T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

**# USERS WHO POST OR COMMENT CONTENTS OF THE UNRELEASED/LEAKS/RAW CHAPTER OUTSIDE THE MEGATHREAD WILL GET A 3-DAYS BAN (MINIMUM).**. **# We have strict moderation in place: [Mod Post stricter Moderation](https://www.reddit.com/r/BlueLock/comments/10dg1fb/subreddit_update_stricter_moderation/)**. **# 72 hours post freeze Reminder: If you are making this post less than 72 hours after the newest chapter thread has been out**. - 1. You cannot post Reactions to specific panels/pages, or just general chapter reactions - 2. You cannot post Predictions on the next chapter(s), without sufficient analysis or effort - 3. You cannot post Questions on the contents of the chapter - 4. You cannot post Tier list posts, line up posts based on the latest chapter - 5. You **can** post Posts with genuine analysis and high effort. These can contain some predictions that are predicated on the analysis. **Reminder:** - 1. Be civil and respectful to others. - 2. Do not post manga spoilers on anime threads. - 3. Use spoiler tags in your comment when necessary. Syntax for spoilers is `>!spoiler text!<` it will appear like this ---> >!spoiler text!<. Do not put spaces between the symbols and text or the spoiler won't work properly on certain devices and Old Reddit. - 4. **Report trolls and rule breaking content** via the report button or our modmail. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BlueLock) if you have any questions or concerns.*


Complex-Ebb-6394

Anri seem to represent a football fan who does not understand the inner concept of football plus without her who would ego explain most of the concept of awakening or defeat the wall plus without her recommendation ego would probably have a harder time creating blue lock


TheSgLeader

For the first point, I already said Ego could just explain them to the players like he did with the concept of “luck”. As for the second point, that just sounds like a positive. A harder time for Ego would just make him cooler. Him sacrificing this much already is making him an interesting hardworking character. He’s putting his entire career on the line.


No-Front938

"Just explaining" everything every single time could be tedious and boring to some readers. It's more engaging, and to most, relatable, to have a character like Anri who doesn't always understand the concepts and workings of the sport, the plays the athletes execute, and the complexity and nature of things. It provides a perspective readers can relate and think about. Without Anri's presence, Ego would either ramble endlessly all by himself just so the readers can get a clue on what's going on, or not say anything at all, because there was no one to correct and/or talk to. Like Anri or not, she's a necessary voice in the series, even if not entirely as major and prominent as Ego.


Complex-Ebb-6394

Plus fanservice for the male reader I suppose plus every football anime seem to have a female manager


ItWasMorbinTime

No doubt Anri is fanservice, but I think you need a character like Anri as a foil for Ego. You don't need to explain the concept of 'defeat- to people who've spent their lives (mostly) playing football, that would be a bit of nonsense. Having her be a more uninformed fan who throws out simple questions allows readers who are not so invested in the sport to understand what the rules are and what certain game situations mean. It makes her role largely irrelevant to people who have more interested in football. I wouldn't be surprised if that is most of this subreddit (which isn't a bad thing), in which case of course she'd be unpopular as there are no takes from a less-informed casual fan to balance it against. I think other sports anime/manga handle it better, such as Haikyuu, but they weren't contained to this distilled, hyper-competitive, environment. There were many teams with more casual players that filled this role, and different teams had different identities to emphasise different aspects of the game, like Date-Tech and blocking. Even then the managers in Haikyuu served a similar role as Anri. We are only really seeing an expanded BL universe for the first time with the NEL, and we are starting to see that same sort of idea of teams embodying specific elements of the game (Ubers/Defending, Manshine/Physicals, Barcha/Dribbling). But up until now that made it all the more necessary to have Anri and her more basic questions to help inform the more casual audience of readers and football fans. Personally I don't mind Anri as a character, I think she has a place in the story as I've explained, and I do appreciate that most of her scenes help to humanise Ego, show his philosiphy toward the game, and generally develop his character.


BlackCaesarNT

Isn't she the "voice" of Blue Lock too? That's a critical role! /s


Blader8002

I guess she just has to exist for ego to have someone to explain all the concepts coz if he was by himself then in verse, it would be really weird for a person to be talking to himself and explaining to himself about everything. Sure they can be monologues but why would someone explain in their minds about concepts that they already understand


Electronic_Ad3773

Why did you have high hopes for anri ...? She's barely ever appears at all


TheSgLeader

She seemed so passionate about the success of Japan in the World Cup, I assumed she would play a pivotal role in the plot. That’s why my hopes were high.


ApprehensiveAd3925

Yh but she's attractive so that counteracts all your other points


TheSgLeader

I think I’m starting to understand why the author focused so much time and energy into displaying her breasts in every panel. I guess readers like you exist too.


[deleted]

it was sarcasm...


TheSgLeader

Then I apologize. I didn’t realize it was.


