Blue Lock Animator Unpacks the Anime’s Awful Animation: “It’s Very Sad”

This year, Blue Lock has been the talk of the anime fandom and not for the reasons you might have hoped. After a stellar launch. the sports anime returned to the screen with season two this fall. The once-pristine anime left fans stunned by its comeback as Blue Lock season two looked totally different. From its stiff art to its static animation, Blue Lock season two has been rough, and now one animator is opening up about the ordeal.

Over on X (Twitter), animator EVAKOI broke down the situation in a damning post. It was there the artist, who worked on Blue Lock season one, called the situation around this season “very sad.”

“Blue Lock situation is not funny anymore, it is very sad. I personally know many animators from new episodes — and most of them are good animators, some are excellent,” EVAKOI explained. So if you thought the anime’s staff was the issue, think again.

Blue Lock’s Animation Nightmare Continues

“As someone who worked on one ep in 1st season, where situation with schedule was similar… I remember that I made several layout cuts with movement back then, nothing crazy, but all was transformed to stills. That was production focus, because there was no time and people to work on it on later stages (douga, shiage); To all people who go and blame animators, harass and make fun of them, please stop, it is extremely not fair, they cannot change the overall situation and they are trying their best,” the animator continued.

“You can see that even though quality is affected by schedule, drawings are most of the time consistent and good. They know how to draw and animate well. They don’t have a chance to. So ultimately, all your concerns should be directed at Kodansha and Blue Lock production committee.”

Clearly, EVAKOI knows where Blue Lock season two ran aground. The problem has nothing to do with the crew overseeing the anime; It comes down to the production committee and the executives organizing the schedule. The top brass is to blame in this situation, so anime fans should not take out their anger on the Blue Lock staff.

What Went Wrong With Blue Lock?

This note from EVAKOI echoes one that Martin Reyes shared earlier this year. The animator worked on Blue Lock season two, and they chose to cut short their deal after working on a single episode. According to Reyes, work on Blue Lock went fine at first, but issues arose later on as episodes neared completion.

“Strangely, problems [with Blue Lock] hadn’t arose yet. I’m sure I am not alone in this, but the work I did ended up not being released. Despite the low pay and short turn around, we did the best we could. Many of my animations were [cut] in the final edit; Basically, all their movement was eliminated. I don’t blame the person who worked on my cuts after me; They probably did all they could with the time they were given,” Reyes explained.

These problems…are a result of certain production committees. They take on projects with profit in mind but don’t care about the condition their workers face. It’s because of this that I did not work on more Blue Lock episodes. Once I finished working on episode two, I decided to leave, and the final result ended up a disaster as I expected. I am not able to feel proud of the work that was uploaded.”

If just one animator took offense with Blue Lock‘s execs, you could pass it off, but things change when two step forward. It seems the higher-ups behind Blue Lock are the ones to blame for the look of season two. And if the soccer anime gets a third season, the execs better refigure their production schedule ASAP.

What do you make of Blue Lock season two so far? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.