blocks Sae’s pass to Sendou, and the stray ball gets back in Sae’s possession, who then shoots a second time. Thanks to Aryu, they stave off the final minute, and Blue Lock goes into the second half in the lead, at 2-1.

In the locker rooms, Sae reveals that he’s playing in the game because of Aiku’s bet, and that his only interest is in Blue Lock. He reminisces Rin’s ‘guts pose’ after Rin scored Blue Lock’s second goal.

‘I saw what I came for, and I’m satisfied. So I have no reason to keep playing this match.’

That doesn't happen, as Aiku baits Sae into continuing the game using Shidou.

Over on the Blue Lock side, they celebrate their current lead and rest up. Ego then points out that Blue Lock’s goals began with Rin and Isagi’s combination. Rin explains that he needed to get past the U20 defenders, and used Isagi as a sacrificial lamb. Isagi then says that he has no intention of being simply a pawn in the game.

While Isagi ‘devours’ more of Rin’s game mentality, to push forward for the sake of his own goal no matter who or what he has to sacrifice, he watches Rin leave the locker room. Rin takes a quiet moment for himself, and we get Rin’s backstory with Sae.

Turns out that Sae was just as rude a little shit as a kid as he is now. Rin's clearly picked up a lot of habits and mannerisms from him too (lol). It's very cute though expected, that Rin started playing football because he admires Sae, and that's the start of his best striker in the world dream.

It's also nice to see here that Sae doesn't get mad over Rin interrupting his team's match. Rin's clearly expecting a scolding, from the way Sae marches over to him; instead, Sae praises Rin, even asking Rin to play football with him, though not without saying that Rin can be the best striker after him.

In this flashback, we learn of Sae's competitiveness, Rin and Sae's plays as a duo, and their overall success in games. As they chill at the edge of the sea with their ice pops, Sae asks Rin some important questions about his football, namely, what Rin is thinking of when he's out on the field.

"? Nothing much. I guess I just think about scoring. Since if I dash to where it looks critical, you'll pass to me."

"... What's critical?"

"Hm... Like where the enemy'd panic, and fall apart."

Sae scolds Rin a little for relying on his instincts too much, then asks Rin an important question:

"... What do you plan to do if I'm not there, then?"

"Dunno. Look for someone else to replace you, I guess."

Sae reacts unfavourably to this, then we learn why he's asking Rin those questions now: Sae has gotten scouted and will join Real Madrid, leaving Rin behind in Japan. As Rin and their parents see Sae off at the airport, Rin decides to catch up to Sae as promised.

Without Sae around, Rin finds it 'restricting', a repetition of what he told Isagi back in C88. He tries to emulate Sae, in a way, and lead his team to victory and become the best in Japan.

Sae returns after four years, walking in on Rin's solo practice and Rin notices something off with him immediately. He praises Sae's accomplishments, but Sae then reveals that he's changed his dream to become a midfielder instead of a striker. Rin is unable to accept it, then hurts Sae by calling him out on giving up on their shared dream. Sae, in turn, challenges Rin to a match. When Rin loses to him, Rin further laments that he has no reason to play football without Sae, who responds cruelly in return, ending in him telling Rin to 'get lost'.

Rin falls into a funk after that, and watches Sae playing football alone on TV in his room. He ultimately decides to continue with football to destroy Sae’s dream. At the end of this backstory sequence, we see Isagi coming up to bring Rin back to the start of the second half.

And this is the end of part 4!

There are a lot of nice shippy moments here, and the recurring motif of Isagi 'looking at' Rin, and Rin, much more subtly, is looking back at Isagi too. From early on when Isagi is nervous, then drawn into the crowd's fervour for Sae, to the second kick off where Rin starts changing things up by improvising, all the way up till the break where Rin goes off alone.

On Rin's end, we finally know his backstory and why his relationship with Sae soured. Although we don't know why Sae has changed his dream, and Sae's version of his time in Spain. it's a fair assessment that his experience there has caused him to lose his self-confidence and self-esteem in pursuing his dream to be the best striker in the world, given his lines about 'how vast the world is'.

We see Isagi and Rin's developing teamwork on the field, as well as the growing fierce competitive tension within it. Throughout the first half, Isagi and Rin build up the team's offense together, both through excellent teamwork initially, then ultimately, when the chance to score comes up, by pursuing their own thing. While Isagi targets Aiku as his main 'challenge', Rin's focus is almost solely on Sae.

Also another interesting thing to note, in Rin's flashback of his relationship with Sae: whenever they have ice pops, Rin always gets the winning stick instead of Sae.

