At Anime Expo 2024, voice actors Kazuki Ura (voice of Isagi Yoichi) and Nobunaga Shimazaki (Seishiro Nagi), Ryōya Arisawa (anime producer), and Megumu Tsuchiya (manga editor) participated in a panel to discuss Blue Lock, its latest film, Episode Nagi, and fans’ rankings of different characters in the show.
Blue Lock explores the desperate competition between 300 soccer players to become “the world’s greatest egotist striker.” While the anime showcases the story from the protagonist Isagi’s perspective, the film Episode Nagi tells it from Nagi’s point of view. Ura said that seeing things from Nagi’s perspective “showed how Isagi is really quite scary.” In other words, he described Isagi as “Nagi’s final boss.” As for Shimazaki’s thoughts on the film, he immediately shouted, “Reo, I’m sorry!” He continued, “When I first watched it, I was like ‘Nagi! Just tell Reo how you feel! It was really interesting to see how their relationship started, the ups and downs, what they learned from each other, their hardships, and their breakup.”
The movie covers Nagi and Reo’s friendship, and the moment when their relationship takes a dramatic turn. When asked to comment on the movie, Nagi’s voice actor Shimazaki-san exclaimed, “Reo, I’m sorry!”. Viewers of the show can understand how he feels. “When I first watched it I was like ‘Nagi! Just tell Reo how you feel!’, and it was interesting to see on the big screen their dynamic as a pair and the tension [between them].”
On whether there were any differences between Shimazaki’s portrayal of Nagi in the film versus the series, he shared, “Nagi’s personality doesn’t necessarily change from the TV series to the movie. But when the perspective changed to Nagi, I had to, of course, adjust how I portrayed the lines.” One of the biggest differences Ura pointed out from the series and film was the focus on Nagi and Reo’s relationship: “When doing season one, I didn’t really get the full picture of their [Nagi and Reo’s] relationship, but when looking at the movie, you can really see how special it was and how heartbroken Reo was.”
Up next, the host shared that he would be sharing the results of some fan surveys conducted about Blue Lock, and both the panelists and audience cheered in anticipation. For everyone’s favorite character, Nagi came in first. Shimazaki cheekily said, “Yeah, I kind of knew [it’d be me].” It turned out that Nagi was first for a number of different rankings including, strongest player and most relatable player. With every question, Ura was starting to get worried about whether Isagi would ever place first for any of the rankings. And then the final question was “Who do you think will win Blue Lock in the very end?” Finally, Isagi was named the top pick. Not only did Ura throw his arms up in victory, the whole crowd cheered with. Him. He began chanting, “Number one! Number one!” and the entire audience joined in. Until the very last moment, even as Ura was walking off stage, he’d get the crowd chant going again and ended the panel on a high note.
Blue Lock fans won’t have to wait long for the next season of the show, slated to drop in October 2024.
