Blue Lock Season 2 Episode 4: Reo's Awakening

Important takeaways

• Reo's development and newfound determination to improve his football skills as he embraces his new style of play, the chameleon.
• Reo's realization that he wants to be someone Nagi will chase after shows deeper character development.
• Improved animation quality in this episode compared to previous ones, hinting at potential improvements in future episodes.

The new episode titled “Chameleon” begins with Reo finally being able to stand up for himself and telling Nagi to keep an eye on him and that he's happy to finally be able to play with him again. Team A trio Isagi, Hiori and Nanase discuss how Isagi was able to score. The analogy that Hiori used to describe reflexive thinking is the same as good players being able to analyze which piece to place where in the heat of the game in Tetris was amazing. Fans of the classic game can easily relate to the fact that once the game gets going, you hardly have any time to think or even react. For that matter, you just place the tiles as quickly as they appear in the correct place that your mind and body together suggest.

Seeing the trio just chill together and not fight over who is the best, and actually complement each other is a nice change for once in the series where everyone is fighting over who is the best; not because the fans don't love it; the whole series is about being the best and ego, and that's why everyone loves it, but seeing a friendly interaction sometimes is also quite nice.

The second match begins

Born Genius vs Lazy Genius

The match starts well with Reo taking the lead and trying to coordinate with Nagi but not anticipating that they are playing against the best of the best in Blue Lock. Team A counters with each player showing off their skills against each other, but the star of the first half is Yukimiya, who takes possession of the ball and dribbles past everyone, including Shidou and Rin, without breaking a sweat and shoots for a stunning goal, but just when Jyubei pops up to counter, Nagi pops up and intercepts the ball and scores a great goal for Team B.

Reo realizes that Nagi isn't the same always bored person he forced into soccer just for him, but he's actually leagues above now and actively enjoying soccer. These kinds of bittersweet moments are what fans appreciate about the show. Because, as strong as these players are, they are still human, and some of them are friends or rivals even if they want to play alongside each other to grow.

Born with everything

Still, nothing that you actually want

Reo realizes that the top 6 want absolutely nothing more than to be the best striker in the world. He is aware that he is not like that. He knew that even if he lost in the Blue Lock, he would still live a great life because he came from a very successful and wealthy family and was good at every other task he ever performed. Reo still remembers his father telling him that he was born to be his successor at the company and that few people become football players. “There's no way you can be,” he was told.

Reo says that everything he just thought was stupid and grinned like crazy. For him, losing means going back to life as usual-boring. As the camera turns to Nagi, Reo believes that what he wants is right here: “There's nowhere else but here.” Reo takes off, ready to give his all in what he knows could be his last football match, and walks over to Yukimiya.

Reo's Awakening

The highlight of the episode

When Reo gets possession of the ball and starts passing it back and forth to Nagi, Shidou tries to stop him. No longer satisfied with just being a jack of all trades, Reo proudly states that he can take any position on the field and declares himself a jack of all trades. Although Nagi was open for a pass, Reo decided to play like the top players and caught them all and approached the net as he tried to score himself. Reo kicks with all his might and scores the second goal for Team C, mimicking the same shot as Yukimiya. Reo names his new playstyle “The Chameleon”.

Even though Team B loses the match and Reo thinks to himself that he is still not good enough to beat the top 6, he now knows how to improve. Nagi approaches Reo and fills him in on his goal. However, Reo knows he still can't play the kind of football Nagi wants. He tells Nagi to leave him behind and keep looking down on him while he works on becoming someone Nagi will chase after. Nagi understands and leaves. While they didn't really show his background in detail, it was a good start. Fans of the duo can only hope at this point that they delve deep into their bond down the road.

Slightly better animation quality

Ends on a strong note

Although the production and animation quality hasn't improved much, it's slightly better than the previous episodes, maybe because Isagi didn't place puzzle pieces the whole episode, or they actually tried a little harder on this episode, but all in all it was better than what we have shown so far. Reo's awakening was also done well, with the soundtrack on par with season 1 of Blue lock. As fans are speculating, it can only go up from here, and we can only hope it gets better once the third selection arc is complete.

During the post-credit scene, We are shown Itoshi Sae walking into JFC, taunting the U-20 team, saying that they are just a bunch of high school students and that he is no longer interested in playing for the team, but JFC manages to convince him that he can replace any striker with whoever he wants in Japan. Sae says he wants an idiot from Blue Lock, which makes it very interesting as he sees someone worthy enough from the Blue Lock project; would it be Isagi or maybe his own brother? Well, we have yet to find out.

The best moments in Blue Lock

Of course there would be additional time bonus

As always, the best part of the episodes are the funny moments during extra time. Yukimaru calling Nagi out as a sloth was perfect, and Nagi calling him a Tarsier was completely uncalled for, but that's why Nagi is so loved by everyone. Reo being a chameleon and Jyubei a glamorous stick insect, while Barou and Tokimitsu being a pair of gorillas and Isagi a beetle were all fun, but calling Rin a failed toxic experiment was the best, and the funniest part was Rin actually participating in the game and correcting them that Isagi was not a beetle but a caterpillar taken by a bird.

Overall, the pace of the episode was slightly better than the previous two episodes, and with the upcoming intense match between the Blue Lock and the U-20 team, things are starting to look better for the show. Hopefully they will focus all their production budget and quality on the upcoming match.