REVIEW: ‘Blue Lock’ Season 2 Episode 4 — “Chameleon”

After winning their first match, Isagi and his friends reflect on the victory and prepare for game two in Blue Lock Season 2 Episode 4, “Chameleon.” Isagi is learning to score without overanalyzing, which will be crucial to his progression in the Blue Lock program.

After a brief intro, Blue Lock Season 2 Episode 4 starts with a nice tactical analysis sequence. Isagi sits down with Nanase Nijiro and watches the video of his goal. Nanase even asks him what he was thinking about before scoring, but Isagi tells him he wasn’t thinking at all.

This is the key to the entire Blue Lock program. The goal has been to create the ultimate striker, and part of that is getting players to go for the goal whenever they can instinctively. Isagi had other teammates available to score, but he made a solo run and took the goal himself. He has been establishing his ego bit by bit, and here, he did it subconsciously. It is exactly what Blue Lock wants from its young strikers, and Isagi is starting to show that predatorial instinct.

The concept of acting reflexively in soccer is compared to playing Tetris. This analogy is quite good and explained very well. In Tetris, the blocks start moving slowly, giving players time to understand how everything works and process the game. However, as the game progresses, the blocks start moving faster, and players need to use the knowledge they have acquired to react purely on reflection and instinct if they want to be good.

Soccer works the same way. Players must start slowly with new teammates and learn how they like to move and function. Then, as the game progresses, they must use that information to make split-second decisions. The difference here is that the other pieces constantly move, making reacting appropriately much harder.

Even though the comparison isn’t perfect, Blue Lock Season 2 Episode 4 does a great job of explaining it and showing it in a way that makes sense to viewers. It is just another way that the series makes understanding soccer less difficult for the people watching. The trick is to explain the ins and outs of the sport without being boring, and using Tetris as an example does that very well.

Throughout all this, Isagi and some of his less talented friends are learning about their worth on the field. They are not the most skilled players, so they must find new ways to stand out. Isagi’s play during the game and his winning goal helped players like Nanase and Hiori play at a higher level. They could feed off of his understanding of the game to play better. They all come to these realizations together, which helps fend off some of the selfish mentality the Blue Lock program is trying to establish for them.

Blue Lock Season 2 Episode 4 also shows us the second match in this next stage of the program between the other teams formed earlier in the season. When it seems like Isagi is moving up the ladder, we see he still has plenty of better players ahead of him. These guys are completely bought into the “me first” mentality, showing he still has a way to go.

One thing that stands out in this game is the animation. Earlier episodes had tried to show the fluidity of motion while also taking a moment to let the players breathe. The issue is that as the intensity of the matches increases, so should the animation. Specifically, too much time is spent with players standing completely still on the field.

Standing still in soccer is rare, but Blue Lock Season 2 Episode 4 shows it almost the entire time. Players receive the ball at their feet and then freeze, as do the defenders. To make the actual soccer feel authentic, there must be much more movement on and off the ball.

One moment that stuck out was watching some of the elite players zig-zag past defenders in a visually jarring way. It was like watching a still image cut out and dragged across a still background. The CGI animation that followed it made it a little more realistic, but overall, it was really disappointing.

These constant freeze-frame moments allow for one really important thing: character development. We get to hear what is happening inside the players’ heads and know what they are thinking as the action unfolds. This does really help viewers understand what is happening, even if it takes away from the quality of the on-field action itself. A slightly better blend of the two would help the actual soccer part of the episode and series.

Blue Lock Season 2 Episode 4 dives deeper into the analytical part of soccer while showing good character growth. The animation is lacking, but the episode makes up for that with great insight into the game and how the players see it.

Blue Lock Season 2 Episode 4 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.