ike Squid Game meets Shaolin Soccer, this feature-length extrapolation of Muneyuki Kaneshiro’s popular manga and anime set in a football training academy treats the beautiful game like an epic showdown between demonic forces or a Kurosawa-esque assault on a mountain fortress. Terminator-eyed strikers, flame-wreathed shots on goal, players zoning out in an amniotic limbo; no bombast is too much when hammering home Blue Lock’s key message: a star centre-forward must have an almighty ego.
The head coach is even called Jinpachi Ego. In trying to identify a unique attacking talent for the Japanese national team at the elite Blue Lock academy, he is unimpressed by the close-knit bond between the two final recruits: rich kid Reo and his diffident schoolmate Nagi . The latter especially is an enigma: a twinkle-toed footballing genius who declares everything a “hassle” and would rather be gaming than on the pitch.
The cranked-up pitchside action is hilarious, like a live feed from inside Cristiano Ronaldo’s head as he replays his own goals reel. Debut director Shunsuke Ishikawa makes concussive use of striking key-frames as the players jockey for position and pivot for howitzer ball-pummelling, even if some of the transitional animation is a bit flat-footed compared with the likes of last year’s basketball animeTranslating football into the battle royale format only goes so far, though.
The film becomes a taxing blur of goalmouth sallies and nondescript players incredulously intoning the latest manoeuvre: “Rabona!” Par for the course in these serialised anime stories, Episode Nagi also cuts mid-story before a climactic match. No problem for Blue Lock fanatics, but not much use for those of us who just wanted to catch all the highlights.
Entertainment Entertainment Latest News, Entertainment Entertainment Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: 7NewsSydney - 🏆 16. / 63 Read more »