Since the anime season Fall 2024 started, many animes seem promising. Some have mindblowing animation, some have a great story, some have both, and some animes became a surprise for the fans this season. But the most anticipated show of this season for which fans were excited faces downfall, that anime was Blue Lock Season 2 or Blue Lock vs. U-20 Japan.
Just like we covered in our previous article how Blue Lock Season 2 Faced Fan Backlash On Social Media Platforms Over Poor Animation, and sadly, the string of poor animation continues, fans are talking about the poor animation quality which it didn’t deserve at all, as this is one of the best arcs in Blue Lock’s Story. Fans complained about the animation in episodes which felt like moving colored manga panels, and some janky CGI Foot-steps. And sometimes, some animation frames just looked very lazy and poor.
The level of backlash is too much in these ongoing weeks for this anime, but the question gets raised, Do fans have any answer about this poor animation which is shown by one of the highly anticipated anime of this season? The answer is Yes.
The Chilean animator MartinKiings, who is also one of the animators of Blue Lock Season 2, who also worked for popular animes like Nier: Automata and Dandadan broke the silence and shared the answer about the animation quality of Season 2 of Blue Lock. He shared the real reason on his official TikTok account, where he shared his experience working on the Second Episode of this anime.
MartinKiiings revealed that the whole issue didn’t start in the early stages but the animation was modified during its final stage. He also revealed that even with the low pay and tight schedules, The animators did their best to deliver to the fans. Despite being a huge workload, animators did their best.
I worked on the second episode of Blue Lock, and I will tell you why its animation was so bad. Several months ago, I started working on Blue Lock season 2. One in which I would work not only on 1 episode or 2 or 3, but rather 5 episodes. I started working on the second episode, in which I had to take charge of approximately 20 cuts, animating these scenes from scratch, that is, layout.
But curiously, the problems didn’t start at this point. I’m sure that not only me but also all the animators who worked on this episode didn’t do the job that ended up being the final result. Despite the low payment and short time we were given, we did the best we could.
MartinKiiings
But this comment isn’t it. The next MartinKiiings revealed about the production committee, is just shocking:
The problems came after the production was tight with their schedule, and they decided to remove many of the resources that were used for the animation. Many of my animations were capped in the final version. Basically, they eliminated all the movement, some frames, or they just made them differently. But the fault doesn’t lie in the one that came after me, since they probably did all they could with the short time they had.
These problems, just like in Jujutsu Kaisen in the past or in the vast majority of animes, are a result of the production committee of certain animes that take projects just thinking about the money and not the condition of its workers. And it’s because of this that I didn’t work on any more episodes of Blue Lock. Once I finished working on the second episode, I decided to get out, and as I thought, the final result ended up being disastrous. This made it a job that I’m not proud to upload.
MartinKiiings
Just like MartinKiiings revealed, The production of Blue Lock removed many resources that are used for the animation and many animation scenes got capped in the final version. He also revealed that just like Jujutsu Kaisen, many committees of certain animes were just thinking about the money, not the working conditions of the workers. It has a concern for years that animators are not getting fairly paid for their work and committees stuck them into huge workloads and pressure.
These concerns were a potential big problem for the animation industry in the future because it’s not just one case, Blue Lock is still one of them, many cases in this industry have concerns about their work culture and tight schedules. For now, it is confirmed that Blue Lock’s animation will not going to get good as Martin himself said This made it a job that He is not proud to upload.
So what’s next can happen? No one knows, maybe the animation committee can comment on this issue or they will remain silent as there is nothing to counter this poor animation part, as millions of fans already witnessed it and criticized it on their social media accounts. Still, if something arises about this issue, we will cover it anyway so definitely, Bookmark our website for more amazing updates in the future!
Blue Lock VS. U-20 JAPAN was released on October 5, 2024. As previously announced, this season is listed with 14 Episodes. The opening song “Boujaku no Charisma” (Arrogant Charisma) was performed by UNISON SQUARE GARDEN and the ending song “One” was performed by Snow Man.
The additional castings for season 2 include:
Oliver Aiku by Satoshi Hino
Sendo Shu-to by Akihisa Wakayama
Animation Studio eight-bit animated this new season of Blue Lock which also animated its 1st Season.
aBOUT bLUE lOCK
Blue Lock is a Japanese manga written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Illustrated by Yusuke Nomura. It was serialized in August 2018 in Kodansha’s Weekly Shounen Magazine. As of December 2023, this manga has a total of 27 Volumes. This manga also won the 45th Kodansha Manga Award in the shounen category.
This manga later got a spin-off titled “Blue Lock: Episode Nagi” which focuses on Seishiro Nagi written by Kaneshiro Muneyuki and Illustrated by Sannomiya Kouta. It began serialization in June 2022 in Kodansha’s Bessatsu Shounen Magazine.
This manga later got an anime adaptation by eight-bit which aired in October 2022. The spin-off manga “Blue Lock: Episode Nagi” got the anime movie adaptation which is set to release on 19 April 2024. The second season of this anime is also announced.
Kodansha USA Publishing releasing this manga digitally and by printing too in English. It describes its plot as:
“After a disastrous defeat at the 2018 World Cup, Japan’s team struggles to regroup. But what’s missing? An absolute Ace Striker, who can guide them to the win. The Japan Football Union is hell-bent on creating a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, and who can be the decisive instrument in turning around a losing match… and to do so, they’ve gathered 300 of Japan’s best and brightest youth players. Who will emerge to lead the team…and will they be able to out-muscle and out-ego everyone who stands in their way?“
