Blue Lock's top 6, explained

Important takeaways

• Jinpachi Ego picks the top 6 players from Blue Lock based on talent, team performance and scoring ability.
• The Top 6 showcase unique skills and playing styles – Rin Itoshi's accuracy, Ryusei Shido's physical dominance, Tabito Karasu's tactics.
• Eita Otoya's agility, Kenyu Yukimiya's one-on-one skills and Nagi Seishiro's control make them standout players in Blue Lock.

Blue lock revolves around the journey of some of the most talented soccer players in Japan as they compete against each other to become the best strikers in the country. Under the watchful eye of Jinpachi Ego, players compete and undergo a ruthless training program to rise through the ranks. After a series of eliminations, only 35 players remain Blue lockdetermined to be Japan's next superstar. Among these talented players, Ego notices six players who thrive under pressure and regularly showcase the dramatic evolution of their game. In this article we look at the circumstances that led to the choice of Blue Lock's Top 6, their purpose and understand the skills that set them apart.

The origin and purpose of the top 6

Blue Lock's most prized prodigy

After Blue Lock's match with Team World Five, the Japan Football Union organized a meeting where members grilled Jinpachi Ego. He had spent 100 million yen on each soccer star for the match, squandering a bonus of 1 million yen per goal. The committee was angered by Ego's waste of resources and felt that he had failed to produce any results for the investment.

Chairman Hirotoshi Buratsuta told Jinpachi that the union had given him the chance he wanted but had decided to cancel the Blue Lock project. In a hurry to prove that he hasn't wasted time and money, Ego decided to set up a match between the Blue Lock 11 and Japan's U20. If the latter wins, Jinpachi's project will end, but if his team wins, he gets to captain the country's U20 national team.

With the odds stacked against Blue Lock, Jinpachi immediately organized a meeting with the soccer players at his facility. That's when he declared that they would play against the U20 team in a few weeks. While 29 out of 35 players will have to fight to take their place in the team, Jinpachi Ego revealed that he has already selected the core of the team made up of the best players, officially known as the Top 6.

The Top 6 were chosen by Jinpachi Ego based on a number of factors, including his subjective judgments about a player's talent, personal evaluations from the Team World Five, and the number of goals scored since the first selection and against the Team World Five. This elite group of super-skilled players was the benchmark for other footballers at the facility to emulate ahead of the match against Japan's U20s.

The top 6 were further divided into three teams based on ranking. The rest of the players from Blue Lock then joined one of the teams in groups of three to make a team that played against each other. Their performance in the matches became the basis for selection for the match against Japan's U20. As previously mentioned, the Top 6 consists of some of the most talented players from Japan. Here's why each one is special.

Rin Itoshi

A consummate perfectionist

Rin Itoshi is considered one of the most skilled players in the Blue Lock and is the younger brother of Japan's best soccer player, Sae Itoshi. Despite playing alongside the most talented strikers from around the country, Rin hardly seems to push himself too hard, easily outmaneuvering almost everyone he faces. His dribbling and spatial awareness make him a nightmare for midfielders and defenders.

Rin also has an unusually high kicking accuracy, which, along with his proprietary style of play called puppet control football, allows him to manipulate the game at will. With his varied skill set, Rin Itoshi has successfully transformed himself into a goal machine that seems almost impossible to stop.

Ryusei Shido

A selfish striker who wants to dominate his opponents

While most of the football players at Blue Lock are preoccupied with the idea of ​​being the best, Ryusei Shido stands as an enigma driven by his insatiable excitement for mayhem and the love of the sport. Eccentric and violent, Shido thrives when playing against high-level players who bring out the best in him. Whenever Ryusei is on the court, he utilizes his strong physicality to dominate others, displaying absurdly high acceleration for someone his size. He is arguably the best goal-stealer in Japan due to his uncanny ability to turn every opportunity into a six-yard goal.

Tabito Karasu

A ruthless tactician desperate to make a mark

Tabito Karasu is in a class of his own when it comes to ball control. With his unique spatial awareness and clever maneuvering, he keeps the ball and tricks everyone he comes across into making mistakes. Karasu uses fine feints along with his ability to control space to dribble past several players and leave them in the dust. While Tabito is undoubtedly a skilled soccer player, he outshines most players when it comes to strategic thinking. Tabito deconstructs the opposing team's tactics and exploits even marginal strategic oversights to create chances and score goals.

Eita Otoya

The stoic striker who moves like a ninja

Ranked 4th in the top 6, Eita Otoya is a calm and composed footballer who is highly rated for his ability to work through tight spaces on the pitch with incredible agility. His movements off the ball are incredibly precise and allow him to put himself in the right place at the right time. Eita is one of the best players in the Blue Lock when it comes to slipping past defenders and scoring crucial goals.

Kenyu Yukimiya

The king of individual duels

Kenyu Yukimiya is a charismatic and confident soccer player who thrives on the field despite suffering from optic neuropathy. As a one-on-one emperor, he can pretty much go up against the best footballers and get past them with ease. Kenyu mainly relies on the La Boba feint and the Drag Scissor technique to break the opponent's defenses and leave them scratching their heads. He is also an expert at high shots that have incredible spin, creating an illusion in the opposing team's mind that he has missed, only for the ball to swing drastically in the final seconds and land perfectly in the net.

Nagi Seishiro

Nagi is an unmotivated and indolent player who undergoes a remarkable transformation after his arrival at Blue Lock. Arguably one of the most talented footballers in the facility, Seishiro displays almost perfect control of the ball. His first-touch passes are incomprehensibly beautiful and often leave players on the pitch in awe. In his fluid state, Nagi almost turns into a goal machine with little to no technical flaws in his game, making it extremely difficult for opponents to stop him.