The next part will cover the second half of the Blue Lock vs U20 match, including their mini-holiday chapters, up until C152.

Update: Part 5 now complete!

[bluelockednyx]

Isagirin meta part 2

Part 1 of my Rinsagi/Isagirin relationship meta, which covers Isagi’s first encounter with Rin, and the first match of the Second Selection arc is here.

Part 2 of my Rinsagi/Isagirin relationship meta picks up where I left of, and will cover the rest of the Second Selection Arc.

C49-55 vs Barou + Naruhaya

The loss doesn’t entirely sink in for Isagi until after Aryu and Tokimitsu decide to take Bachira onto their team. In a future flashback monologue, Isagi realizes that that was the point where he was the one who would have to do the chasing from now on.

Much like Nagi points out, they’re both now in a ‘lonely’ state, having lost their previous partners, though in differing ways. Nagi moved on without Reo by choice, while Isagi and Bachira were forcibly split by their loss to Rin, Aryu and Tokimitsu.

In this mini arc, we further witness Isagi’s growth as an individual, and his skill in 1-on-1 matches. He ‘steals’ Naruhaya’s skill in c53, realizing that the moments when he’s not having the ball is also considered a 1-on-1. He ties it back directly to Rin’s insult in the previous match, complete with a flashback, and after successfully stealing it, proceeds to win the game with Nagi.

The other interesting bit is chapter 55, where Naruhaya, after losing and not being selected to move on, tells Isagi that he has to struggle to death and keep winning. It’s yet another reinforcement of Rin’s mindset and Ego's philosophy towards the game – that a football game, in Blue Lock, is a death match.

C58

While Isagi-Nagi-Barou are preparing to square off against Chigiri-Kunigami-Reo, we cut briefly to Rin’s team. Bachira tries to join Rin, who’s training by himself, remarking that Rin’s football seems lonely, fascinatingly paralleling them both with Nagi and Isagi, who are also without their usual partners right now. This is interesting insight from Bachira, which develops both Bachira's character and layers Rin’s complex relationship with Sae later on.

Throughout the match-up with Chigiri-Kunigami-Reo, Isagi finds it difficult to play together with Barou, thus leading to his evolution of choosing to ‘devour’ Barou instead. This entire match, besides Isagi learning the importance of evolution by ‘devouring’ other people’s skills, much like the way artists and writers ‘steal’ from other artists and writers, we also get an important mindset of Isagi’s.

And yes, this is the working title of the meta, because I love it.

After Nagi and Reo have their fight, Isagi, who’s been watching, tells Reo that he should ‘aim to choose’. To him, it’s important that he gets to choose. Not that someone else chooses him. He must be the one to make that choice.

And thus far, Isagi’s been focused on one person in a markedly different manner compared to his interactions with the rest of the Blue Lock cast. But we'll get to that.

C69

In the meantime, Bachira practises with Rin, and acknowledges Rin’s skill. Rin points out Bachira’s weakness, and remarks that Bachira’s soccer is reliant on instinct, but constantly searching for someone.

“Your dribble looks like you're having fun... but afraid of fighting along. That lukewarm ego… won’t make my heart dance.”

Hence, Rin himself is interested in someone who can fight independently.

Small moment at the end of the chapter, while Isagi-Nagi-Barou-Chigiri are bonding in their shared room, we have this tiny panel of Isagi wanting Bachira and Rin to wait up for him… which, Bachira, yes, because it was their shared promise after he, Bachira and Nagi lost to Rin, Aryu and Tokimitsu, and they’ve been friends since Blue Lock started. Yet wanting Rin to wait up for him? Bit of a strange, tall order isn’t it, for someone Isagi has, arguably only known for the duration of a single match?

C72 – C85 4v4

The 4-man match is close to a chapter by chapter replay, so bear with me.

While they’re prepping for the match, the original matchup they decided on falls apart. Barou gets irritated with Tokimitsu and decides to match against him instead. Nagi, subsequently, decides to match up against Rin, whom Isagi himself had decided to play against at first. He concedes to Nagi, taking on Bachira instead, but also adds this little bit.

"Ok. But, if you lose, I'll be stepping in to crush him..."

Bit possessive aren’t you, Isagi

In their match off, Rin acknowledges that Isagi’s improved, but still basically pulled a ‘mada mada dane AKA you still have lots more to work on’ ‘you won’t make my heart dance’ on Isagi, paralleling his earlier conversation with Bachira.

