Blue Lock: Episode 18 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2024-01-18 14:00:04 +0000 UTC**VILLAINOUS HEADPHONE WARNINGS**
Barou, my babyyyy! Hell yeah, I LOVED the themes of this episode - the "defeat," the concept of taking the "side character" route, and the idea of "dream doping" (SUCH a cool explanation) and whether we pursue our dreams that are out of reach or evolve ourselves around those dreams.
Barou and Isagi were BEASTS this episode - Definitely the King and Demon King of the field and I cannot WAIT to see who they pick!
LINK TO REACTION: https://streamable.com/5iwjow
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
Comments
I don't know if you read or were reading my comment before I edited it, but I promise it wasn't anything spoilery. I wanted to edit out the fluff and make the comment more concise.
Whim
2024-01-23 15:14:21 +0000 UTCThank you for the kind words and comment! I LOVED Barou in this episode! Isagi’s VA did an amazing job being so serious and imitating Barou’s confidence – I was impressed! And of COURSE Suwabe’s VA work is impeccable in this as well! Oohh, yesssss, I like that the “shadow” is something to embrace, like with Kuroko and how Isagi basically becomes this light source to inspire Barou and influence him to become a stronger shadow – that dynamic is probably what helps fuel my ship for them, too, now that you mention it, haha!! Because yeah, devouring each other has never had a sexual context at all. Ever. No chance. ;) Ego has all this time to sit and script these amazing monologues because Anri is doing everything else for him! ;) But seriously, his speech here is REALLY good and I loved it! And OH! That is so cool about Baby Barou’s VA! Nice!! I would not have recognized her voice here, so that’s good to know! 😀 SO excited for this week to come!
Romaniablack
2024-01-23 14:55:25 +0000 UTCLoved the reaction and discussion!! This is one of my favorite BLLK eps and the best one yet imo! The hype is so real, we’re no longer just drinking the blue Kool-Aid, we’re bathing in it. Barou awakening in ep 18 (his jersey number) and Isagi awakening in ep 11 (his jersey number). Another fun coincidence! It’s truly Barou’s episode. This comment is basically gonna be a Barou appreciation post. Btw, I saw someone say Barou’s hair resembles the shape of a crown. You talked about how baby Barou wore #10 (btw he also was #10 in Team X) and how Isagi is #11 and that number combo in sports anime. There’s also Kagami #10 and Kuroko #11 ! But they’re opposite. In KNB, the shadow is the support for the light, while Barou and Isagi represent the darkness and light, which are opposing forces that try to devour each other and compete for dominance. Barousagi’s dynamic is more like Aokaga’s rivalry. Isagi was the first person to really challenge Barou, like Aomine and Kagami. There’s a brief article I found that compares Barou and Aomine based on the content in ep 18. I thought it made some great points, so I wanted to share this excerpt: “However, after making such claims [of their superiority], it would be too contradicting to rely on one's teammates to score goals/points. Hence, both Barou and Aomine developed playstyles that would not have them coordinate with other players. They made sure to play in such a way that would allow them to score a goal/point all on their own, without any teamwork. This is how Barou became exceptional in mid-range shooting, while Aomine became exceptional in dribbling. These specific playstyles allowed both characters to get past their opponents in their own unique way. Moreover, both characters were later made to realize their mistake by the protagonist of the series. While Aomine was defeated by Kuroko and Taiga, Barou was humiliated by his teammates themselves, Yoichi Isagi and Seishiro Nagi during the Second Selection arc.” (source: https://www.sportskeeda.com/anime/barou-blue-lock-much-common-kuroko-no-basuke-s-aomine-and-it-s-very-obvious ) I also wanted to mention how Barou saying “The one who’s most frustrated with me is obviously me” in ep 17 reminded me of Aomine’s catchphrase “The only one who can beat me is me.” We see Barou’s self awareness of his incompetence but his stubbornness holding him back from growing, and Aomine’s self awareness of the reason for his lack of motivation but having no will or hope to resolve it. There was a Crunchyroll subtitle mistranslation. In the subtitles Barou said in his head, “If you’re the lead, I’m more than happy to play the villain who devours your light!” Rather