Interview: BLUE LOCK Creators Muneyuki Kaneshiro & Yusuke Nomura

Combining the appeal of a death battle series with the action and velocity of a sports manga, BLUE LOCK is an entertaining blend of the best parts of both. Storywriter Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrator Yusuke Nomura created a story that challenges the typical sensibilities of a sports series. Generally, sports manga emphasize concepts like teamwork, compassion, and selflessness, mixing them with warm, encouraging art that evokes those same concepts. BLUE LOCK boldly strikes against that standard. Instead of teamwork and selflessness, the series emphasizes ego, pride, and individualism. The art features depictions of “monsters” within oneself and evokes mad passion; players sometimes feel more like soccer-playing creatures than human beings.

At this year’s Kodansha House, alongside some of the enticing activations for BLUE LOCK (including a soccer game where players had to try to hit targets with a ball), we had the chance to speak with both of the series’ creators. Our conversation went in a lot of directions but was an enjoyable one, covering the artistic process behind the art and the story, discussing where BLUE LOCK finds itself genre wise, and even touching a bit on Attack on Titan.

Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity. This interview was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter.

Q: BLUE LOCK differentiates itself from other sports manga by being about more than just soccer – it’s a psychological battle manga too. How early into development of the series did it become more than soccer, and in what ways do you both feel you elevate the series beyond the sport?

Kaneshiro-sensei: Even since the beginning of the development of the story, I always had a vision of crossing over a soccer manga with elements of death games, involving 300 high school students fighting over their slots in the Blue Lock. But based on this setting, I knew the story was going to be quite unique and unlike any other sports manga. It’s more comparable to a battle manga, where each of the characters are facing life and death types of situations. I knew that was going to be the core essence of this story.

Nomura-sensei: Based on Kaneshiro-sensei’s idea, we also started to incorporate elements like the auras or the the shooting sequence, the action — to look more like a battle manga than just like a sports manga, and that was the expression that I was going for with my illustrations. That way people who are unfamiliar with soccer in the first place — for example kids of younger ages — they could accept it as something very cool. Beyond that point, we always aspire to go beyond what is defined as a sports manga by crossing over sports manga with battle manga.

Q: Kaneshiro-sensei, how did you arrive at this core concept of the egoist? Did any of it arise from your own experiences with sports?

Kaneshiro-sensei: This concept of ego came from me being a Japanese person who had a team of soccer players who were known to pass the ball right before the goal. And then as a regular audience member, when we are watching soccer, we’re always kind of being a backseat player and saying, “Why aren’t you making the shot?” But that was just the impression of soccer overall in Japan at that time. And based on that experience, I really felt like the Japanese players needed their strong will and ego. Instead of just being worried about looking good in the eyes of the beholder. To get exactly what you need, you really need that ego. So just based on this frustration that I was feeling, and also what I was seeing in soccer, the word ego became a cross point of those two emotions. And as for my own sports experience, I used to play tennis, which is a one-on-one sport. That might be reflected in the story where soccer is portrayed not as eleven versus one, but it’s always going to a one-on-one matchup. That might be contributed from my experience of playing tennis.

Q: Nomura-sensei, the series has some incredible art, with my personal favorite details being eyes and some of the “monsters” inside of people. What was the process for coming up with those details and bringing them to life?

Nomura-sensei: You may or may not know this, but in my previous work, I already started to develop this style of adding details in the eyes of the character or expressing them in aura that looks like a monster. So I thought to myself, “what if I use these visual expressions in the BLUE LOCK series as well?” Because that’s what I was already good at when I was working on the previous series. As for the process, I really had to think about how I could make this series more distinctive from other soccer manga, because there are many wonderful soccer manga. But how can we make ourselves look different? That was the underlying concept — that I had to make the distinctive looks and details of each of the characters so that they would appeal to people who are not familiar with soccer and be adored by those fans who are not familiar with the sport.

Q: Kaneshiro-sensei, different characters’ actions act as commentary on soccer, sports, and the world writ large. Many of the players go against Japanese senses of altruism and harmony, and characters like Ego espouse a certain philosophy. What is your process for using characters to convey a particular message? Is it something organic or something you intentionally do? 

