Anime Lovers

Blue Lock Season 2 episode 4 left a bad taste in my mouth from the jump, given that it was a Reo episode. Do you know how Family Guy would always have the characters react disappointed when the episode was going to focus on Meg? That’s how I felt going into this episode. No matter how much the production team did their best to make it somewhat better, it would still be an eye-roller from a writing standpoint.

Rinse, Repeat, Reo

Call everything after this a review or a rant, it doesn’t matter, but episode 4 of Blue Lock Season 2 provided very little expansion on what we already knew about Reo in the first place. We get it, he’s bored with the golden spoon that he was born with and he’s still obsessed with Nagi like he’s a toy. Reo’s entire view of Nagi and what he means to his psychotic personality needs to end. “It looks like you’ve left me behind, Nagi. I’ve never seen you have this much fun before.” Jeez, Reo. I wonder why that is?

And then what happens? He didn’t really change after a match that felt like it lasted about as long as his music career. If, at the end of the episode, Reo officially moved on from his obsession with Nagi and was motivated to find his own happiness and enjoyment rather than finding it in someone else, I might’ve given Reo a little bit of credit—so much for that.

I’ve made it apparent in my reviews that I’m not a big fan of most of the characters in this series besides a select few, but I need to see Reo get sent home with an all-included one-way ticket back to his pampered and oh-so-drastically boring life. “I’m a master of all trades.” Cool, we kind of knew that already. Now go be a master of sitting in the back of your father’s limo while reaping the benefits of your parents’ fortune.

I don’t care for Isagi, but at least he realizes that he needs to fight for himself in this competition and not prove his worth to anyone else on the pitch. Reo, even after the match, is now playing so he can surpass Nagi. It would be so much better if it was a friendly rivalry like Bachira and Isagi sort of have, or any friendly rivalry in the decades upon decades worth of anime you can pick out of a hat, but it all stems from his obsession with Nagi rather than having his own goals so it feels completely out of place and unserious.

Two greedy people in recent anime come to mind—Haru from Trillion Game and Ryusui from Dr. Stone. They are both characters that can never have enough and constantly want more and more. Reo even says in this episode that he has (almost) received, or earned, everything he could ever want. The fact he’s moving on to something else is great, but the downside, unlike Haru and Ryusui, is that he’s genuinely not a good person and is selfish for the wrong and twisted reasons.

If the day comes when Ego slams the door shut on Reo, I genuinely hope to see him come out of the situation as a better character. Maybe he could become someone who works on the business side for Japan’s National team down the line. But if he ends up on the squad that faces the U20 Japan team, I will be praying for the Blue Lock team’s downfall (end rant).

Production

Honestly, I liked the change of pace from puzzle pieces to full-on Tetris mode. That was a creative way of expanding upon how Isagi can level up and it came from the mind of a character we didn’t even know about until this season. It showed that Isagi really is around a better group of players now. On top of it all, it had a couple of nice scene transitions and visuals.

Although, I am getting a little tired of this heat shimmer effect that’s constantly being used in serious moments during close-ups. It was an intriguing idea at first to give the season some sort of creative touch to band-aid the lack of animation but now it feels like it’s just copying and pasting from previous episodes. I know that production for this season is a nightmare and some things do indeed have to be cut and/or taken from one episode to the next, but it’s why I liked the entire Tetris situation—it was different and well executed.

Given that the matchup in this episode only showcased a few goals, there was also less opportunity for the PowerPoint comments to slide in, so maybe it was a good thing the rest of the match wasn’t shown (also because I couldn’t stand any more Reo screentime). But the art remains sleek for the most part as are the special effects.

The water shot with Isagi was pretty cool to see minus, again, that heat shimmer effect. Overall, I didn’t come out of this episode disappointed in the production as much as I did in the previous episodes, but if only it was for a better character.

Blue Lock Season 2 Episode 4

My expectations for this season will continue to be low. Good animation production can only take a below-average script so far and the opposite can be true to an extent. Despite my criticisms for the characters themselves and the production for this season, Blue Lock is still delivering a unique kind of story in the world of spokon anime. The idea behind everything that’s happening is keeping me tuned into the series and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, especially after the solid cliffhanger the episode ended on.

Episode 4 rating: 5/10
Episode 3 rating: 4/10
Episode 2 rating: 4/10
Episode 1 rating: 6.5/10

If you enjoyed Blue Lock Season 2 episode 4 then be sure to vote for it in our weekly poll! Episode 5 will air on November 2, 2024.

Screenshots via Crunchyroll
©Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Yusuke Nomura, Kodansha/”Blue Lock” Production Committee