Isagi thinks of how to devour Rin to win. Rin outclasses him still, but unlike Nagi, Chigiri and Barou, he is perfectly capable of keeping up with Rin’s way of thinking. This suggests a level of similarity in their thought processes, something none of the others share, which is interesting. We then get a little of Nagi’s viewpoint, and it’s clear to him that he isn’t able to view the plays on the field the way Isagi and Rin can.

Nagi thus targets their 'relationship' to steal possession of the ball, then cleverly uses his trap to score a second goal for his team. For the first time, Rin loses in a one-on-one situation where he expected to come out on top. Bachira even teases him for it. While Rin responds rudely, Isagi monologues that he wants to beat Rin, using his own ability, without relying on anyone else’s skills.

Isagi views Rin as his current challenge, his ‘goal to beat’ on the way to become the world’s top striker. It’s also in this match up that Rin really starts showing his mettle. In revenge, Rin blazes past Nagi, draws Isagi in for a fake and passes it to the open Bachira, who scores. Instead of getting by with his overwhelming personal skill as he previously did, Rin’s starts to make use of his teammates and his opponents. Faced with this, Isagi’s reaction is admiration and self-doubt.

“A genius like him… can I actually devour him...?”

C78 is the chapter where characters start giving Rin eyelash-related nicknames, lmao. Barou’s the one who starts it. The OG Japanese isn't so rude, with Barou's nickname being along the lines of 'bottom eyelashes Number 1'.

C79

While Isagi and Rin fight to seize the ‘flow’ of the game through Barou, Bachira celebrates upon finally finding two people who are ‘monsters’ whom he can play with. Except…

Neither of them are even looking at him, or considering him at all in the game. Like Nagi, earlier, Bachira thinks that Isagi and Rin are viewing the field on a different level altogether, in a way that no one else can match up to/keep up with. He thinks of them as a pair of monsters, friends, whom he can play with. But right now, Isagi and Rin are so hung up over fighting/winning against each other that neither of them are even thinking of the others, except where relevant in the game.

Rin’s team gets a free kick, and while Isagi’s debating over whether Rin will immediately shoot for a goal or pass, Rin goes in for the kill. He even spells out Isagi’s thoughts, then declares that the only option for him was to make a goal. “It’s always that one last step. Just when I think I’m about to catch him, he slips out of reach!!”

In fact, they’re so caught up reading each other’s moves, it leads to --

Isagi was so fucking cool in this panel

Isagi legit makes this goal, and brings the score to 4-4, only because he knows that Rin knows what he’s thinking and what he can do. So. Yeah. Again, they’re mind-reading each other now. And they’ve only known each other for the duration of exactly two matches, and by my count, less than a week. Maybe slightly longer, but I really don’t think Isagi and Nagi took that long to 1) beat Barou-Naruhaya and 2) beat Reo-Kunigami-Chigiri. Rin is so surprised here, his hair got whited out.

C82

It’s do or die now, for both teams. Isagi explains his plan that got him the previous goal to Chigiri, Barou and Nagi. His trust in Rin's play and moves is especially fascinating, because, once again, unlike with Bachira and Chigiri whom he’s teamed up with throughout his whole time in Blue Lock, then Nagi and Barou whose abilities he’s went up against with firsthand, and also played alongside with, he has only known Rin for the duration of these two matches, yet he believes in Rin’s abilities, so much so that he forms the plan and succeeds in it because he believes Rin was just that good.

In response to the goal, Bachira realises that he’s so far away from reaching both Isagi and Rin, and he’s so crushed by this realisation that he basically falls into an existential crisis. His momentary lapse in concentration, naturally, gets picked on by his opponents. Chigiri steals the ball from him. Nagi questions him for it, and gives, to Bachira, the worst-case scenario possible: Isagi's team will win and take Rin, and Bachira will be left behind, unable to play with either Rin or Isagi as he wants.

Nagi’s words, ironically, gives Bachira his second wind in the game. Now the game is like a death match to him. He wants to win even if it kills him. He wants to steal back Isagi.

Which is also interesting, because Isagi, unlike the previous matches we’ve been shown so far, isn’t potentially being stolen by a rival team. Isagi and his attention, is being stolen by 1) the game and 2) Rin.

This shocks Bachira enough that he gets his ‘ego’s awakening’, pushes through, then fails to make the shot because of Isagi’s defending.

And there, to pick up the stray ball and win the game, was Rin.

Then in a complete 180 from his previous match-up against Isagi-Bachira-Nagi, Rin tramples over Aryu, Tokimitsu and Bachira's opinions and makes the decision to pick their new teammate. And he chooses Isagi.

