Summary
Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi fails to live up to its hype due to its slow pacing, lackluster animation, and confusing direction. The film offers some new scenes and adds depth to the characters, but cuts out important material from the manga, leaving Nagi and the others feeling superficial. Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi’s poor production and direction make it a disappointing adaptation, even for die-hard fans of the series.
Warning: Contains spoilers for Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi. Immediately following Green Lock After the first season ended, two new projects were announced to be in development: Blue Lock season 2 and a film adaptation of Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi. Episode Nagi is a spin-off manga revolving around Seishiro Nagi, and in addition to showing new events, it also shows some stories that take place from Nagi's perspective as a means to further flesh out his character.
Unfortunately, Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi fails to live up to its own expectations, or the expectations of Blue Lock in general. The film has its fair share of good moments, mostly when it sticks to its premise of showing Nagi's perspective, but through a combination of slow pacing, lifeless animation, and generally confusing direction, Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi Most fail because of both. Green Lock story and adaptation, in general.
Only those who are truly die-hard Blue Lock fans will be able to understand anything from the movie, and even then, probably not much.
Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi Works When It Does Something New
Blue Lock's Supporting Cast Gets New Depth
Blue Lock – Episode Nagi's biggest selling point is telling the story from Nagi's perspective, and Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi hits its stride by sticking to that idea. Episode Nagi features several new scenes with Nagi from before he was in Blue Lock, most notably Nagi's first soccer match and the revelation that Nagi knew about Isagi since the beginning of the Blue Lock chapter.. Those moments do a great job of fleshing out both his character and Blue Lock's personality in general, and overall, they're some of the biggest highlights of the film.
The increased focus on Nagi's character also shines through as the story finally reaches the Blue Lock chapter. As the story reaches that point, Nagi receives even more development with an increased focus on his gradual development into a selfish person, and that leads to a complete reworking of one of his most selfish moments when it's revealed that Nagi only abandoned Reo in the second selection because he thought it would help their common goal of becoming the best.. Moments like these are the highlight of the Episode Nagi manga, and it's great to see them adapted into an anime.
Telling everything from Nagi's perspective also allows for more focus on the characters involved in Nagi's storyline. Zantetsu gets a lot of development to explain his motivations for playing soccer and why Nagi and Reo care about him, and for Reo, Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi goes into his perspective of Nagi abandoning him to show how hurt he was by itThis makes his attitude during their reunion all the more understandable. Moments like these really highlight the film's appeal in retelling Blue Lock from a new perspective, and they're easily the best parts of the film.
Blue Lock's animation is no better or worse than the movie
Blue Lock still lacks in terms of visuals
Unfortunately, character development is basically the only place Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi shines, as is tradition for a series that has redefined many shonen themes. Everything else about the film is largely uninspiring. Blue Lock The Movie – Episode NagiFor example, 's animation is no better or worse than the Blue Lock animeWhile there are a few moments of visual and animation that stand out, most scenes are marred by lifeless visuals, made worse by static shots and ugly 3D models. Anime usually have better animation than their TV counterparts, so it's disappointing that Episode Nagi doesn't have that.
Episode Nagi's animation also bodes ill for Blue Lock season 2. An increase in animation is the biggest thing people hope to see in season 2 after season 1 consistently fell short in this regard, but if Episode Nagi's animation is only on par with season 1, it means that Green Lock Season 2 may not have the improved animation that people expect.There's no trailer for Blue Lock season 2 yet, so it may be too early to judge, but either way, this isn't a good sign for what to expect.
Blue Lock's First Film Failed to Adapt
Original Manga Written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro & Illustrated by Kota Sannomiya
Another point against Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi is how it fails as an adaptation of the Blue Lock – Episode Nagi manga. While the manga’s greatest strength is its retelling of the story from a new perspective, Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi cut a lot of the manga's content about the storywhether it's what Nagi and Reo did before Blue Lock or what they did in Blue Lock. Even for those who haven't read the manga, this makes Nagi feel like a remarkably shallow character, and that's arguably something the movie avoids.
Based on that, one of the best parts of the manga was how it showed what Nagi, Barou, and Chigiri did after losing Isagi to Rin's team, but Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi skipped everything Nagi's team did in the second option just so the movie could end where Part 1 ended. With only 90 minutes, there wasn't time to adapt everything in the manga, but if that was the case, it was better to stop at a point that didn't leave too much content out.
Blue Lock the Movie – Nagi's Pacing & Direction Episode Ruins the Story
Blue Lock's Movie Ruined a Great Manga
However, what ultimately kills Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi is the poor pacing and overall direction. Along with how the movie cuts a lot of content from the manga, once Nagi and Reo join Blue Lock, Nagi Episode quickly go through the story to get to the same place Green Lock season 1 is overwith characters and plot that have no depth beyond what is presented in the anime. There are a few moments in the first half that stop that, but once the second half starts, things start to get extremely boring.
The film's poor directing doesn't help matters either. While there are some creative shots and angles here and there, the film largely doesn't differentiate itself from the anime and even reuses shots from the anime at various points with little to no differentiation. Often, Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi feels more like a manga adaptation than a compilation movie of season 1 was created to get people ready for season 2, and with this amount of filler manga added to the Blue Lock series, it's no disappointment.
Overall, Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi falls short in almost every aspect. There are some great animation and character development moments, but poor handling of source documents makes Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi extremely shallow as a movie, even though the purpose of the story is to add depth to the series. Some people might get something out of it if they're a die-hard Blue Lock fan, but even then, Blue Lock The Movie – Episode NagiPoor production and directing make it feel like the wait wasn't worth it.