Kaneshiro-sensei: That’s a really good question, by the way. Like I mentioned earlier in the interview, sometimes I have this weird feeling that I couldn’t really put my finger on while living in Japan. For example, there’s a feeling that I wish I could have said something at a moment. Or why didn’t that person say anything to me when they felt something at a time? These are the kinds of things that I couldn’t really express and that I had struggled to understand in my life. This is why I started to incorporate the idea of ego into the series, based on what I was feeling at the time about Japanese Society. And that feeling — being understood and being accepted — when it’s rendered into a character like Isagi, who is based on myself and the ideas spun off between me and Nomura-sensei, that character becomes really popular. Understood in Japan and also worldwide. That is a really interesting experience because it makes me think that the message we’re touching in BLUE LOCK is something that is universal. And it’s also unique. That gives me a scary feeling at the same time, but it’s also very fun.

Q: The series has now been in publication for multiple World Cups. How does the event influence the popularity of the series, and do real world matches influence the events of the story or its illustration?

Kaneshiro-sensei: Absolutely impactful to our work. We started the series with the aim to have our anime series launch around the last World Cup, which is four years ago. At that time, the Japan team lost, and that’s where we kind of started the series. We’re always keeping an eye out on the state of the Japan team and all the rest of the teams from all over the world, and every time the World Cup comes around, we’re thinking, “What if Japan wins?” Because while we really do want them to win, at the same time that actually jeopardizes the direction of the story. So we always have this mix of part excitement and part concern.

Nomura-sensei: I tried to make a series accessible to those people who are not too familiar with the game of soccer. And I myself actually studied soccer as part of the process of writing BLUE LOCK. So that it could appeal to the non-soccer fans. Maybe BLUE LOCK could be the entry point to liking the game. So we are constantly studying and growing ourselves. And I think that that is the major contribution to the world of soccer from our manga.

Q: Are you ever worried that you’ll face criticism about any depictions from actual soccer players?

Kaneshiro-sensei: Maybe a little bit. But we deliberatively chose to do that as a best way to present the series with the most interesting story and also character development. And that’s the reason why we do that.

Q: Are there any characters either of you wish had a chance to get more focused on or have more active time? Or would use for another side story?

Kaneshiro-sensei: So many. Igaguri [Gurimu Igarashi] maybe? I really feel like he could be utilized as a better character. And also, in a different world, he could be a better player, too.

Nomura-sensei: So, if we were to do a spin-off or side story, what should we do? Maybe for me, I want to dig deeper into the side story of someone like Shido [Ryusei Shido]. Or Rin [Rin Itoshi]. We’ll definitely have more development of him in the main series. As for Shido, he’s like a complete mystery. We don’t know his backstory at all. So, if we were to put a full focus on someone in a side story, I think I would enjoy writing about Shido, and maybe the fans would like it, too.

Q: Since the series began publication are there any major elements that have changed in terms of how you approach the story or illustration?

Nomura-sensei: As the series continues, we recognize that the number of fans also grows. And as the series becomes an anime or a stage play or a novel or a movie, for every instance of new media that comes out, the audience grows. And when it does, I really feel responsible and that I have to face my characters and look at them as an individual and examine their personalities. I really feel like I need to be able to succeed at that.

Kaneshiro-sensei: I’m honestly surprised how many people in the world there are who follow this series now and who became a fan. At the same time, I feel the need to just really focus on how I feel about the story, because that’s where the story all began. And to me, my job now is to purely dig deeper into myself. And that’s the only way to continue to create the story.

Q: Both of you have connections to Hajime Isayama-sensei. Which of his titans do you think would make the best striker?

Both: Reiner.

Nomura-sensei: He would definitely be perfect to stop the ball. But any other player? I’m not too sure if he’s a good player or not.

Kaneshiro-sensei: What about Annie?

Nomura-sensei: Oh, the Female Titan?

Kaneshiro-sensei: She was kicking people. I think if there were actually a ball, the defense would be Reiner, and the forward would be Annie. I think those would be the best players out of the titans. The most powerful team.

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We’d like to thank Muneyuki Kaneshiro-sensei Yusuke Nomura-sensei for taking the time to speak with us and thank Kodansha for coordinating what became an extremely entertaining interview. While both Anime Expo and Los Angeles Kodansha House have come to a close, be on the lookout for additional Kodansha events (such as New York Kodansha House) in the months to come. You can check out BLUE LOCK on Kodansha.

Blue Lock © Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Yusuke Nomura/KODANSHA LTD.