than “I’m more than happy,” a more accurate translation is “I’m willing to” or “I don’t mind.” I think it’s a significant difference as it shows that Barou is not enthusiastic about becoming the villain, but it’s the new path he chose in order to evolve. Barou’s new technique of chop dribbling is so sick. (It’s also called the Ronaldo Chop since Christiano Ronaldo pioneered the move.) It’s insane that he’s doing them consecutively. The anime did a poor job of animating what exactly a chop is, so here’s a GIF of one IRL (there’s no spoilers, just a GIF): https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Flets-talk-about-barous-chop-dribble-v0-lh1ic7df0xlb1.gif%3Fwidth%3D498%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D6cce435435c804aa21c0bb4b723fcc1e979920d0 Also, the black and red crackling lightning aura, specifically the zig zag on the field indicating the twisted dribbling path, reminded me of Akutagawa’s Rashoumon ability!! I love your pokemon assignments for BLLK characters. I love Growlithe and Arcanine, but I think Nidoking would be perfect for Barou. You didn't mention Bachira, but I think he’d be Pikachu. A newer pair of mainline Pokemon games is Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee (a remake of gen 1), so Bachira and Isagi being the game title pokemon is perfect. Ego’s speech about the concept of dream doping is one of my favorite things in BLLK, and I’m glad you loved it too! Hm, so I’ve been watching Psycho-Pass for the first time along with your reactions. The Sibyl System encourages people to live stress-free lives which causes them to not have ambitions or dreams. The message of the importance of stress kinda relates to Blue Lock’s emphasis on despair being a crucial feeling during defeat, rather than deluding yourself and sparing yourself from the pain. I just love the psychological and philosophical elements and themes of BLLK.
Whim
2024-01-23 03:27:24 +0000 UTCGreat reaction and discussion!! And man, this is one of my favorite episodes for real. Loved Barou comeback!!! Isagi's VA did such a great job voiing him this episode. I truly got chills few times. And Suwabe popped off as always with his intonation of Barou desperation and then angry determination. Also, I love how much different the light/shadow thing is in here when compared to KNB light/shadow ideology. Shadow being a thing that can get stronger by devouring a light vs shadow getting stronger as the light gets stronger. I really loved Ego's talk of despair and failure here. Ego's sudden bouts of wisdom are so useful and smart it makes me wonder if Ego ever scripts those speeches XD Also. They are devuring each other XD I'm sure there is nooo way it could be taken is shippable angle XD None whatsoever!! VA fun fact!! The voice actress lending her voice to young Barou is Shizuka Ishigami! She voices many male young characters, like for example young Thorfinn or young William James Moriarty!
Gin
2024-01-23 02:12:35 +0000 UTCThank you so much for the kind words and comment! :D This episode was SO FUN! I loved it! Barou being himself, even if he is a villain, YES, that's what's fun with Blue Lock - that you want to root for them being themselves and living their best life...even if it means being a jerk! Hahaha!! That WAS a shameless cliffhanger, though, agreed! And oooohhhh, thank you for the link to the theme music - I feel so treated with all these soundtracks! :D Thank you, again, and I'm so excited for this coming week's reaction! *slurps tea*
Romaniablack
2024-01-22 16:54:20 +0000 UTCHuzzah! Thank you for the support and kind words and comment! I appreciate it!
Romaniablack
2024-01-22 16:16:24 +0000 UTCLoved the reaction & discussion! This was such an excellent episode. Barou’s journey is amazing – I think rooting for Barou in this moment, as you said his ‘villain origin story,’ to me encapsulates so much of what I love about BL. Some strange magical mix of all the elements in the presentation of the story that make me go: “Yes, sweetiepie! Become the villain of the pitch! I’m so proud of you! 🥰” And yes, one of the most shameless cliffhangers. Going to link to the theme of Barou’s awakening here, it is stunning (link with static, no-spoiler image, comments are off): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-pcG_JTCYY Can’t wait for next week! 💙
Sunspots
2024-01-19 11:56:44 +0000 UTCMy last message until I renew my membership but like I said in the discord, this was a fire reaction one of my favorite episodes 💯
KG
2024-01-19 03:30:42 +0000 UTC
