Blue Lock Is Launching a Real-Life Soccer Tournament

Blue Lock has become one of the biggest sports anime to release in recent years and for good reason. Created by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura in 2018, the series takes a no-holds-barred approach to the game of soccer, or football if you live outside the United States. Now, to capitalize on the growing success of the story that follows Yoichi Isagi as he pursues his dream of on-the-field glory, Crunchyroll is throwing a Blue Lock soccer tournament this week to celebrate the anime.

The Blue Lock anime has stuck fairly closely to the Blue Lock manga, by giving fans a series that explores soccer players that are willing to lay everything on the line in an effort to be the next big stars in Japan and get a shot at becoming a part of Japan’s national team. Placed in a competition where the winners will be chosen for Japan’s premiere team, the losers of this contest won’t be put to death, but their soccer careers might be. Blue Lock’s anime is still in the throes of its first season, and the manga is continuing to pump out new chapters regularly, so the story of Isagi and his competition continues. 

Blue Lock For Real

Luckily, fans participating in this event from Crunchyroll won’t have their ability to become soccer superstars taken from them should they lose. The event itself will follow the “King of the Court” rules from the anime, taking teams of three and pitting them against one another in California on March 25th. Along with Crunchyroll, Saturdays Football and LA Galaxy will have a hand in bringing this competition to life and you can click here to learn more.

Blue Lock has become so popular in fact that the artist who helped create the series, Yusuke Nomura, helped design the uniforms for Japan’s World Cup team last year. The first season of Blue Lock’s anime is preparing to come to a close, with Studio Eight Bit responsible for the installments we’ve seen so far. While a second season of the anime adaptation has yet to be confirmed, the popularity of the television series and manga alike might make it an easy goal. 

Will you be traveling to California this weekend to try your hand at this Blue Lock tournament? What has been your favorite sports anime in the medium so far? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Blue Lock.