The following contains spoilers for Episode 17 of Blue Lock, “Donkey,” now streaming onCrunchyrollandNetflix.
Blue Lockis back this week with an entire episode spent in the match and on the pitch, with some exciting goals, evolving skills, and great plays. “Donkey” never strays away from the ongoing match between Isagi, Nagi, and Barou against Reo, Chigiri, and Kunigami - that’s right, no flashbacks, no side stories, nothing. Just on the pitch, intense soccer action! For those who are watchingBlue Lockfor the soccer, Episode 17 is amazing. But for anyone who is more interested in human relationships and character development, “Donkey” is sorely lacking.
Blue Lockhas slipped back down into the 6th position on the Winter Anime Rankings from MyAnimeList, though it maintains its consistent score of 8.27 for yet another week. The second half of the anime, which has been airing since January, has definitely switched its focus to more strategy and soccer plays rather than drama andshocking developments, which may have switched who exactly is enjoying the story the most. Anyway, with seven more episodes to go anything can still happen - and other players that seem to have temporarily fallen through the cracks, like Raichi and Gagamaru, are at least having some screen time in the additional time after the credits roll.
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Reality Check
“Donkey” is named because that is what Barou always calls Isagi, and has ever since they first met. It was a great name for this episode as well, because Barou had a major reality check during it. He remains determined to selfishly want to win only by scoring his own goals; even more than other players inBlue Lockare focused on their own skills alone (something cultivated by Ego) over teamwork, Barou takes it to another level. Even if it means losing the match, he will never pass the ball, and won’t build any plays with Isagi and Nagi.
But against the combined strength of Kunigami, Chigiri, and Reo, Barou’s strategy is falling flat. As the White Team falls behind, Barou has to admit that even he is disappointed in himself, and that what they are doing isn’t working. Does that make him change his mind, though? Of course not! Barou remainsstubborn and selfish, refusing to share the spotlight or work together with his teammates even for one moment.
The best moment of the episode, and one of the best of the season so far, is when Isagi learns how to just use Barou’s style to his own advantage. Rather than working with Barou as a team player, he adapts his own play style to score off of Barou’s narrow-mindedness. And when he uses it to score a goal, taking advantage of Barou entirely, he has his chance to call Barou a donkey right back. And it was well-earned.
Isagi’s Evolution
Speaking of Isagi’s adaptive style, he had another great episode of development as far as his soccer skills go. We just learned that Isagi is a genius of adaptability, able to learn from others on the field and adjust his own play style to set up goals whether for himself or his teammates. And he did it again in Episode 17. Isagi and Nagi are strong teammates already, but Isagi was able to use Barou’s flaws to the advantage of their own team, and Nagi was luckily able to keep up with him.
There have been a lot of moments throughoutBlue Lockwhere Isagi and his secret weapons have been boring, pale in comparison to the other characters. But sometimes it really comes together and makes him a cool leading character again, and this episode was one of those times. Forall the soccer fans out there, seeing Isagi conceptualize the situation on the field and all the players' strength and weaknesses, and then formulate how to score a goal, is really satisfying!
3-3
“Donkey” ended with a score of 3-3, with the Red and White Teams both at a draw. The first team to score 5 goals will progress to the next stage - and take one of the players from the losing team with them - so it is still anyone’s match. The Red Team showed this episode that they are able to work as a cohesive, powerful unit, even if Reo’smotivationsmay be in the wrong place. But the White Team is still a wild card; Isagi may have awakened a new skill, but Barou remains the same problem he has been since the start.
Another factor making the ending of the match hard to predict is that Chigiri also had an evolution at the end of the episode, learning that he did not have to slow down to control the ball as it was passed to him. Coupled with his extreme speed on the pitch, it makes him extremely dangerous - and he did score a goal out of it, too. If the match is finished next week, it really could be anyone’s game. Likewe said last week, we are sure Isagi will move on as the main character, but can’t predict if he will move forward on the winning team, or being chosen from the losing one.
If the White Team is going to win the match, Barou is going to have to do some serious soul-searching before next week’s episode! It would be a good chance for him to have some seriously needed development, though, as most of the other characters have evolved a lot since they were first introduced, and he remains exactly the same. This episode set him up for a revelation next week, so we have our fingers crossed that is exactly what we get to see.
