Isagi Yoichi is the MVP of Blue Lock Season 2 Episode 3 (2025)

Third Selection left Isagi Yoichi with only one chance to prove himself as a valuable member of Blue Lock and Team A. Win or fail, Isagi's ability to showcase his skills as a striker and coexist with the rest of Team A was all that stood between his chances at victory and total defeat. If he lost, not only would his time in Blue Lock be over, but his career would shatter alongside his victory.

Third Selection's final match between Team A and Team B left Isagi on the ropes as he struggled to find a balance of assertion and coexistence with his fellow teammates, particularly with Rin and Shido. Despite his initial struggles, Isagi found his pace and was able to coexist with Hiori and Nanase in light of his overall physical weakness compared to the top two strikers in Blue Lock.

Match MVP: Isagi Yoichi

Isagi's Reflexes and Flow

For the majority of the match, Isagi could barely keep up with Rin and Shido as he struggled to assert himself while defending against Karasu for most of the game. While the top two strikers left him in the dust without much room to contribute to the match, Isagi found the missing link between Rin and Shido as the two struggled to work in tandem, almost losing the game as a result of their lack of coexistence with each other. Once Isagi understood that Rin and Shido were the most incompatible teammates, he took it upon himself to bridge the gap of coexistence with the rest of his team by working with Hiori and Nanase to assert himself as the star of the show.

Little by little, Isagi's continued efforts helped break the deadlock between both teams as he elevated the importance and skills of his weaker teammates to overwhelm the opposition and slowly carve out his own place in the match without having to rely on either Rin or Shido to solely carry the team. Karasu continued to hamper Isagi's efforts, but with the help of Hiori and Nanase, Isagi broke past Karasu's defenses and linked up with Shido to score a goal. He might not have been able to score himself, but Isagi's initial teamwork sparked a fundamental change in Team A's flow as each of the weaker members worked together and supported one another to give Isagi a chance to score.

Isagi's initial activation stirred a deep change among the members of Team A, who couldn't keep up with Rin or Shido, so they relied on Isagi as the bridge to bring everyone on Team A together in a delicate balance of assertion and coexistence. Once the three found a flow between each other, Isagi slowly clawed his way up to become the MVP of the match as his efforts sparked each member of Team A to coexist instead of trying to assert themselves and lose the game without any team cohesion. After Isagi realized that his body couldn't keep up with his mind to seize the necessary opportunities to score for himself, he relied on his reflexes to make a plan in the moment to keep up with Rin and Shido's speed.

With Team B having a 2-4 lead against Team A, Isagi's activation caused their rapid ascent to a 4-4 match point game. Whoever scored next would win and Isagi had only one chance left to assert himself after spending the majority of the match failing to do so and only just having created a synergy of coexistence. With everything on the line, Isagi took Hiori's advice and relied on pure instinct and reflexes to push past his limits and steal the final goal from Rin and Shido for himself, winning the game for Team A.

Subjugation and Adaptation

Team A's Missing Piece

Assertion AND coexistence are required to win and once Isagi understood that he couldn't win by himself, he found refuge in coexistence with Hiori and Nanase to get past Team B's defenses through coordination and overwhelming numbers. Rin and Shido might have been the best players on their team, but they were only out for themselves with no expectation of supporting the rest of Team A. Nanase might not have been able to follow Rin and Shido's plays due to their sheer speed and power, but Isagi's moves were compatible with the rest of the team, which allowed them to work off each other and slowly make a comeback in the match.

While the first half of the game was about finding a balance of assertion with Rin and Shido, the latter half was about coexistence with Hiori and Nanase, but only relying on a single approach wasn't enough for Isagi to stand out. He had to balance his assertion with the best players and coexist with the weaker players to stand out from the rest of his team. The missing piece of the match wasn't some thematic balance of assertion and coexistence, it was Isagi Yoichi himself. He was the missing piece to balance both sides of his team to create a chemical reaction strong enough to rise as the star of the game and win.

Adaption wasn't one of Jinpachi Ego's riddles, but it was arguably the most important trait that Isagi had to learn to grow as a striker. He relied too heavily on working with Rin for the first half of the game and allowed himself to struggle to make any significant impact on the match. When Karasu targeted him, Isagi was completely outmatched in his physical ability to keep up with Rin and counter Karasu, but Isagi's strength isn't pure speed like Chigiri or brute force like Shido. Isagi's primary trait is his ability to adapt to the situation as it arises. While he certainly has great instincts and field awareness, Rin beats him on most fronts, so his only real way at asserting himself is adaption.

By adapting his play style throughout the match, he learned to counter Karasu's impregnable defense, coexist with Hiori and Nanase, and break past Rin and Shido to score the final goal for himself. Isagi changed his entire play style to follow Hiori's advice on thinking by reflex instead of his normal thought processes that brought him so far in Blue Lock. Not only did Isagi adapt to his allies and enemies, he managed to evolve past them through adaption and eventually subjugated his opposition to win without anyone being able to stop him.

Isagi's Chemical Reaction

Hiori and Nanase's Coexistence

After Isagi managed to create several small chemical reactions with his weaker teammates, Team A was brought back from the brink of defeat, despite having the top two strikers on their team. Isagi's coexistence with Hiori and Nanase bore fruit as the three were able to bypass both Rin and Shido to create an opening to score the perfect goal, but despite Isagi's vision and ability to seize opportunity, his physical prowess couldn't keep up with his mind and his overall play style lagged behind as a result. Hiori and Nanase were the weakest links of Team A, but Isagi utilized their ability to follow his movements and plays to dominate the field.

Through sheer teamwork and numbers, Isagi managed to lead Hiori and Nanase to score after score without relying on Rin or Shido. Sure, they contributed, but the bulk of Team A's final successes were the direct result of Hiori and Nanase's coexistence with Isagi. The greatest chemical reaction of Team A was the byproduct of using Rin and Shido's skills to Isagi's advantage. Instead of trying to assert himself between Rin and Shido, Isagi and the weaker members created their own chemical reaction with each other that forced their best players to take advantage of the situation and provide the weaker teammates with the opportunity to contribute, whether they liked it or not.

Isagi's play style and skills might have been average in Karasu's eyes, but once Isagi created chemical reaction after reaction with the rest of his team, Isagi's activation caused an unstoppable ripple that even Karasu was forced to acknowledge. Hiori and Nanase might be average players compared to the top six strikers in Blue Lock, but their ability to solely focus on coexistence with each other is the exact reason why Isagi managed to score goals and ultimately win the game for Team A.

By working together instead of asserting themselves, Hiori and Nanase actually managed to subjugate Team B and establish themselves as worthy players of Team A. Assertion and coexistence to be sure, but coexistence actually allowed them to assert themselves as useful teammates and rise above the competition. Ultimately, while Hiori and Nanase were the crutch for Team A to rely on, Isagi was the glue that held the entire team together to not only win, but surpass some of the best players in Blue Lock through sheer determination and coexistence to assert themselves and subjugate the very best in Blue Lock.

Blue Lock

TV-14

Animation

Sports

High school soccer players from across Japan gather for a controversial project designed to create the best and most egoistic striker in the world.

Where to Watch

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*Availability in US

Release Date

October 8, 2022

Cast

Ricco Fajardo , Drew Breedlove , Alex Horn , Mark Allen Jr.

Seasons

2

Studio

Franchise

Characters By

Creator

Distributor

Main Characters

Production Company

Story By

Writers

Taku Kishimoto

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll

Directors

Tetsuaki Watanabe , Shunsuke Ishikawa