Of note:

Isagi’s ego and skills development over the course of the 2v2 and 3v3 matches, from devouring Naruhaya’s skill to devouring Barou’s presence, to the point of using him as bait/decoy in the match vs Kuni-Chigi-Reo, ending with Kuni-Chigi-Reo’s loss, then the NagiReo fight, and Isagi’s suggestion to Reo that he needs to aim to be the one with the ability and power to choose, instead of being chosen (also the title for this meta/manifesto!), all of these are a reiteration of what I’ve already mentioned in part 1, about Blue Lock having a repeating motif in the characters’ relationships: Isagi separated from Bachira, and comes back stronger to challenge Bachira’s new team. Nagi separated from Reo, and came back stronger, then defeated Reo’s team.

Reo never quite manages to grasp his ego and develop on it throughout the whole game, playing it with the intention of mostly stealing back Nagi from Isagi, and thus suffers a narrative loss, both via the game and via losing Nagi and damaging his personal relationship with Nagi as well. Bachira, who fights back at the last minute, losing the monster that’s both been his crutch and mental support, and together with Rin, who outclasses Isagi by sheer skill, manages to steal back Isagi.

Throughout the course of this, we can see that 1) Isagi’s skill development and growth was heavily influenced by Rin, and 2) he has a growing interest with duking it out with Rin on the field, to the point where by the time its the 4v4 team match, Isagi and Rin are already so aware/attuned to each other’s thought processes on the field that the others can’t catch up and view them as a separate unit fighting it out with each other the whole while, something that’s picked up on by the two people who are arguably closest to Isagi right now, Bachira and Nagi.

On the other hand, we also learn that Rin is potentially ‘lonely’, like Bachira, and that he has a preference for people who can fight independently. He outclasses everyone else in the match by far in terms of sheer skill, and underneath that cold attitude towards others, can get quite worked up when provoked and up against a decent opponent. Also, at the end of the match, he chooses Isagi. :D

Side note: I am so happy that I hadn't begun posting this series before tumblr updated to the new 30 pics limit, because it was torture picking out which 10 pics/panels had the most relevance to the meta.

Wrapping up part 2 here! Part 3 will cover the pre-U20 arc, from the 5v5 against the world team, to the vs U20 team selections.

[bluelockednyx]

Master Post

Hiya, I'm Niki, and this is my blog for all things Blue Lock. I write, make shitty mangacap edits sometimes, and generally yell about the latest chapters as they come up, and when I've read them.

I am first and foremost interested in Isagi's journey to become the best striker in the world, and my favourite characters are Isagi, Rin, Sae and Karasu. I have a soft spot for the main cast from the Second Selection Arc in general, and expect me to dunk on Kaiser -- guy just reads too much like your cliche trashy 2000s teenage high school drama antagonist, and Isagi's reactions to him are just plain funny to me.

Again, I'm a multishipper, and there is a high possibility that I will talk about relationships with significant age gaps (> 5 years diff), dead dove content etc. I simply like exploring varying relationship dynamics in different settings, and having fun with the characters in any way I like. You are responsible for your own internet experience and your actions, and if any of this sort of content triggers or upsets you, be the responsible person, do yourself a favour and block me now. That being said, I will tag all of them as #dovelocked, so if you're using xkit (which I highly recommend you download and use for desktop if you haven't already) etc. you can opt to block that specific tag.

My favourite ship is Isagi/Rin or Rinsagi as they're more commonly known, and will yell about them a lot. If top/bottom dynamics matter to you, I am a switch at heart, but I do favour Isagi/Rin in that order. I also have a soft spot for Nagireo, Karasu/Chigiri and the Bachira-Isagi-Rin + Rin-Sae-Shidou dynamics.

Isagirin/Rinsagi meta:

Part 1: Covers their first meeting up till the end of the first 3v3 match

Part 2: Covers the remainder of the Second Selection Arc

Part 3: Covers the vs World 5, Blue Lock 11 Selection Arc

Part 4: Covers the first half of the Blue Lock 11 vs Japan U20 Arc

Part 5: Covers the second half of the Blue Lock 11 vs Japan U20 Arc, up until the start of the Neo Egoist League Arc

Part 6: Manifesto, discussion of story themes, foiling and parallel of Isagi and Rin's individual character arcs, why I think they're a good ship, and some speculations on future story developments

Answers to asks are here.

If anyone wants to chat about blue lock, shoot me a DM!