The Recent Drop In Quality, Explained

Key Takeaways

• Season 1 of Blue Lock impressed with stunning visuals, unique plot, and intense matches.
• Season 2 suffers from poor animation quality due to production issues at the studio.
• To recover, Blue Lock needs to prioritize quality animation and address industry working conditions.

Blue Lock is a soccer anime that returned mainstream popularity to the sports anime genre through its unique twist and action-packed matches during its first season. The anime was praised for its stunning visuals and how the anime raised the stakes further than most anime of recent and seemed to trump most sports anime from recent years (save for Haikyuu!!!, which remains the most popular and critically acclaimed modern sports anime since its launch).

Some of the anime’s most dedicated fans, however, are disappointed with the currently airing second season. Poor animation and production issues are only the beginning of the perceived end of the Blue Lock anime, unless a miracle happens during the last few episodes slated to air this season. This article will explore the rise and current fall of the Blue Lock anime, and what it can do to redeem itself going forward… if it can.

The High Standards of Season One

Less Tropes, Beautiful Animation, And Plenty of Action

Blue Lock launched an incredibly impactful first season. When it jumped onto the anime scene in the Fall of 2022 alongside Chainsaw Man, Spy x Family, and Mob Psycho III, fans were obsessed with the colorful and detailed visuals; at the time, it was praised as the best animation in that season. While a good deal of seasonal anime follows the generic anime style with minimal movement to save an animation budget, that was not a restriction held on Blue Lock‘s first season.

Another important aspect of Blue Lock‘s success is its diversion from common tropes that plague the genre. Rather than having matches one “by the power of friendship” like a lot of sports anime, characters win or lose based on their genuine skill or unique abilities. The anime also avoids the typical perfect protagonist prodigies and instead features an experimental yet still talented soccer player who is unsure of their playing style to become a striker on the anime’s team.

Finally, the action-like sequences of soccer matches in the anime are incredibly fast-paced and full of twists and turns. Close-ups and unique camera angles only emphasize this further and create match scenes that are impossible to look away from. On top of this, characters have special abilities called “weapons” that are unique powers, allowing them to complete superhuman feats during these matches, making the show feel more like an action-filled shōnen than a typical sports anime.

What Went Wrong In Season 2?

The Anime’s Greatest Strengths, Cast Aside

One of the biggest praises of the first season, the animation quality, took a drastic drop in the second season. What was once fluid and colorful animation has become stiffer in movement and otherwise repetitive from the first season. This ends up serving the audience with a lackluster visual affair and less interesting matches overall, which are the main draws of a sports anime in the first place. This is likely due to the reported production issues.

“Blue Lock’s on track to defeat the U-20 National Team and establish themselves as the best strikers in Japan, but the likelihood they will defeat the competition with the same breathtaking visuals as the season prior is highly debatable, if not outright impossible, given the current season’s trajectory. Unless the entire animation budget was saved for a few episodes, the future isn’t looking bright for Blue Lock”

The studio in charge of animating Blue Lock‘s adaptation is Eight Bit, who is also known for That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and Yuru Camp, and, as a studio, has been historically understaffed and overworked. While this is unfortunately fairly common in the anime industry, the studio was allegedly given significantly more time to create the first season than the current one, leading to more rushing and less quality control. Eight Bit has not commented on these allegations at this time. There are no unions or protection in place for animators in Japan at this time, and they are typically freelancers, leading to even less respect within Japan’s strict work culture overall.

The poor animation is likely not due to laziness, but poor working conditions leading to tired employees and rushed work. Sadly, this still affects the viewing experience of shows that are animated, as unfortunate as the current animation industry is in Japan.

How Can Blue Lock Recover?

There Is Little Hope For Blue Lock’s Future

The first order of Blue Lock‘s potential recovery would be to return to the previous animation and the general quality the audience got used to in the first season of the anime. Unfortunately, this is not likely. Japan’s work culture tends to praise environments like the one allegedly at Eight Bit, so the probability of the animators getting the proper time to animate at that quality consistently before the current season ends isn’t a realistic ask.

Truthfully, the plot of season two is still as exciting and plot-twist-filled as the first season was. The characters are just as loveable and full of personality. The writing has maintained quality through this season, despite the animation woes. And while the drop in animation is jarring and unappealing in an aesthetic sense and does affect the enjoyment of an animated show, the plot still seems exciting enough to carry on to the next season.

The best thing that can be done right now is to finish the current season of Blue Lock, and either hire more animators or give more time to the current ones to improve such an integral part of the show. There are no unions for animators in the anime industry in Japan at the current moment, but there are foundations like Nippon Anime & Film Culture Association (NAFCA) and Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) who are attempting to improve the working condition of the anime industry across Japan. Rather than attacking an anime or manga for a drop in quality, fans’ energy is better spent finding ways to boost the word and hype around the people trying to fix Japan’s overworking issue in the animation industry to end this problem for good.

Blue Lock, Season Two is currently airing on Crunchyroll