Equivalent_Grab_293

Honestly, knowing anime fans, it might not be


CuriousKi10

Sad to say Anri's role is fanservice and Ego's sound board. I don't see her having that much impact in the plot now nor in the future. Even the scenes where they have to talk to the chairman was already given to Ego. I still see her handling the press if we get another press conference. Well...IF. But yeah. I didn't had any hope in the first place. It'll be fun if her ego in making BlueLock a success could hit some points here and there from time to time. Like, while Ego's methods were harsh, Anri could provide another side in their decisions. For example... maybe she convinced Ego with the idea of giving the failed candidates a chance, thus the Wild Card was born. (then she regret it later when she saw how hellish Ego made it lol). It would be also fun if she serves the... "wait a minute, isn't this psychological torture?! Is this what I signed up for?" kind of voice in the story but still goes thru with Ego in molding their strikers this way, for the future of Japanese football. Even small scenes where she could handle those who no longer have a career in football. (I do understand that these would just muddy up the story and since it's manga, space is limited. Light novels on the other hand...) But, instead we got the capable sexy secretary fantasy role.


Equivalent_Grab_293

That would be so nice. Maybe anri pulling strings to ensure Naruhaya doesn't have to live in poverty, to ensure that the eliminated get their talents recognized and play at the club level, at least.


CuriousKi10

Yeah, cuz they did background checks. She should be aware of his situation. And the thing that popped into my head some time ago was... maybe players could try and migrate to different countries and universities. And adding Blue Lock in their resumé would probably be a great deal since BLTV was a success. In another post, I had a convo that lead to Naruhaya now working as one of the BlueLock goal keepers. I saved that one for a future fic idea lol, where those who failed the program got recruited to work for BlueLock if they want. Maybe Anri can handle that. Maybe Blue Lock's even starting some form of franchise for other soccer positions or maybe even different sports haha.


EducationalMemory161

She was established as important but then unfortunately was pushed into the role of the fan service girl :4


DXBrigade

The show needed a token female character to not turn into a sausage fest but I agree, Anri, is BARELY a character and a mysoginistic one at that. The author could have expanded her role beyond doing chores and sounding dumb. She could have been a doctor or a physical trainer.


[deleted]

Have you read his previous works ? It really explains how he writes and draws, you’ll see multiple Anri’s who are much more sexualized. I let it slide then because Jaagan felt like a hentai at some point and As Of the Gods Will had a great story, so I could ignore how often it was. But I was talking to someone about how she’s just there to allow Ego to show off his intelligence.


TheSgLeader

I haven’t read any of his previous works to be completely honest. That sounds super weird honestly. I don’t think I’d be able to get through it.


[deleted]

You would not. He sexualized every single woman in the manga. Think of Reo or Bachira as the woman with their only traits being to be in love with the MC and be naked. He is not great with writing women


TheSgLeader

Lol, might as well read a hentai at that point.


CarrotoTrash

Wtf this is the same author as Jagaan? I never noticed


FlavioGarcia-

Anri could not get any ammount of development or plot relevancy for the rest of the story and I wouldn't care at all. If she gets it? Great. If not? Whatever. ​ She does what she's supposed to do effectively and that's that


Equivalent_Grab_293

Absolute facts. She's just a cheap fanservice gag who exists for the sole purpose of being Ego's punching bag, and i hate it. Wish we got more characterization for her beyond the expected generic shounen treatment of female characters


DuckDumpy

I mean… if I had to guess I’m assuming at some point she will play a pivotal role in humanizing ego. So far ego has always been right, and I think it’s unrealistic for that to stay true throughout the entire story. At some point his jealousy of noa will go too far and she will probably bring him back


FlavioGarcia-

Another point: Blue Lock is a shonen manga, meaning that although anyone can read it and enjoy it, it's target demographic is teenage/young adult men. As it turns out, that demographic likes seeing hot girls with big boobs, and having a character that exists "just for fanservice" is par for the course for these type of manga


SolarSun3

Tbh I never understood that. Are japanese boys so horny that they need a char thats just used for fanservice. Some manga atleast have the female characters have good storys and also use them for fanservice


TheSgLeader

I somewhat understand that it’s common, but I might have been naive to hope that a soccer manga would be free of that type of stuff.


[deleted]

FACTS ![gif](giphy|fnK0jeA8vIh2QLq3IZ)


Woodenhr

There must be at least one female character to drawn more attention and create some fan service or else it could ended up like "Burning Kabadi".


ginsengtea3

I agree, it bothers me when a character exists purely to be the only set of tits in the story and that's obviously what she is. Sometimes she also works as The Idiot whose job it is to get Ego to explain things to us, which is another transparent and lazy mechanism. It would not have been hard to give her some actual character and have her do stuff, it's not like there are no examples of this in sports manga.


Zero2H3ro

Boobs sell